Amsterdam: Our top family City Break

Now this one may surprise you, as someone who spent their late teens visiting Amsterdam as a very different type of tourist… I was surprised when we saw that Amsterdam was rated as one of the top City Breaks for families. I knew it was beautiful but I couldn’t see past the coffee shops I’d been in and those red lit windows I’d walked past! Wow we were so wrong, there is so much to do here I will get down to the knitty-gritty of what we did. 

Firstly, we checked into our accommodation and then went to Amsterdam Zoo on foot. It was a really well laid out zoo with clean, age appropriate play areas, reasonably priced and it was a nice walk in the sun. We stayed at Volkshotel which I would highly recommend. It had a friendly vibe, well thought out rooms with bunk beds, rooftop wood fired hot tubs and a rooftop bar with great views, breakfast also had lots of variety. (Something that is super important to us as Archie is not always the easiest to feed!)

After we left we went and picked up our bikes we had hired from a company called ‘Black Bikes’. There were various branches across the city which was great as it meant we could drop them back off at the one we were nearest to at the end of our trip. We hired a cargo bike for the kids which was hilarious watching Ash trying to navigate it around as it was so front heavy. The kids loved it and it was a novelty in itself. Disclaimer: be careful after a couple of drinks going in the bike lanes, when I say people do not stop I do mean this. It can be a bit difficult to work out where you’re going. If you’ve been to Amsterdam before you’ll know a lot of the roads, particularly around Dam Square look similar so look out for specific view points. Doing this also meant less moaning about tired legs - result! 

We took the bikes to Oosterpark and Vondelpark. There is lots going on seasonally at Vondelpark. Included are multiple different play areas, a nice cafe and bar in the centre, just a really nice relaxed space to go for everyone and enough space for it not to be absolutely rammed. We went in the summer holidays and it was fine. If you want a break from walking and some nice green space definitely go here, you could easily spend a good few hours at Vondelpark.

Another highlight of our trip, was that we hired a canal motor boat for an hour. This was a great way of seeing the city from another perspective and again was a novelty for the kids which they enjoyed. I booked this online before we went but there are companies everywhere selling short boat hire when you arrive.

Somewhere that I cannot recommend visiting enough is NEMO Science Museum. There was an abundance of engaging activities for everyone, bubbles, experiments, interactive toys, we all enjoyed it. If you also have a sensory seeker they will definitely enjoy it here, it was spacious enough not to be too overwhelming and again centrally located.

Another novelty stop off we did was we went into Tony’s Chocolonely Store where they have machines where you can help yourself to loads of free samples, who isn’t going to enjoy that? 

Finally, we stopped off at the Maritime Museum, we actually went here to kill some time before our late flight home but it was actually really enjoyable. The kids liked running around the Pirate Ship they have there and the Staff put on activities for the Children to do if they wanted to.