Travel

[squeaks]

By all means ride on the canal.  The Delft factory is a good choice.  We took a tour to see a large miniature village.  It rained on us, but we continued the tour.  Check with your hotel and they have all kinds of information on sights to see.  It was one of our favorite cities to visit.

[sweetee2]

I think Amsterdam is one of my favorite city's to visit. Just knowing that it is actually built on the sea is incredible. 

[Newgate]

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@dawg lover wrote:

We were just there in early May, and it was breezy, so take a jacket!  It is a great walking city and they have a wonderful tram system that can take you all over the city.  To make things even more convenient, you can buy tickets on the trams themselves; they have an attendant at a desk in the middle of the tram.  You will need euros, of course.  We stayed in a hotel close to the Centraal Station, where all the trams originate.

We booked a half-day trip through Trip Advisor to Zaanse Schans, which is a Dutch village about 20 minutes from Amsterdam.  It has windmills, a wooden shoe making demonstration, cheese and chocolate tasting, and Dutch architecture.  It's a bit of a tourist trap, but we really enjoyed it.  We also saw the Anne Frank house (LOTS of stairs!!!) and we were there to see the tulips in bloom at Keukenhof Gardens, which was gorgeous (only open in April and May.)  I would also recommend taking a canal boat ride, if weather permits.

Do watch out for bicycles: they are everywhere, and they have the right of way over pedestrians!  Have a great time!

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@dawg loverThank you!  The Dutch village sounds perfect for us!  We will check that out and hopefully see it. 

[Bridgegal]

My suggestion is to add more days on the front end for Amsterdam.   It is a fabulous city and a day and 1/2 simply isn't enough.   You are going all that way, why rush thru a wonderful city.  Odds are you'll never be back.   Spend some time there and really see the city.

[Wobin]

Find out from your cruise company what (if anything) they will take you to see in Amsterdam then plan around that.  AmaWaterways took us on a disorienting bus tour and a canal cruise then dropped us off on a really crowded shopping street for about an hour.  It was full of high street shops and not very appealing.  Viking did a better job with an interesting walking tour and a canal cruise.  Viking's concierge pre-booked tickets to the Van Gogh museum for us and we visited that on our own.  Wonderful museum and excellent walnut cake in the cafe.

[alicedee]

I was there for a day and a half about 20 years ago.  Went on a canal boat ride, went through the Anne Frank house, and the VanGogh Museum.  It’s a fabulous city.