A Perfect 24 Hours in Amsterdam

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Greetings, Internet Stranger and welcome to 24 hours in Amsterdam! Amsterdam is one of those cities that people rave about. “Come to Amsterdam,” every friendly neighborhood stoner backpacker will say. “The Dutch know how to live! You can just ride your bicycle, frequent ladies of the evening, and smoke herbal refreshment for all 24 hours in Amsterdam.”

Well I don’t like drugs, ladies of the evening aren’t my jam, and I can’t ride a bike, but I love pancakes, canals, and Franz Hals, so Amsterdam is just the city for me! Join me for 24 hours in Amsterdam! We’ll get our fill of high culture, greasy French fries, and LIVE NUDE GIRLS. If you are good, we can stop at a coffee shop at the end of the evening.

Spoiler Alert! It’s not going to be that kind of coffee shop.

24 Hours in Amsterdam

Where to Stay?

I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but Amsterdam is one of the most popular cities in the world for tourists. The word “overtourism” was practically invented for Amsterdam. So the hotels can be a little expensive.

If you’re looking to save money when you’re enjoying 24 hours in Amsterdam, I recommend Motel One Amsterdam. It’s really comfortable and affordable, and the staff was super helpful. The only downside is it’s a little outside the main part of town, but with the public transportation it’s easy to get to the city center.

If you want a great deal on this hotel click here.

And if you’d rather explore a lot of other hotels in Amsterdam, click here. I always use this search engine when I travel because it’s such an easy search engine, they have great deals, especially if you use them frequently and earn Genius status, and they help you keep your travel plans organized.

24 Hours in Amsterdam

Morning: Amsterdam Food Tour

What’s the first thing you think of when I say Dutch food? I can pretty much guarantee that your answer was either “Gouda cheese” or “pot brownies”. But I promise you that the Dutch know how to do snack food as well as anyone in the world.

The food tour I took in Amsterdam doesn’t exist anymore, so I suggest booking the Secret Food Tours instead during your 24 hours in Amsterdam. I’ve used this company quite frequently, as they operate all over the world, and I’ve always been extremely happy with their tours.

I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time too.

You can book the tour for yourself easily here.

You won’t get the exact foods that I ate on your food tour, but I know you’ll have something equally delicious. So just follow along with me as I share with you…

THE APPROXIMATELY TOP FIVE: DUTCH SNACK FOODS

1) let slip the fries of war

In an unexpected turn of events, the first Dutch snack food on our tour ended up being frites, which are really Belgian. But since Belgium is so close to Amsterdam, Belgian fries are all the rage in Holland. And why not? They double fry them the Belgian way, which makes them doubly delicious.

Like most Europeans, the Dutch use a variety of toppings other than ketchup on their fries. I got the “War” topping, which is a combination of Dutch mayonnaise and Indonesian peanut satay sauce. It is called War because the Dutch and Indonesians were at war with each other during the fight for Indonesian independence from the Netherlands. So the War sauce is really delicious and…probably terribly offensive.

2) hotdog!

Our next stop was at a local dime store retail chain called HEMA to sample one of their hot dogs. If that seems like an odd choice to you, no worries! I was equally confused when I heard we were eating at a dime store. But according to Sean and also the Internet, HEMA hot dogs are legendary.

I found the hot dog plump and fresh, but my favorite part was the tangy mustard sauce. Apparently it’s a secret recipe!

3) stroopwafels

Our next stop was to sample a famous sweet called the stroopwafel, which literally translates to syrup waffle. At first I thought that the term “wafel” was a misnomer and that actually this was a kind of sandwich cookie.

But in fact, the humble stroopwafel is made by pressing a very thin waffle into a very thin waffle iron, splitting it in half, and filling the split waffle with either caramel or honey. It tastes exactly like…a deliciously crisp sandwich cookie filled with sticky caramel. But I did like the fun texture that the stroopwafel gets because it was put in a waffle iron.

There’s a lot of food on this tour, so I actually recommend saving the stroopwafel for later. We’re not going to have a big dinner tonight, so you’ll want your stroopwafel then.

4) poffertjes

Everyone knows about certain things that are really popular in the Netherlands: canals, bikes, tulips, prostitutes, and windmills. But did you also know that the Dutch love pancakes? More specifically, they love these tiny, puffy pancakes with the adorable name of poffertjes.

They are not hard to make, but you need a special poffertje pan to cook them in. Poffertjes are best eaten warm and covered in powdered sugar.

Coincidentally, in The Netherlands, Harry Potter is known as Harry Poffertje.

