Amsterdam With Kids
We came in from a campsite on a rainy Monday in 2010 expecting the city that pop culture had sold us, and got something completely different. Amsterdam with kids is beautiful and surprisingly easy, and there is one part of it you cannot pretend is not there.
Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel
How many days do we need in Amsterdam?
Three. Two if you are passing through, four or more only if you are using it as a base for the rest of the country.
What age is right for the Anne Frank House?
Ten and up, which is also the museum’s own guidance. Under about nine they get stairs and a line and an atmosphere they cannot place. From ten or eleven, having read the diary first, it lands hard.
How do we avoid the Red Light District with children?
You partly do not, because it is in the oldest part of the center. Learn where it is on a map before you go, keep your routes west and south of Damrak, and do not walk through it after dark. In daylight it mostly reads as a busy old street.
Should we rent bikes as a family?
Not in the center, not on day one. Amsterdam cycling is fast and unforgiving. Ride in the Vondelpark or out at Zaanse Schans instead.
Is a canal boat worth it?
Yes, and do it first. It gives the kids the shape of the city in an hour, sitting down, out of the rain. Take a small open boat over a big glass topped one.
Is Amsterdam safe for a family?
Very. Bikes are the actual hazard, not people. Watch for pickpockets around Centraal and Damrak like any European station, and otherwise it is a calm, orderly city.
A City Built On Water, Which Turns Out To Be Perfect For Kids
Amsterdam is small, flat, on the water, and almost entirely in English. On paper that is an easy family city and in practice it mostly is. The two things that catch people out are the bikes and the Red Light District, and both are manageable once somebody tells you.
The center is a set of half circles of canal, which sounds confusing and is the opposite. You are never far from a canal and the canals tell you where you are. Everything inside the ring is walkable, and the bits that are not are ten minutes on a tram.
What makes it land with children is that the city is interesting to look at. Narrow houses leaning at angles. Hoists sticking out of the top of every gable. Houseboats with window boxes and cats in the windows. Bridges everywhere. Our kids would have walked around looking up for a whole afternoon, and there is not a ticket price on any of that.
Here is the honest part and I am not going to bury it. The Red Light District is in the oldest and prettiest part of the center, right beside the Oude Kerk, and you will walk into it by accident if you do not know where it is. It is not hidden, it is not signposted, and there are coffeeshops and sex shops on ordinary streets you might otherwise route through. Knowing the geography in advance is the whole solution. More on that below.
Who it is for
Families who want a European city that is easy on the first day. English everywhere, short distances, a boat instead of a bus, and museums that are good rather than dutiful. Also anyone with a child who has read the diary.
Who should skip it
If you have very young children and the idea of navigating a bike lane with a stroller fills you with dread, Haarlem or Utrecht will give you most of the same Dutch city for a fraction of the stress. And if you would rather not have the conversation about what those windows are, either wait a few years or accept that you will be having it.
Getting There
General ranges, not exact schedules. Check live times before booking anything tight.
Where To Base Yourself, And The One Area To Understand First
The Jordaan
West of the center, just past the Anne Frank House. Narrow streets, small bridges, cafes with tables on the pavement, and no nightlife to speak of. This is where I put families. You are ten minutes from everything and you sleep. It is not cheap, but it is the calmest good address in the city.
The Museum Quarter and Oud Zuid
Around Museumplein, where the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum sit on the same square. Wider streets, bigger apartments, a proper park next door in the Vondelpark, and a short tram into the center. The easiest option if you want space and quiet, and often better value.
De Wallen, The Red Light District
Know where this is before you arrive. It is the wedge of old streets east of Damrak around the Oude Kerk, between Warmoesstraat and Nieuwmarkt. It is beautiful in daylight and it is also windows, sex shops and coffeeshops on ordinary corners. Do not stay in it, and route around it after dark.
What Is Worth Your Hours: Things To Do In Amsterdam With Kids
The Anne Frank House
Tickets are online only and release on a rolling six week window, and they sell out in minutes. Set a reminder. On the age question I am going to be direct. The house recommends ten and up and I agree with them. Under about nine, children get a line, some stairs and an atmosphere they cannot place. From ten or eleven, if they have read the diary first, it is one of the most important hours you will ever give them.
