Its one of those phases in life, where one would want to let the hair down and chill out. That is exactly what was planned by my wife for my big-day.
Yes...Yes, it was my wife who had this insane idea of celebrating my 30th birthday in the drug capital of the world. It was a nice trip all in all and very relaxing 3 days.
Museums / Public Transport
If you are planning to check out most of the museums and are intending to make use of public transport, worth buying a I-Amsterdam card. They are available in 24/48/72 hour limit and saves you loads of monies as public transport is pretty expensive in Trams. Entrance tickets to museums are not cheap either.
Museums / Public Transport
If you are planning to check out most of the museums and are intending to make use of public transport, worth buying a I-Amsterdam card. They are available in 24/48/72 hour limit and saves you loads of monies as public transport is pretty expensive in Trams. Entrance tickets to museums are not cheap either.
Day 1 - Dam Square/Canal ride
As soon as we reached, checked into the hotel in Schipol airport (citizenM). Very simplistic yet futuristic hotel at quite an affordable price. Its the best place to stay if planning to stay over for under 3 days and visiting Amsterdam for first time. Ideal things to do on first trip to this unusual place would be to check out Amsterdam Centraal and Kukenhof park (Tulip paradise).As with all other hotels across the world, the insane check-in hour forced us to hit the city center as soon as we deposited the luggage. Its a short 15 minute train journey from the airport to city center (cheapest way to commute, bus and taxi are biblically expensive).
This city has no historic buildings to go visit. Its more famous for its painters. There are museums galore all around the city center and canals cutting the city through, in and out. Where there are canals there are water rides and taxis. However, most of the attractions are just at walking distance considering there is a map in hand and direction sense.
Don't worry about buying/carrying a map. Upon reaching the exit doors of Amsterdam Central station, look for a kiosk next to Ticket machines. This kiosk provides tourist information and also print outs (in color) a map for selected attraction. Get the select attraction as Rijks Museum and the printed map will have other attractions listed as well.
We set off on foot to cover the inner circle of attractions which could have been covered w/o the need of getting onto a water taxi or a tram. Walked through the red light district (lane) during the day as it is nearest to the train station. Got to Dam square, which is like a mini Trafalgar square. There were scores of peoples and jugglers considering it was a weekend. After having had a bite and rest on Dam square we walked along Rokin/Amstel street to get to a canal which had tour boats. It was noon and we had enough of walking and decided to take a canal ride around the city. This one covered all of the key canal routes and costed 6 euros, which is not much. The total time of cruise along the riverside was about an hour. It had a voice guide on board which described the city as it stood through the times.
Meanwhile, with a stomach full of food, my wife decided to take a nap and ignore the history (which she normally does). After having finished the canal cruise, decided to check out a garden nearby and was a very pleasant one near the Botanical garden. That is all the energy we had at the end of the day and headed straight back into the hotel. Had a sumptuous dinner and hit the hay(in a modernistic box - citizenM hotel in schipol airport. 15 min train ride which costs 6 euros return per person).
Day 2 - Kukenhof Garden
It was another brilliant day with the weather just perfect for outdoor sightseeing. It was the day we chose to visit the ever so popular location in every Bollywood directors mind.
Entrance Tickets
Best place to buy is online and collect from kiosks in the airport or buy them off the counter which offers Tourist information, again in the airport. Cost: 20 Euro per person. (Its worth it) This ticket covers the bus travel to and from the airport to the garden. Duration of travel: 30 mins
Drive along the country side of Holland was gorgeous. Houses were immaculate and design of houses were quite modern. The one's located alongside the canals, were envious. As it was a weekend, every town we passed was quiet and there were hardly anyone on the street.
To start with, the gardens does not have huge fields of tulip. Fields are outside the garden. You either chose to go in the garden and enjoy smallish patches of different species of Tulip or take a bike tour which is located right outside the entrance to the garden. This bike tour is for an hour and costs 8 euro per person. However if you chose to not take the tour and just wander of yourself, one can hire a bike for same price as the tour for an hour. Worth doing the bike tour when the fields are in full bloom.
It takes some 4-5 hours to walk around the garden. Its is a very well laid out garden. There are cafes within the garden. There are buggy's which sell waffles and sandwich for the quick-bite population. Its definitely worth a visit.
We were back to hotel by 5 pm as the temperature was a bit hotter and needed a nap before heading out to Amsterdam centre to experience night life.
Red-Light lane did come into life in the night and boy was it colour full. If one were to stare at all the windows, eyes would have turned Red before the end of street were reached.
