James and I finally enjoyed a child-free trip this year, flying over to Amsterdam for a short break that somehow managed to be both relaxing and very busy. My parents very kindly had the girls to visit, and now they’re old enough to travel together, they took themselves off to Wales on the train for their own half-term adventure. Everyone got a holiday, basically!
My lovely husband did most of the planning and booked us into a bunch of things in advance. Amsterdam gets very busy, so pre-booking is strongly recommended. Before we’d even boarded the plane, we already had a handful of tours scheduled, with enough flexibility left to wander around or collapse somewhere with a coffee as needed.
His research definitely paid off. Every outing was interesting, and both of our tour guides were friendly, funny, and full of good stories. We did a canal cruise with Amsterdam Boat Cruises, then a trip out to the windmill-filled town of Zaanse Schans.
Zaan Tours run small minibus groups rather than enormous coach tours, which I really appreciated – much nicer than being herded around in a crowd. Our guide was a local, too, and her anecdotes about life in that picturesque little town made the whole thing feel extra special.
Amsterdam is packed with museums, and we spent a whole day in the Rijksmuseum. It’s huge, and downloading their free audio-tour app definitely helped us get more out of it. We also popped into Moco, a smaller modern art museum that I absolutely loved. I had no idea Robbie Williams was now an artist in more ways than just singing!
We stayed at Hotel Not Hotel, a quirky hostel full of weird and wonderful rooms, and spent our nights sleeping in a converted tram. It turned out to be a great base for the trip: clean shared facilities, free Wi-Fi, a comfy bed, and not too much noise in the evenings either.
Alongside all the sightseeing, we enjoyed several really tasty meals. James and I had both looked up a few places beforehand, and we also took suggestions from locals while we were there. One recommendation led us to the “tower of tears,” where we had cheese-topped crêpes for lunch with Chocomel hot chocolate. Absolutely delicious.
Just around the corner from the hotel is Benji’s, where we had a couple of great breakfasts, and one evening we ate from the huge array of indoor street-food stalls that make up Food Hallen. Tony’s Chocolonely were celebrating their 20th birthday next door, so we grabbed some of their chocolate for dessert while wandering through the maze they’d built, packed with games and bits of their history. Their flagship store is in Amsterdam too, so of course we stopped in and picked up some edible souvenirs.
We made sure to have a proper date-night dinner on our last evening, followed by a walk around the city centre. We chose Café Kiebêrt after reading a blog post about it, and were delighted with both the atmosphere and the food.
In between all the planned outings and meals, we did plenty of exploring by tram, bus, and boat. There’s so much to see and do in Amsterdam, and we definitely only scratched the surface.
My head did misbehave a bit during the week, and I had more than one daytime lie-down back at the hotel to let peace, quiet, and strong painkillers do their thing. I also managed to pick up some nasty blisters that had me hobbling around a bit. It took a few days to recover once we got home – I was completely and utterly out of spoons. But despite the inevitable chronic-pain nonsense, it was a lovely trip and so nice to spend that time with just James and myself.
So yes, I came home with a suitcase full of chocolate, a camera roll packed with trams and canals, and a body that needed a three-day nap – but honestly? Totally worth it. After the year we’ve had, getting away with just the two of us for a little adventure together was exactly what we needed.
