Ultimate Amsterdam Guide: Must-Do Experiences from Pancake Boats to Other Hidden Gems
This time last summer, I traveled around Europe from June to September and did 11 countries and 21 cities. One of the places I was most excited about was Amsterdam. Amsterdam has always been the place I planned to retire to, and it was very exciting for me to visit. I've been to The Netherlands, but this was my first time in Amsterdam. At this point, I was in country number four. I had been to England, Scotland, Paris, and Germany, and then number five was The Netherlands. I hopped on an eight-hour train from Karlsruhe, Germany, to Amsterdam. I landed at the huge Amsterdam Centraal and took a taxi to my bed and breakfast. Where I stayed wasn't in the city's main hub, but It was a charming place, quiet to stay by the water. I did think my host was kind of racist; I don't know if it was so much racist as a misogynist because he had a few other people staying with him. And one of the other women and the way he talked, both me and the woman, was so dismissive and condescending. He made breakfast one day, but his vibe was off. I did try to avoid him as much as I could.
Even though my B&B wasn't in the city's center, it was close to the trams, and they were straightforward to figure out. I wish I made a video of that. But basically, buy a ticket online and tap a device you get onboard. If I remember correctly, you couldn't tap your credit or debit card. You had to buy an actual ticket, and you could buy a ticket on the tram. From what I remember, there's usually someone on the tram you can buy tickets from, and it was super easy to navigate. After sleeping for hours, I set out to see just a little bit of the city that night. And on my first night, I learned the difference between a coffee shop and a cafe or coffee house. So a cafe is like your regular schmegular coffee joint where you can drink beverages and snack on pastries. But a coffee shop is where you get weed/marijuana/cannabis. Weed is legal in Amsterdam; you’ll see it everywhere. I caught on quickly because I kept seeing both, and I figured it out when I saw Popeye Coffee Shop, and the entire shop had weed. I'm like, oh, I get it now! 
Things to do in Amsterdam:
Visit the world-famous Rijk Museum. I spent more hours here than planned because it was raining, but I loved every minute. I finally got to see Van Gogh’s & Vermeers!! My goodness! The architecture of the Rijk was stunning. I ended it with a cute girl lunch at the museum's cafe, and a long line of people were waiting to get a table.Do a lot of walking! I want to say Amsterdam is walker friendly, but because Amsterdam is the city of bikes, there are bikes everywhere. One thing I noticed, which sounds so hypocritical, is there were many people in Amsterdam. I don't know if it was also a function when I went, but I know Amsterdam is the top city everyone loves to visit. So the city was relatively crowded. But I did enjoy walking around the city. At some point, I counted all the bridges I walked across and took a million photos but lost count. There were just bridges everywhere. The vibe was perfect for me, and it was so convenient because almost everyone I met spoke English!Catch a bite at the Hoxton Amsterdam. While trying to kill time for my dinner date with a friend, I stopped by to get a lil tattoo at Tattoo Palace. If you’ve been to a Hoxton before, regardless of the country, you know you’ll love it, and Amsterdam was no different for me; everything was perfect! I highly recommend.
If you're not new here, you know that I love crepes, right? So there are crepes, the way the French make it, there are pancakes, how Americans make it super chunky, not that, but the Dutch make their pancakes kinda like crepes. They were big and flat, the way the good lord intended. So one of my best experiences was going on an all-you-can-eat pancake boat cruise, yo!!!!!! It was called a Pannenkoekenboot. You sail around Amsterdam and can eat as many pancakes as you want. There were different types of pancakes, toppings, and drinks; there was music and a tour guide. When I return to Amsterdam, I will do it again. In fact, every time I go to Amsterdam, I'm going to do that pancake cruise. You cannot leave Amsterdam without doing that.Another thing you should do in Amsterdam is you should ride the ferry. Amsterdam is surrounded by water. You can't get everywhere by walking or the tram. You’ll need to hop on a ferry at some point. I remember tickets being cheap, you buy them like you’re buying a regular tram ticket and then it takes you to the other side.Still, on the topic of water, a must-do is a canal cruise of downtown Amsterdam. There are a million of them. So just pick one! There were some cruises where you get to dine on board, I wish I had done that one, but on my last day in Amsterdam, I enjoyed my 1-hour history of Amsterdam cruise, which cost 13 euros. On the boat ride, I learned that the houses are really narrow because if you have a building that faces a canal, you pay taxes based on the width of the building. So when you go to Amsterdam, you’ll see so many narrow houses (still beautiful, though). The wider they are, the more tax the owner of the property has to pay on it. That is crazy.