24 hour tip

A drink is not included here, but I suggest ordering a Nestea with your poffertje. Our guide recommended that we try it because in Amsterdam, Nestea is always carbonated, so it tastes much more like a fun soda than a boring iced tea.

5) Genever

It’s not a food tour without booze, right? At least that’s what my grandmother always told me. So we had to stop at a small local bar and find a type of booze that is sweeping the Dutch nation, genever. Genever is a kind of juniper spirit that tastes about halfway between gin and whiskey. There are two main varieties: old and young. Once again, the Dutch are not so creative with the names there.

I chose young because our guide said it had a milder taste, and it was my first time with Queen Genever. I liked it! It tasted a bit like vodka to me, only more herbal. Next time I will try the old variety to see if I can handle the power of a full-flavored ginever.

6) herring

Another Dutch contribution to the culinary arts is the famous herring cart. You know how in NYC we have hot dog vendors on the street? In Amsterdam they have carts just like that, except instead of serving meat in tubes, they serve cured fishes.

We went to a particularly well-regarded herring cart to snack on some lovely herring and some bites of cured eel. Either you’re the kind of person who likes that curious combination of seafood and salt to be found in cured fish, or you are not.

But personally I loved them both! You know this cart is good because it’s so popular with Russians visiting Amsterdam that all of their signs were printed in Russian as well as Dutch and English. If there’s one thing Russians know, it’s good herring.

7) gouda

Our last stop was at a cheese shop that is famous for its high-class Gouda cheese. Before visiting Amsterdam, I had always thought that Gouda was a bland cheese, really only good for melting and mixing with other, more interesting cheeses.

But that was before I sampled the goods at this shop! They have samples available of their Gouda at different ages, each one more pungent and flavorful than the last. I’ll never be able to go back to waxy American Gouda again!

24 hour treasure

Thankfully for me, a coffeeshop visit to sample some of Amsterdam’s well-known herbal refreshment was not part of the tour. This wasn’t something I felt the need to do in my 24 hours in Amsterdam. (In Amsterdam, a coffeeshop is a place to get pot. So that is one example of the Dutch naming something creatively.)

But we did walk by a coffeeshop, so Sean taught us a trick for messing with the heads of the people getting stoned inside. We all stuck out our arms and pretended to swim down the street as we walked past the window of the coffee shop. All of the mile-high patrons of the coffee shop looked deliciously confused. I highly recommend the experience.

24 Hour Tip

Those are all the secrets of Amsterdam food I can share with you for now. You’ll have to go ahead and book the tour to find out the rest!

Check rates and availability right here!

24 Hours in Amsterdam

Afternoon: Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum is regularly ranked one of the best museums in the world, so we must see it during our 24 hours in Amsterdam. Its specialty is the beautiful paintings of the ODM (Old Dutch Masters). Yet thanks to the vast and financially salubrious Dutch colonial holdings, they have priceless beauties from all over the globe.

It would be impossible to see everything in this wondrous place in one morning, so you have two choices for visiting. You can book a private, skip-the-line tour with a professional guide who “actually lives in Amsterdam”.

If you choose that option, I recommend booking this tour.

Check rates and availability here.

It’s a great value for what you’re getting, and it has excellent reviews. You’ll learn much more than…

THE APPROXIMATELY TOP FIVE: THE RIJKSMUSEUM

1) Portrait of a couple

This is the mundanely named “Portrait of a Couple” by the anything but mundane 17th century Dutch painter Frans Hals. Hals is my favorite Old Dutch Master because the people in his paintings always seem so rosy-cheeked, jolly, and full of life. I would never spend 24 hours in Amsterdam without checking out a Frans Hals.

There are lots of hidden symbols of love and fidelity in this painting, like the thistle, which was apparently a symbol of male fidelity to the Dutch. I always like hearing about hidden symbolism in paintings. It makes me feel like I am a spy cracking a code!

2) The milkmaid

Perhaps the most universally loved Old Dutch Master is the elusive Johannes Vermeer. After all, how many Dutch masters can say that Colin Firth played them in a movie or that there is a popular children’s mystery novel named after them? (It’s called Chasing Vermeer, and it is great.)

This work is entitled “The Milkmaid” because it is a portrait of a milkmaid. Those Old Dutch Masters were not terribly creative when it came to titling their paintings, were they?