A Canal Boat, On Day One
The single best thing you can do with children here, and I would do it first rather than last. An hour on the water gives them the whole shape of the city, it is sitting down, it is out of the rain, and the bridges and houseboats are more interesting at water level than from the pavement. Take a smaller open boat over one of the big glass topped tour boats if you can.
The Rijksmuseum And NEMO
The Rijksmuseum has a proper family route and a children’s trail, and the Night Watch hall holds kids longer than you would think. Ninety minutes, not four hours. NEMO is the green ship shaped science center by the harbour and it is five floors of pressing things, entirely hands on. If your kids are under about eight, do NEMO and skip the Van Gogh.
One Booking Decides Everything, And It Is Not The One You Think
Anne Frank House, To The Minute
Online only, no door sales, and tickets release on a rolling window roughly six weeks out at a set time. They are gone in minutes in summer. Put a calendar alarm on it before you book flights, because a lot of families build the whole trip around this and then miss the release.
Rijksmuseum And Van Gogh, A Few Days Ahead
Both timed, both usually fine three or four days out except in peak summer. Take an early slot. The Rijksmuseum at nine is a different building from the Rijksmuseum at noon.
Boats And Bikes, Same Day Is Fine
Canal boats run constantly and you can almost always walk on. Book a small boat a day or two ahead if you want the better experience. NEMO rarely needs booking. The Vondelpark, the Begijnhof courtyard and the whole business of walking around looking up cost nothing.
It Rains. Plan For It And The Rest Is Easy.
Five Things To Eat In Amsterdam
Stroopwafel
Bitterballen
Poffertjes
Patat met mayonaise
AppeltaartNicole’s Perspective
The City We Expected Was Not The City We Got
Adam wrote our Amsterdam post at the time and he was honest about what we were expecting. Pop culture had sold us absinthe and a haze of pot smoke. What we got was cobblestones, canals, rain that made the streets shine, and architecture that looked important in every direction. We came in on the metro from the campsite on a rainy Monday and it was one of the nicest surprises of the whole camper trip.
We did the Anne Frank House and it was very powerful and quite moving, standing in the small space where she and Fritz Pfeffer had to keep quiet for so long. Afterwards we met up with Marika, who we had met in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and traveled with for a few weeks, and who now lived in Amsterdam. That is her table in the photograph. She cooked us Dutch mashed potato and bratwurst with an apple cinnamon yogurt, and her roommate had made a cheesecake. The next day her friend Mariella traveled over an hour just to have lunch with us.
That is the thing I took away from Amsterdam and it is not on any list. The Dutch are some of the friendliest people we have met anywhere. Adam signed off that post with dank u wel and he meant it.
All of that was before we had children. If you want help fitting it into a bigger European route, send me your dates.
Bike Lanes, Steep Stairs And The Conversation You Will Have
Amsterdam is easy with children in almost every way except two, and both are worth saying out loud before you go rather than working out on the pavement.
On the Red Light District, my honest advice. Do not build a plan that pretends it is not there, because you will end up walking through it unprepared, which is the worst version. Look at a map before you go, keep your walking routes west and south of Damrak, and if you do end up in it in daylight with an eight year old, it mostly reads as a busy old street with some odd shops. Older kids will notice. Answer plainly and move on. It is legal, it is regulated, and a flat factual answer lands far better than a flustered one.
Downtime Pick
The Vondelpark. A long green park just past the Museum Quarter with ponds, wide paths, an open air theater in summer and a big playground. Free, full of Dutch families, and about ten minutes from the Rijksmuseum. The right place to send everybody after a museum morning.
Get Out Of The City On Day Three
Zaanse Schans, Or Haarlem
Zaanse Schans is forty minutes north by train and a short walk from the station. Working windmills you can go inside, a clog workshop, a cheese farm with samples, and the whole thing on a river bank. It is unashamedly a heritage village rather than a real one, and small children absolutely do not care. Go early. By eleven the coach tours land and it goes from charming to crowded very quickly.