I know people hear Amsterdam and think about the Red Light District. I'm, and I'm like, okay, I guess. But being an advocate of sex work, it was important for me to see the Museum of Prostitution. So if you're interested, I recommend visiting the Red Light Secrets. I was there for; I'm going to say, about three hours just because I really wanted to immerse myself and understand sex work from a lens that wasn't prejudicial. So that was an incredibly enlightening experience for me. The museum had many animated features, holographs, real people's voices, and short videos, and even showed legal regulations such as; sex workers are not allowed to work double shifts. Towards the end of the exhibition, you're going to come across something called the Confessions Wall, where people who visited the Museum of Prostitution will write down their craziest, nastiest confessions, and it was nasty!! Nasty and hilarious at the same time. I recommend, even if it's out of curiosity. And right after, I went to a sex shop. Because I mean, are you even in Amsterdam without going to a sex shop?I, unfortunately, didn't get to visit the Anne Frank House. It was either raining or I had to work. Still, if that is something you're interested in, by all means, I however, did get to visit the Homomonument which is just a few minutes from the Anne Frank House. Unveiled in 1987, it is a first of its kind monument to honor all gay men and lesbians who have been persecuted because of their sexual orientation. The memorial is made up of triangles with their own significance, and one of them points toward COC Nederland—the oldest existing and operating LGBTQ organization in the world. Right the monument is Amsterdam's official LGBT+ information kiosk called the Pink Point. If you identify as queer also, I recommend visiting.
If you love a good brunch, Blue Amsterdam is the place for you. Oh, my goodness. Oh no! It was amazing! Because it was at the top of a high building, you get a 360 sky view of Amsterdam with whatever you order off the menu, and it was beautiful. Tens! Tens! Tens!Just downstairs of the Kalverpassage shopping center (where Blue is), there’s a shocking installation of an original Volkswagen Beetle folded up and put on display, It’s called the Beetles sphere, and you should by no means miss it! Not a single soul walked past it without whipping their phones out. The sculpture is by an artist called Ichwan Noor.Besides the Pancake boat, Amsterdam had Pancake joints everywhere!! The best so far was this place called the Dutch Pancake Masters. There wasn't a line to get in, but the place was packed (and for good reason). When the pancake came out, I was like, is this a pancake? Is it a pizza? It was huge and so delicious. And did I mention you get to choose your toppings too?
The peak experience for me was riding the swing called The Lookout. So the A’dam is building is one of the tallest buildings in Amsterdam, and hanging off the cliff of that building are swings! Because I'm a thrill sticker, I went to Amsterdam knowing I had to experience that, and it was exhilarating! I have never felt so alive and scared at the same time. If you’re down for the thrill, BUY YOUR TICKET IN ADVANCE, there will be a long line to get to the top. Whoa. The view from the top was stunning. Being able to see all of Amsterdam from that height, that was crazy. If I remember correctly, they don't let us hold our phones to ensure safety because there isn't a harness or anything, just a bar that keeps you in place. When you're done, you can buy your photos and videos, which I did!
Something I always do in every city is book an Airbnb experience. Because I had been learning to dance salsa, I booked a salsa experience and had fun dancing with a private instructor for about 2 hours.Amsterdam was just so beautiful. I would've loved to stay in a boathouse but didn't want to stay there alone. So hopefully, when I go to Amsterdam next, I'm not alone, and I will most definitely stay in a boathouse. Like that would be an exceptional experience. Being in Amsterdam also made me quite bummed out that I didn't know how to ride a bike. Yeah, I need to fix that. Riding a bike and swimming. I need to fix those two things before next summer. I would've liked to go to the outskirts of Amsterdam, see Utrecht and other cities, and see more windmills, too, but on my next trip, I will explore more of the Netherlands. Last year, Amsterdam Airport Schipol had many COVID-related issues, and they were also understaffed, so the wait times at the airport were three or four hours long. I don't know what Schipol is like now, but I’d get there early. I hopped on a plane from Amsterdam to Barcelona!I’ve made it easy for ya’ll by hyperlinking all the important spots. If you want some more juicy deets on my Amsterdam trip, click here. Until I book another flight somewhere… who knows where, follow me on Instagram and TikTok for more travel stories, tips, itineraries, and gist. xx-Summer