I could talk about how this painting demonstrates Vermeer’s famous use of light and such. But what I really wonder is what this milkmaid’s ghost thinks of being the subject of such a famous painting. Imagine being an ordinary Dutch milkmaid, having some rando paint your picture, and then ending up in one of the most famous museums in the world centuries after your death. I bet her ghost is the smuggest Dutch milkmaid ghost ever.

3) “The Nightwatch” by Rembrandt

This is the most famous painting in the entire museum. For this reason, I was never able to get a good picture of it without people’s heads blocking my way. These dudes were particularly frustrating. They’re not even looking at the painting! They’re just talking to each other! Why can’t they move and let me take my picture?

You might be wondering why “The Nightwatch” is so popular. I think it’s because it’s so huge and so realistic. It really feels like you are stepping back in time when you look at it. If you’ve ever wanted to live inside of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, only more Dutch, then this painting is for you.

4) Blue and white porcelain

The Dutch are almost as famous for their blue and white ceramics as they are for their realistic portrait and landscape painting. It’s hard to believe that someone was able to make such detailed heads out of china! Although I think that the blue and white color makes these nobles kind of look like they have frostbite.

5) the dollhouse murders

A hidden gem in the Rijksmuseum is its room of insanely detailed dollhouses. This miniature house above looks like it belongs to either the world’s luckiest little girl or a deranged serial killer. But in fact it was a 17th century dollhouse belonging to Petronella Oortman, who was the wife of a Dutch merchant.

The Dutch sure know how to name people, don’t they? I think Petronella Oortman should have her own detective series. It could be about solving murders in 17th century Amsterdam by recreating the crime scenes as rooms in a dollhouse. Please get on this, Netflix!

6) Gogh Gogh Gadget Painting!

The Rijksmuseum is not really the place to Gogh for Van Gogh. He has his own museum in Amsterdam, and we are going there tomorrow. But the Rijksmuseum does have this austere-looking self portrait, so you don’t have to forGogh Van Gogh entirely.

He still has two ears in this portrait by the way. I checked for you.

24 hour tip

As I demonstrated in my photo of “The Nightwatch”, the Rijksmuseum gets crowded fast. Book the skip the line tour and come as early in your 24 hours in Amsterdam as you can! I promise it will make your experience more pleasant.

Check rates and availability right here!

24 hour treasure

Allow me to present to you the original Angry Bird, “The Threatened Swan” by the unfortunately named Jan Asselijn. Apparently this work has sometimes been read as a political allegory, but no one knows for sure if it is or not.

I like it because this is the closest I’m ever likely to get to a swan on the attack. Everyone knows that in real life it’s best to stay away from swans. They’re pretty but vicious, like Regina George from Mean Girls.

24 Hours in Amsterdam

Late Afternoon: Canal Cruise

You cannot spend 24 hours in Amsterdam without taking a cruise on the canals. It’s like going to Paris and refusing to ride the Seine, or going to Upstate New York and not touring Love Canal.

Fortunately you should have just enough time between the end of the food tour and the beginning of our evening’s activity to set sail onto closed waters and take some weight off your feet.

24 hour tip

There’s lots of canal cruises available in Amsterdam. I took this one because it leaves three times an hour, and you can book your ticket in advance online.

Check rates and availability right here.

The most convenient place to get on is at the top right outside Anne Frank House. I also suggest buying your ticket in advance online to save money and time. We need to maximize our 24 hours in Amsterdam!

24 Hours in Amsterdam

Early Evening: Red Light District Tour

As I’m sure anyone who reads this blog regularly will have figured out, I’m a lot more interested in the quirky than I am in the seedy. But you can’t spend 24 hours in Amsterdam without seeing the famous Red Light District, whether or not you are interested in drugs or prostitution, I decided it would be best for me to book a guided tour through the area.

I lucked out with my guide though because she was very professional and entertaining at the same time. She told all the juicy stories anyone would want going through the Red Light District, but she was never exploitative when talking about the sex workers.

You can book an excellent tour yourself by clicking here.

Picture taking is strictly verboten in the main part of the Red Light District because the sex workers don’t want their picture taken. So instead of getting your attention with snaps, I’ll have to try to keep it with…

3(NOT VERY) FUN FACTS ABOUT THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT

1) how did this district get started?

The Red Light District started because so many sailors came through Amsterdam and they were looking for ladies. Local Dutchmen became angry that sailors were stealing their women, so everyone agreed that it would be better if sailors stuck to frequenting working girls confined to a specific area.

Young women who were not sex workers took to wearing fur as a sign that they were maidens and “off-limits”. I’ve decided this story is a good excuse to buy myself a vintage fur coat.

