It’s almost two weeks ago that I took an amazing trip to Amsterdam with 3 of my girls including Bids in Graceland and Modern Travel Savant.

When I was younger, going to Amsterdam seemed to be some sort of ‘rite of passage’ that everyone took…but for whatever reason I missed that boat! I’d heard nothing but good things about Amsterdam and have been keen to visit and see the city myself so refused to give up another chance to go!

I LOVED it!!! So much so that I’m already making plans to go with my brother in October for the Amsterdam half marathon (I’ll be spectating, not running 😉 ). It truly is a beautiful, picturesque city. Thanks to the free Sandemans walking tour that we did, we got to learn a lot about the history and politics of Amsterdam, it’s architecture and population.

I highly recommend this tour, our guide was really knowledgable and had a great sense of humour! They leave from Amsterdam square every day at 11.15 and 2.15 but get there early to ensure you get a spot.

Here are some snaps from the tour:

–Amsterdam’s smallest house (the red one, in case you’ve missed it).

–One of the two remaining wooden houses in Amsterdam, known simply as ‘The Wooden House’, located the Begijnhof courtyard.

-The American Book Center

-And of course, Amsterdam’s beautiful bridges and canals

I’d love to say we explored lots of different food places, especially as I like to try authentic local dishes when I’m on holiday however…. We fell absolutely and completely in love with ‘Crepes & Waffles’. It’s a crepe and waffle place (surprise, surprise) next to our hotel (Hotel Luxer about 5 minutes from Amsterdam Centraal Station) and we pretty much had breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks there! You have to visit if you get the chance, maybe not as much as we did though 😉

-Final morning breakfast. We tried to wait for our friend’s crepe to arrive but as you can see we couldn’t resist!

We did also have a wonderful meal at a Vietnamese restaurant called ‘Welcome Vietnam’ on our final night. The food was delicious and the service was amazing. If you want a nice quiet meal at a good price then this is the place to go. I’d even recommend it for a date.

And to finish off some final snaps of us having fun in ‘Dam: