Amsterdam Overview + 5 Day Itinerary and Budget

Amsterdam was the first stop on our four month journey through Europe, and Carson and I have both decided it may be one of our favourite cities of all time. From cruises on the canals to biking to markets, Amsterdam had everything we wanted and more. We both went in to it with little to no knowledge of the city and, therefore, no expectations (although I was aware there were canals and Carson was not). We got to spend five (well 4.5) days in this wonderful city, so I’ll break down our itinerary below and give you an idea of what this City has to offer. After the itinerary, I’ll break down our spending for each day and then provide our overall rating of Amsterdam on a scale of 5.

Houses built in a wetland along the canal that have began to tilt due to the soft ground.

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Friday, September 3rd – Day 1

We arrived on our flight from Calgary at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at 1:30pm. Customs gave us no hassle which was heartbreaking for me given I had prepared the largest folder of paperwork known to man. After months of research on border control and customs I had compiled the following documents for entry to the EU through the Netherlands, and I believe you should have these on hand as well if planning on travelling: passport, purpose of stay, proof of possession of 55 Euros per day for duration of stay, travel insurance, COVID health form and vaccine declaration, and vaccination information. The latter pertain strictly to COVID measures. This information was available on the Netherlands Immigration website. The border officer only asked us for our passports, obviously, and the purpose and duration of our stay. Our vaccine information was checked by the gate agents at the Calgary airport prior to boarding our flight.

As we left the customs area, we entered the main train station. It was super simple to purchase a ticket and catch the train to Amsterdam Centraal Station. The ride was around 15-20 minutes. Upon arrival, we followed my old school, paper maps instructions to locate our hotel which was conveniently only a ten-minute walk from the train station. We checked in to the hotel and then checked in with our family to say we made it safe. If you’re travelling trans-Atlantic like we did, especially overnight, you’ll likely be tired which is why we recommend this itinerary for your first day:

1. Get your bearings

2. Explore the canals

3. Try some chocolate deserts

And this is exactly what we did. We left our hotel and walked around in an attempt to stay awake. We ended up getting some decadent apple pie and chocolate waffles and ate by one of the canals near our hotel. At about 7pm we returned to the hotel and immediately fell asleep, which marked the beginning of one of the worst sleeps of our lives. Carson seemed to not sleep at all until about 5am, whereas I woke at 10pm, then again at 12am, then again at 2am, to which we played an hour of Mario on our switch, and then I slept straight through until we both woke up at 12pm the next day.

Saturday, September 4th – Day 2

If you’re like us, you may have overslept a little bit. The day was recovered though and we actually got a lot done. We left the hotel and walked through the Jordaan district as it was right next to where our hotel was situated (something we did many times) towards the center of the city. There, we purchased tickets for the Amsterdam Dungeon, a guided horror tour by actors of the murders and other scary tales of Amsterdam. It was super fun and very scary. I love true crime, so I loved hearing about all the historical murders and scary tales of the area. After that, we walked over to the infamous Red Light District. I did not know what to expect; I knew of the district and prostitution but I did not know about the red lit windows all over the streets so our first times turning our heads towards the side of a building and seeing a girl standing there took us both by surprise. This district, however, did not disappoint. We stopped by Red Light Secrets: the Museum of Prostitution and learned all about the history of the area. This museum was a must see and I am highly recommending to everyone. There are stories told by Inga throughout the audio tour, who was one of the most famous women to work in Amsterdam. I don’t want to go in to too much detail as you should experience it for yourself, but the museum is actually inside of an old brothel and each room has a story from a girl who used to work in it. We then went to Casa Rosso Theatre. I won’t say exactly what it was but we thought it needed to be done to get the true Red Light experience. It was a little expensive, but a nice opportunity to get off our feet and we got the package that included two drinks. All in all, this is our recommended itinerary for day 2:

Goal: get a feel for Amsterdam

1. Amsterdam Dungeon

2. Explore the Red Light district through Red Light Secrets: the Museum of Prostitution

3. Casa Rosso Theatre, or any other Casa Rosso option in the district

We ate at a really cute ramen place one street down from the Red Light District. It was nice to get out of the busiest area and have a more relaxed meal.

