24 Hours in Amsterdam
We recently had a very fun but all too brief visit to Amsterdam, cramming as much as we could into 24 hours. We were unlucky with some flight changes and airport dramas, but very lucky with perfect early autumn weather, so I’m calling it even. After 7 years between trips to Amsterdam, there were a couple of bucket-list items that we’d missed on previous visits that I was adamant to get to this time around — mainly eating frites as many times in a day as is humanly possible.
We stayed close by to central station so we wouldn’t need to spend too much time navigating public transport, we walked almost everywhere but also bought a 24hour ticket to be able to jump on a tram when we needed. I made this illustrated map to mark some of my favourite spots, to make it nice and easy for you if you find yourself with 24 hours in the city too!
Apple Pie at Winkel 43 — Winkel’s is an institution (and deserves all the praise it gets) but just around the corner is Cafe Hegeraad, with equally as popular pie. Yet another is just up the road at the historic Papeneiland. Never too many pie places to choose from, in my opinion!
Drinks at The Papeneiland — we visited a little late in the day for pie, so did drinks instead, enjoying the people watching by the canal as the sun was setting. A very cosy cafe with a fascinating history.
FEBO Vending-machine croquette — I don’t normally think of the Netherland’s when I think vending machines, but the famous fast-food chain FEBO is a must-do if you’re in Amsterdam. Pick your snack, wave your card for payment, and press the button to open the vending machine door. We tried the croquette and I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh and crisp it was!
Pain au Chocolat at Lourens — a lucky find when we were out for an early morning walk, with Lourens bringing out the first croissants of the day. Flaky and warm pain au chocolat was the perfect start to our morning.
Tony’s Chocolonely Superstore — one of my favourite chocolate brands that is usually in the supermarkets in Sweden, but I was excited to see so many different flavours to try. We took home a couple of different blocks to snack on during the week — soothing the post-trip comedown.
Photobooth at The Hoxton Hotel — I am a sucker for a photobooth, and have more than a decades worth of black and white strips from our travels over the years. I usually search for a photobooth in a new city when we visit, so was thrilled to find this very cute one from PhotoAutomat at The Hoxton Hotel.
Poffertjes from Pancakes Amsterdam — the tinier the pancake the better! This is a lovely location on the Nine Straits too.
Trinkets at All the Luck in the World — I love buying a little piece of jewellery on a trip, it’s my souvenir of choice! I was browsing ATLITW right on closing time, so the social anxiety of holding up the retail assistant on her Saturday evening stressed me out too much to be able to decide on anything to take home with me. Lots of cute and cheerful items though!
Cookies at Van Stapele Koekmakerij — the queues for this cookie place are bananas. We stopped by on Saturday afternoon to see the line snaking its way down the street and over the canal bridges… and decided as amazing as a cookie is, there is no cookie worth giving up an hour of our time for! We went back on Sunday morning just before they opened and the queue was much more manageable — all up we waited about 15 minutes. The cookie is absolutely worth the hype, and was so tasty!
Frites at Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx — a city renowned for its frites, its not hard to find a cone of these delicious hot chips, but after eating a ridiculous amount in our short window I can confidently recommend the frites at Vlaams Friteshus Vleminckx; the perfect ratio of sauce to chip, and the fluffiest, golden fries, served up from a tiny, hole-in-the-wall location.