Haarlem is the other option and it is the better one if you have older kids. Fifteen minutes by train, a proper Dutch town with a huge market square, a cathedral, canals, and a fraction of the crowd. It is what people imagine Amsterdam is like, and it is also where a lot of families end up wishing they had based themselves.
If you are here in tulip season, Keukenhof is the third option, but it is only open from late March to mid May and it needs a full day and a booked ticket.
Ask About The Stairs Before You Book Anything
The Canal House Problem
Canal houses are narrow and tall because they were taxed on their frontage, which means the staircases inside are steep enough to count as ladders. Beautiful buildings, difficult with a toddler, a stroller or a big suitcase. Ask specifically how many flights and how steep, and if there is an elevator, before you book anything with a gable on the front.
Rooms are also small and family rooms are scarce, the same problem as Dublin. Apartments in Oud Zuid or the Jordaan are usually the better answer for four or five people, and Amsterdam licenses its rentals, so check the registration number is on the listing.
If you would rather spend the money somewhere, spend it on being inside the canal ring or right by the Vondelpark. Being able to walk home when somebody is finished is worth more here than any hotel feature, because the trams stop running late and taxis are expensive.
The Honest Number Of Nights
Amsterdam is a three night city for most families. It is smaller than people expect and the country around it is the good part.
Two Nights
Enough if you are passing through. A canal boat and the Jordaan on day one, the Anne Frank House or the Rijksmuseum on day two. Tight but not unpleasant, and you will not feel you missed much.
Three Nights
My answer. Boat and center, museums, then a day out at Zaanse Schans or Haarlem. That third day out of the city is what stops Amsterdam feeling like a crowd, and it is the one most people cut.
Four Or More
Only if you are using it as a base for the rest of the Netherlands, which is a good plan because the trains are fast and everything is close. Otherwise move on. Utrecht, Delft, Rotterdam and the coast are all within an hour and none of them are crowded.
Things I Would Tell A Friend Before They Booked
Amsterdam With Kids, Answered
Poppy marks the family parts. Wherever you see her, that section is written for traveling with children.How Many Days
Two or three days covers Amsterdam with kids.
A canal boat, the Van Gogh Museum, Vondelpark on bikes, and the Anne Frank House if your kids are old enough.
Add the NEMO science museum, a cheese tasting, and a slow morning at a canal-side cafe.
The windmills at Zaanse Schans, or the tulip fields at Keukenhof in spring.
How many days do we need in Amsterdam?
Three. Two if you are passing through, four or more only if you are using it as a base for the rest of the country.
What age is right for the Anne Frank House?
Ten and up, which is also the museum’s own guidance. Under about nine they get stairs and a line and an atmosphere they cannot place. From ten or eleven, having read the diary first, it lands hard.
How do we avoid the Red Light District with children?
You partly do not, because it is in the oldest part of the center. Learn where it is on a map before you go, keep your routes west and south of Damrak, and do not walk through it after dark. In daylight it mostly reads as a busy old street.
Should we rent bikes as a family?
Not in the center, not on day one. Amsterdam cycling is fast and unforgiving. Ride in the Vondelpark or out at Zaanse Schans instead.
Is a canal boat worth it?
Yes, and do it first. It gives the kids the shape of the city in an hour, sitting down, out of the rain. Take a small open boat over a big glass topped one.
Is Amsterdam safe for a family?
Very. Bikes are the actual hazard, not people. Watch for pickpockets around Centraal and Damrak like any European station, and otherwise it is a calm, orderly city.
Does using a travel advisor cost more?
Planning fees start at $200 and cover everything. International family trips start at $500. The trip itself is the same price you would pay booking it direct. Same rates, plus somebody who will tell you to give a night to Haarlem instead of a fourth one here.
Ready To Put The Netherlands On The Calendar
Send me your dates and how old your kids are and I will tell you how Amsterdam fits, and where the rest of the nights should go.
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