We dared into one of the live shows (Casa Rosso), expensive(35 euro pp) but eh!!! (When in Rome do as the Romans do). The show runs non-stop however, one will need an hour of seating to check out all the artists. Bachelors heaven!!!
Headed into a desi(Indian) restaurant called Ganesha (what an irony), on the way back to the hotel. Its one of the recommended place to have desi food and its a 5 mins walk from Amsterdam central station.
Day 3 - Museums
There are so many museums in Amsterdam, it feels an ideal destination for historians than general public. Painters are the common theme but Rijks museum is the one which which combines a bit of history and paintings. I would definitely recommend this one as it has very interesting paintings. I am not the one to get engrossed and talk about the aspect in a painting, however I was glued to some. Its not a big museum but definitely worth a visit.
Entrance Price: 16 euro per person (roughly). There is a 50% discount for ING bank account holders. There is an asian guy at the ticket counter and get to him and talk to him in Hindi. He will offer you the discount on one ticket if you don't have an account in ING ;)
Food / Shopping / Cheese
Vegans: Moaz and Ganesha are the ideal take away/restaurant. Maoz is for falafels and Ganesha is obvious. For the rest of the population, there are plenty of options. Leidsestraat is the street to head to for food, shopping and cheese shops. There are not many cheese shops on the street but the one that exist is the best we found. One can taste them before pocketing one. Best cheese for the price.
Meanwhile, with a stomach full of food, my wife decided to take a nap and ignore the history (which she normally does). After having finished the canal cruise, decided to check out a garden nearby and was a very pleasant one near the Botanical garden. That is all the energy we had at the end of the day and headed straight back into the hotel. Had a sumptuous dinner and hit the hay(in a modernistic box - citizenM hotel in schipol airport. 15 min train ride which costs 6 euros return per person).
Day 2 - Kukenhof Garden
It was another brilliant day with the weather just perfect for outdoor sightseeing. It was the day we chose to visit the ever so popular location in every Bollywood directors mind.Entrance Tickets
Best place to buy is online and collect from kiosks in the airport or buy them off the counter which offers Tourist information, again in the airport. Cost: 20 Euro per person. (Its worth it) This ticket covers the bus travel to and from the airport to the garden. Duration of travel: 30 mins
Drive along the country side of Holland was gorgeous. Houses were immaculate and design of houses were quite modern. The one's located alongside the canals, were envious. As it was a weekend, every town we passed was quiet and there were hardly anyone on the street.
To start with, the gardens does not have huge fields of tulip. Fields are outside the garden. You either chose to go in the garden and enjoy smallish patches of different species of Tulip or take a bike tour which is located right outside the entrance to the garden. This bike tour is for an hour and costs 8 euro per person. However if you chose to not take the tour and just wander of yourself, one can hire a bike for same price as the tour for an hour. Worth doing the bike tour when the fields are in full bloom.
It takes some 4-5 hours to walk around the garden. Its is a very well laid out garden. There are cafes within the garden. There are buggy's which sell waffles and sandwich for the quick-bite population. Its definitely worth a visit.We were back to hotel by 5 pm as the temperature was a bit hotter and needed a nap before heading out to Amsterdam centre to experience night life.
Red-Light lane did come into life in the night and boy was it colour full. If one were to stare at all the windows, eyes would have turned Red before the end of street were reached.
We dared into one of the live shows (Casa Rosso), expensive(35 euro pp) but eh!!! (When in Rome do as the Romans do). The show runs non-stop however, one will need an hour of seating to check out all the artists. Bachelors heaven!!!
Headed into a desi(Indian) restaurant called Ganesha (what an irony), on the way back to the hotel. Its one of the recommended place to have desi food and its a 5 mins walk from Amsterdam central station.
Day 3 - Museums
There are so many museums in Amsterdam, it feels an ideal destination for historians than general public. Painters are the common theme but Rijks museum is the one which which combines a bit of history and paintings. I would definitely recommend this one as it has very interesting paintings. I am not the one to get engrossed and talk about the aspect in a painting, however I was glued to some. Its not a big museum but definitely worth a visit.
Entrance Price: 16 euro per person (roughly). There is a 50% discount for ING bank account holders. There is an asian guy at the ticket counter and get to him and talk to him in Hindi. He will offer you the discount on one ticket if you don't have an account in ING ;)
Food / Shopping / Cheese
Vegans: Moaz and Ganesha are the ideal take away/restaurant. Maoz is for falafels and Ganesha is obvious. For the rest of the population, there are plenty of options. Leidsestraat is the street to head to for food, shopping and cheese shops. There are not many cheese shops on the street but the one that exist is the best we found. One can taste them before pocketing one. Best cheese for the price.
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