48 hours in Amsterdam , the capital of the Netherlands, are presented as the perfect weekend getaway to enjoy at any time of the year, but especially as soon as spring and good weather settle in the city.
The fact that it was a fishing village in the past It has become a cosmopolitan city where art, gastronomy, fashion, innovation and history are breathed on both banks of the canal. Gone are the coffee shops or the red light district (where guided tours are prohibited) as the only tourist attraction, to give way to a city that currently has it all.
Although Amsterdam is always a good plan, regardless of the time of year in which we find ourselves, it is now –with the arrival of spring– when the tulips begin to stretch.
covering the parks, markets and gardens of the most polychromatic palette possible, the terraces begin to fill up and sunny days are becoming more frequent. It is just then, when it's time to pack your bags and organize a getaway to what is known as Venice of the North.
We introduce you Amsterdam as you have never seen it before, until now. The trip promises not to disappoint, my word!
Amsterdam, Holland
FRIDAY:
4:00 p.m. . The first contact with the city is done as it should be: wandering up and down for its extensive channel connection.
As the next day we are going to dedicate the whole morning to the dam square and its surroundings, where we also find options such as the Red Light District or the Jewish District, this time we go to the southern part of the Grachtengordel district , commonly known as the 'canal ring'.
built in XVII century surrounding –and expanding– the old part of the city in a circular way, its network of bridges and canals It is a true wonder that takes on tourist relevance by itself as if it were the Colosseum itself in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin or the Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
Aerial view of Grachtengordel.
We should take a walk the four main canals (Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Princegratch) who drink from the Amstel river to admire the countless bicycles hooked to the bridges.
Also the sloping facades of the houses with a maximum of three or four floors and a ridiculous width compared to its height -it should be remembered that taxes are paid based on the width of the house-, hence the maximum use of it upwards and not to the sides.
Guarding the Singel, we find Bloemenmarkt -the most beautiful flower market in all of Amsterdam- perfect place for the purchase of tulips and any worthwhile souvenir.
Just over 5 minutes away, the street stands proud Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, a direction to point to fire in the street –especially if art is among our favorite hobbies–.
stores antiques and art galleries who come to show that Amsterdam is an open-air museum. Crown jewel? AbrahamArt, one of the largest and most important contemporary art galleries in Europe.
Based in Eindhoven and Amsterdam, it can boast of having pieces of Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, Kaws or Bram Reijnders that are a true delight in the art of our time. On the parallel street is Foam (Keizersgracht 609), a photography museum where to discover the work of world famous artists, as well as young talents.
6:30 p.m. If we continue along the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat heading south, after about 15 minutes on foot we arrive to the iconic Van Gogh Museum . On Friday afternoons it has special opening hours from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., so it becomes the perfect prelude to art before giving way to dinner.
Here we find more than 200 works by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh among which stand out Self-portrait with a gray felt hat, Sunflowers, the bedroom in Arles or Almendro en flor, among others.
The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.
9:00 p.m. . Saying 'dinner' is talking about Moeders and his traditional Dutch cuisine in a kitsch space that translates in a former dance school converted into a restaurant.
His biggest attraction? The thousands of photographs of mothers and grandmothers that decorate all the walls of the premises, its period crockery, as well as its soups – watch out for the soup of the day –, stews and mixed dishes.
11:00 p.m. The finishing touch before going to rest is called Tales & Spirits, a cocktail bar where savor rogue cocktails only suitable for the most hedonistic.
At bedtime, The Hoxton hotel group with its hotel located five minutes' walk from Dam Square is always a hit.
If out-of-the-box experiences are your thing, why not sleep in a bridge house on the water of the canals? SWEETS hotel has transformed 28 iconic bridge houses into hotel suites.
Sleep in a 'bridge house' in Amsterdam.
SATURDAY:
9:30 a.m. Nothing like getting up early to go for a walk first thing in the morning -provided the weather is good- through the largest park in all of Amsterdam: Vondelpark.
The favorite green lung for the Dutch where they can go for bike rides, have a picnic in the open air, walk or practice any type of sport.
Very close to it is The Coffee District (Willemsparkweg, 8), the perfect meeting point to start the morning with energy with a shot of coffee and some of its sweet and savory pastry specialties.
11:00 a.m. After breakfast, we can either walk or take the tram (No. 2 or 12) to Dam Square to the free tours strictly with which to learn the most of the city in the shortest possible time.
It is during the following two or three hours that the traveler soaks up all the history of Amsterdam and visits key points of the historic center What Dam Square, the Jewish Quarter, the Flower Market, the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company or Begijnhof –one of the oldest hofjes in Amsterdam–.