2) does the red light district have rules?

Prostitution is legal in the Red Light District, but there are certain rules about who can work there. You must be over 21 and an EU citizen to register as a sex worker in the Red Light District. This is to prevent the exploitation of teen runaways or women from poor countries pressed into sex work.

However, over 90 percent of sex workers in Amsterdam come from Eastern Europe. That statistic made me uneasy for reasons I have a hard time putting my finger on.

3) are there male sex workers?

For a brief period of time, they tried having male sex workers in the Red Light District, but it didn’t take. First off, it brought too many reporters, which made the female sex workers uncomfortable.

Second, the male sex workers had a harder time performing with female clients they weren’t attracted to, so that sort of defeats the whole purpose. I’m sure no one pays someone for sex only to feel unattractive if the encounter doesn’t come off.

24 hour treasure

One thing you are allowed to photograph is the “Bronze Boob”, which is an amusing piece of street art in the Red Light District. Apparently this work was left here by an anonymous street artist. I just guess it was Banksy because I assume that all anonymous street artists are named Banksy.

24 hour tip

At one point on the tour, Lisa brought us to a peep show where a couple of Euros would buy you a couple of minutes in a booth looking at a naked lady dance. It was totally optional, and not something that really appealed to me, but I decided to do it just so I could say I’d been to a sex show in Amsterdam without having to do something I’d like even less.

Unfortunately, another solo female traveler on the tour asked me if I wanted to share a booth with her to save a Euro. I did not, but I agreed because I didn’t know how to refuse politely.

So I ended up getting stuck in a small booth with a complete stranger watching a sad-looking naked lady pretend to be aroused, all of which I hated. So I guess my tip is, if you don’t want to share a booth at a sex show with a stranger, just say no!

Check rates and availability by clicking here.

24 hour treat: gouda pretzel at cafe brecht

As I mentioned, I much prefer the quirky to the seedy, so I was very happy to spend the rest of my evening at the charmingly quirky Cafe Brecht. This claims to be a Berlin-style cafe, and I must confess I do not know what that means. I assume Sally Bowles is involved somehow.

But I adored the vintage chairs and couches, and it was a great place to sit with a book and sip on an elderflower lemonade….

and a pretzel filled with Gouda!

I felt all my discomfort from being in the Red Light District wash away from me. Amsterdam really is a city with something for everyone, no matter how you take your pleasure. For me, I prefer to end my 24 hours in Amsterdam with the satisfaction of a comfy couch, a good book, and some damn fine cheese.

24 Hours in Amsterdam

Tools For Travel

• A cell charger so you can keep your cell phone charged for a full 24 hours in Amsterdam
• The best travel adapter so you will be able to use American/Australian/British devices in Dutch electrical outlets during your 24 hours in Amsterdam.
• My favorite guidebook to Amsterdam
• The most reliable travel umbrella that is small enough to fit in my purse, but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds.
• These great TSA approved clear toiletries bags, so I can always keep spare toothpaste and travel sized toiletries in any carry-on.
• My book Get Lost, that I wrote myself with all my best travel tips. This book will show you how travel can take you on a journey of self-discovery.

24 Hours in Amsterdam

How to Get There

Now, I wish I knew where you lived, Internet Stranger, because I could send you a box of Amsterdam’s finest gouda. But sadly, I do not, and so I can’t tell you exactly how to get from your home to your 24 hours in Amsterdam.

But I can tell you that I used a lovely airplane to get from my hometown NYC to Amsterdam, and I recommend Expedia for the best way to find the cheapest flight to Amsterdam at the best time of day. I flew a direct flight, which is easy to find from NYC to Amsterdam. If you don’t live on the East Coast it might be trickier, but I’m sure Expedia can help you find something.

You can even use Expedia to rent a car so you’ll be all set when you arrive at your destination. (I can’t drive, but if you can, this must be helpful.)

Just click here to start looking for the best possible deals on your flight, so you can head out to the 24 hours in Amsterdam itinerary ASAP.

That’s 24 Hours in Amsterdam!

What would you do with 24 hours in Amsterdam? Are you ready to start booking your hotel in Amsterdam? What is your favorite work in the Rijksmuseum? And is War the most offensive name for a French fry topping you’ve ever heard, or did you encounter something worse? Email me the answers at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here. Keep in mind that while each article is about how to spend 24 hours in a place, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY spend 24 hours in Amsterdam.

You can also try 24 hours in Brussels. Why not add on what to do in Brussels for a day? You can even try the top Amsterdam attractions.