This is a city that’s defined by its museums and tulips. Throw in the beautiful windmills, clogs and cheese and you’re all set for a Dutch experience. Amsterdam is a cosmopolitan melting pot when it comes to cuisine, but has otherwise managed to strongly guard its Dutch heritage and culture. On a holiday here, get a tattoo, make some cheese, admire art and cruise through the city’s hundreds of canals. There are over 400 museums in Amsterdam, but head to the Rijksmuseum (reopened after a decade of renovation) first, where you’ll find all the Rembrandts. For 15 Euros, you’ll see some of the world-renowned pieces of art by this painter. My favourite is ‘The Night Watch’ but paintings like Van Gogh’s ‘Self-Portrait’ and Vermeer’s ‘The Milkmaid’, are also quite stunning. If you like bags, then head to the museum for bags and purses (Tassenmuseum Hendrikje), which is a really fun, quirky trip. Those into tattoos can check out the tattoo museum as well.
When you want to pick up souvenirs to bring home, what comes to your mind as you browse the stores here are clogs and windmills. And cheese too! There are many clog and cheese farms in quaint villages around the city where you can head out to see how they are made. The one we went to was run by a fun, young couple who even spoke Hindi! These half-day tours include a stop at a windmill, where you can fulfil all your Bollywood Yash Raj moment fantasies. Picking up cheese from these farms is a good idea as it’s fresh, not mass-made and thus, tastes heavenly. They even give you samples for tasting.
Once you’re done shopping, discover the 165 canals that flow through the city and you’ll soon find that many people also live in houseboats. A canal cruise (group or private) is a popular and great way to get a quick overview of the Museum Quarter, the Pijp (hub for International cuisines like Moroccon, Turkish, Spanish, and Thai) and the Jordaan (a hub for galleries). On the cruise, you’ll pass by two houses that are significant – the Anne Frank Huis (Prinsengracht 263) and one of the narrowest houses in the world, the Singel 7. The hop-on-hop-off canal cruise runs like a bus service and is a convenient way to get around the city as well.
No visit to Amsterdam is complete without a day spent in Keukenhof, a 45-minute drive away from the city itself. This garden is literally acres and acres of rich, colourful flowers — tulips, orchids, roses, hyacinths, daffodils, and more. In fact, seven million flowers bloom here each year and there are 700 species of tulips on show. As you walk around the gardens you realise that even a day is not enough to soak in the beauty of these flowers. There’s a café where you can catch a quick lunch and feed the ducks in a small pond before you get back to strolling around. If possible, do try to catch the flower arrangement demos available.
Amsterdam’s nightlife is renowned and people here are not embarrassed by talking about it in the least. On the busy Damrak Street, you’ll find a building called The Sex Museum, which is an interesting place to stop by. It’s certainly more educational than sleazy. Each of the rooms inside is themed (like Marquis de Sade and Mata Hari) and as you enter each, you’ll find artefacts as well as sounds to accompany the theme. The Museum showcases sexuality through the ages. You must be 16 years old to gain entry.