What is a hofie? The set of social houses that are built around a patio. In the Begijnhof lived in the fourteenth century the women who belonged to the lay Catholic brotherhood known as Beguines.
Begijnhof in Amsterdam.
2:00 p.m. Now it's time to recharge before continuing with tourist mode. Our next stop is named after Albert Cuyp Market and it is the largest foreign market in Europe.
With more than one hundred years of tradition, its stalls are open six days a week (except Sundays) and sell from fruits, vegetables, meat and fish until clothes, bags and cameras vintage.
An option to save a little money during the trip is to buy food in one of its street shops where we will find the classics native cheeses or his famous stroopwaffels freshly made
On the other hand, if we prefer to sit at a table, on the same street we find restaurant options such as Pho 91 (Albert Cuypstraat 91), an excellent place for Vietnamese cuisine. Our recommendation? The chicken wings, the Pho noodles and the vegan dish with a touch of Ca Ri Chay curry.
4:00 p.m. The sweet part as a dessert arrives at The Pancake Bakery (Prinsengracht 191) with its delicious poffertjes, so typical of Dutch cuisine. Once we have a happy stomach, it's time to continue discovering the history of Amsterdam.
On this occasion, our steps take us to number 20 Westermarkt street in the worldwide known as anne frank house.
It was in the back of Ana's father's offices – behind a mobile shelf – when in 1942 the whole Frank family hid along with four more relatives, until they were discovered in 1944. The rest is history.
Today the Franks' hideout has become a house-museum which is a gem to learn more about everything that happened in that period of time both to the Frank family, and to the rest of the Jews who inhabited Amsterdam at that time.
5:30 p.m. After the visit, we can advance to the present discovering the museum of modern art Moco Museum . Also based in Barcelona, in Amsterdam it is located in the Museumplein area, a few steps from the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. Works by more current artists await us here, such as Banksy, KAWS, Jeff Koons, Andy Warholm among others.
Moco Museum of Barcelona, open this year.
Be careful when we get to the lower floor before leaving! we will have reached the most ‘instagrammable’ of the entire museum, so prepare your mobile for when the time comes.
7:30 p.m. Well into the afternoon, it's time to relax wandering around the red light district between coffee shops, sex shops, show rooms and shop windows everywhere. A visit to the Oude Kerk church is essential, the oldest building in Amsterdam and at nightfall -when there is no light inside- it radiates a reddish color to the delight of the people passing by.
Rigorous beer hour can be had at Café Hill Street Blues (Warmoesstraat 52A). Its graffiti, grunge aesthetics and vintage furniture are reminiscent of the ruin bars of Budapest. You'll want to try all their beers!
9:00 p.m. . If at dinner time we are one of those who like to try a little of everything, Foodhallen (Bellamyplein 51) is the ideal place.
East gastronomic market covered with different street stalls covers proposals that run from Japan, through Thailand or Italy, to Vietnam or the United States. We will only have to choose the restaurants that most attract our attention and enjoy a tasty shared dinner at their common tables in the center of it.
SUNDAY:
10:00 a.m. If we feel like dedicating a morning to the outskirts of Amsterdam, just half an hour away by train, car or bus, they are waiting for us. the towns of Volendam, Marken and Edam.
The first is ideal for wander around its fishing port and –of course– taste in some of its restaurants its famous fish&chips . If we like to try new things, in Amsterdam one of the most traditional recipes is fresh herring. Why not order different dishes to take away and taste them in front of the pier? Of course, be very careful with the seagulls!
Marken is the quintessential town of colorful houses , its gardens and its much quieter fishing port than Volendam. And finally, we have Edam which –as its name suggests– is the most famous town for its cheese, so paying a visit to it and its dairies is more than wise.
The colored houses of Marken, Holland.
2:30 p.m. Once back in Amsterdam, if they drop us off at the Central Station In addition to admiring the façade of this building - the work of the architect Pierre Cuyper and mechanical engineer Dolf van Gend – which is an emblem in itself, we can move away from the historic center a bit to continue discovering the authentic essence of this city that still has everything to tell.
We head towards the neighborhood NDSM with the free ferry that is taken from the back of the Central Station itself.
This relatively new area belonging to the Noord district (north) is shaped like a former shipyard converted into a neighborhood underground from Amsterdam. A space where flea markets, exhibitions, art galleries, workshops and endless other proposals that go beyond the pre-established in our visit to Amsterdam meet.
Some of the obligatory stops? The work Let me be myself by the Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra, with Anne Frank as the protagonist; IJ-hallen Flea, the largest flea market in Europe ; and the restoration concepts Pllek, IJver and Noorderlicht.
Yes, we too have been wanting to spend other 48 hours in Amsterdam, so, we will be back very soon!