Sunday, September 5th – Day 3

Today we had another late start to the day. After the jam-packed day we had yesterday we decided to keep it more lowkey and have a more relaxed morning, taking a few walks around the canals, and then embark on the big journey on foot to the museum district to catch our canal cruise. One of the huge perks of Amsterdam is how walkable the city is how walkable the city is. We didn’t take public transit anywhere during our stay (unless you count bikes) and saw everything that was on our list. Mind you, this meant we were consistently hitting 17-20 thousand steps per day, but it was a nice way to take in the architecture while getting to where you needed to go. The canal cruise we booked was with Boat Amsterdam. It included the hour long ride, guide, and free drinks. Carson was really loving the wine and made fun of me when I opted for a Fanta. Later that night we hit the Right Light District again, this time just to people watch.

Recommended Itinerary for Day 3:

1. Sit back and relax on a historical boat cruise.

2. Catch some night life

Monday, September 6th – Day 4

Today was all about museums for us. We recommend staggering your walking days with some more relaxed days since, as I mentioned, it’s so easy to walk for hours on end in this city. Today we walked again in the direction of the museum district to the Heineken factory where we got to tour the birthplace of the famous beer. Neither of us are huge beer drinkers, but Carson got to tour the Guinness factory in Ireland so we decided to check this one out as well. It was really interesting, but similar to the Amsterdam Dungeon, it was one of the more touristy things to do in Amsterdam. After the tour, we went to the pancake place across the street that was recommended to us by a nice man from Boston we met on the train. He mentioned that his friends (locals) always bring him there so we should check it out. He did not disappoint. The Dutch pancakes (*as I write this I am on a train to Prague with terrible wifi, I’ll edit in the actual name once we get somewhere else*) were the best pancakes I’ve had in my life. We finished off the day with, yet again, a tour through the red light district and then a trip to one of the coffee shops.

Itinerary:

1. Heineken Museum

Tuesday, September 7th – Day 5

We realized that tomorrow we could have a travel day, so we wanted to get out and active (not that we hadn’t been already). We rented bikes from a cute little bike rental shop near our hotel and Carson toured us around the city. There are a surprising amount of green spaces in Amsterdam, and in addition to the lovely parks, the bike paths are really well laid out so you can cycle along side the cars on basically any street. We did, essentially, a big circle around our city before coming back home. We recommend cycling through the Tuinpark Nut en Genoegen for a nice green space, and then up to the museum district since it is a ways to walk so much more doable on bikes. Up there, you can check out the amazing gardens at the Rijksmuseum. Later that night, we took the free ferry from Amsterdam Centraal across to the NSDM Warf. It came recommended online but honestly I would skip this part. The ferry was nice, and maybe you’d choose to take this free option just for the ferry itself, but the warf was a let down. It was supposed to be an up-and-coming renovated shipyard, but I think it need a few more years. It still looks quite abandoned, and besides some restaurants near the water, there isn’t much to do. We took the ferry back for a nice dinner and drinks on the canal and then called it a night.

Recommended Itinerary:

1. Rent some bikes and see the city

2. Take the free ferry to relax and cool off

Overall, Amsterdam is by far one of my favourite cities I’ve been to, but it is large and there are lots of people so we’d recommend spacing out your activities and giving yourself lots of downtime.

Below is a list of a few of our favourites:

Food: De Carousel Pancakes and Amigo’s restaurant on the canals

Activity: Red Light Secrets, Amsterdam Dungeon, Canal Cruise and Bike Rental

District: Jordaan District

This table shows a breakdown of our food and activity cost for five days in Amsterdam. Mind you, these are the prices for two people.

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Food	$18.71	$68.77	$43.35	$67.55	$111.21
Activities	-	$240.28	$67.17	$65.66	$26.82

Divided between the two of us, our food and activity cost each for these five days was $362.27, about $72 per day.

In addition to these costs, we also incurred the cost of the train to Amsterdam Centraal and our hotel cost. Our train from the Amsterdam Airport was $8.39 each, and our stay at CityView Hotel cost $770 for five nights, although my parents very graciously put this on their points. Accommodation in Amsterdam is very expensive, and this will eat up a good portion of your budget.

And now on to our rating overall of Amsterdam. I wanted to call it the “Wilson paw of approval” but Carson didn’t want to call it that. Instead, we’ll just stick with our rating. This is done on a five-point scale and then rated overall out of 30.

General Impression: 4.5

Walkability: 4.5

Food: 3.5

Aesthetic: 4.5

People/Vibe: 4

Affordability: 3

Total: 24 = 80%

I would go back to Amsterdam in a heartbeat and will be recommending it to everyone I meet. We loved the vibe and the people, and despite the language barrier, we felt very included and welcomed.