Many people’s first initial thought of Amsterdam is basically red light district, coffee shops and a lot of party time. This beautiful city has so much more to offer any tourist of any age with all different preferences of travel types. Usually a new city is quite easy after a couple hours of being there although it has plenty of canals, bridges and lots of tiny streets with really long dutch names. Getting lost from a walk is one of the best ways to see a city and figure out the map pretty quick. Everyone lives by water it seems and is a very unique place. Right in the middle of the city you can’t miss out on seeing the flower market as Holland is famous for it’s tulips. The Rijksmuseum is also worth a visit. I don’t usually go to that many but it was interesting but you need hours to walk through it. If you like food Netherlands is a good choice of cuisine anywhere from Stroopwafels, an amazing bakery with delicious cakes, Indonesian food, cheese and chocolate.

If you want a little more experience then just Amsterdam itself there’s always day trips available out to a few villages. Zaanse Schans is the famous windmill village with still a working mill. It is a very touristy village now but still a charming place to visit. Next stop was the village of Volendam with the famous cheese. You can still manage to legally bring back cheese to Canada and able to enjoy it when you miss that little piece of Amsterdam. Then you hop on the ferry and head over to Marken, a small fishing village. It is still home to an original wooden shoe making place. Very interesting how they are made but not sure how they actually became a traditional shoe as they are not very comfy. It’s a very interesting day trip for a little piece of history.

Another great place to visit is of course is the beach even if it is in a rain and wind storm. Never can miss walking on the beach. Only a short train and bus ride away will take you to a beautiful, long beach that you can surf at. With how many memories I have had on beaches from my trips it was time to give back. One of my friends works for Surfana and we did a beach clean up one of the days spent in Amsterdam and rewarding our self with some Belgium beer. Will need to for sure go back so I can experience this beach in the summer time.

Can’t forget a trip to the Heineken brewery as well. Go with a friend and you can spend hours there with all of the interactive games etc to do and ending with drinking a lot of beer. Wasn’t the greatest weather but still had a great time with another great friend I met last year. Thanks for the amazing hospitality and see you again one day.

A must know tip when traveling to Amsterdam is ALWAYS watch for cyclists because they will not stop for you and you will get run over. Bicycles definitely take over the streets there.