Issue 12: Best of Amsterdam
A favorite Amsterdam memory is walking past a little hardware store and seeing a window display of available paint colors swatched onto small wooden houses. You could get any color you wanted as long as the color was gray, light gray, navy, or charcoal.
Clearly, these are the unofficial (or maybe official?) colors of the canal houses for which Amsterdam is so famous, and it’s something I love about the city. I like to think I’m a live-and-let live person, but I must admit that I do love it when a town has a kind of bourgeois cohesion: “Let’s get our color scheme in order! Let’s all make beautiful little gardens on our stoops! Let’s make our street beautiful and charming.” The result of this harmony in architecture and color makes Amsterdam such a handsome city, one that is a pleasure to wander even when you don’t have plans.
But, of course, a plan will make your time there even better. I think four days (six if you plan on one or two day trips) is a healthy maximum, but you can have a great trip in as few as three days. Last year an airline snafu stranded me there for 24 hours and despite the Delta agent telling me I should just stay near the airport, I assured her that 24 hours is plenty, especially if you are there on a Saturday, as I was, when my favorite market was in full swing.
Here is what I consider a perfect day, and then I’ll talk about other things to add to your list on days two and three. Definitely try to be there on a Friday/Saturday to enjoy the market.
Where to stay:
The best hotel by a long-shot is the Pulitzer. It’s not cheap - usually $500+ per night, but the hotel layout, interiors, and the courtyard garden are so unique and well-designed that it feels quite special to stay there. The hotel is actually twenty-five old canal houses joined together; not just one string of them, but also some buildings behind facing another canal. This arrangement creates the interior courtyard and also provides the space for a canal-facing cocktail bar and a restaurant, Jansz. All of the common areas are very chic and the bar and restaurant are excellent. Usually, I am not too fussy about hotels and will recommend a range, but in Amsterdam I think this hotel elevates the entire trip so you should book it if at all possible.
That said, sometimes rates get too expensive, and in that case I book Hotel Mercier which is just across the canal. It’s stylish and has a nice restaurant/bar/lounge area. It’s still fairly new, so rooms are in perfect shape. The bathrooms are well-designed with great fittings, nice tile, heated floors, and excellent water pressure. You can save money staying here but still visit the Pulitzer when you have a reservation for Jansz or the Pulitzer bar.
A perfect Saturday would include:
Breakfast across the street at Koffiehuis de Hoek. This is a super charming pancake house with other breakfast offerings (eggs, etc.). The food isn’t incredible; it’s just good. But I think it’s unmissable for the cozy charm, the tasty pancakes, bottomless coffee, and if you go early enough, a view of one of the girls hand-peeling apples for their homemade apple cake.
Alternatively, you can pick up coffee and pastries and the excellent Bussia bakery across from Koffiehuis de Hoek. This bakery is the real deal. Everything is good. Whatever you do, don’t eat too much, because later you will be snacking at the market.
Head to the Lindengracht Market, which opens 9:00am-ish. You can find everything here: cheeses, baked goods, flowers, bike locks, cooked sausage on buns, fish, meats, veggies, jewelry, etc. The market runs quite a stretch up and down the street. Take your time to peruse and eat.
Vegans: Now is your chance to get plant-based pastries at SAINT-JEAN.
For the best coffee in Amsterdam, head a block and a half up to Bruno’s. Here you will find hand-pulled espresso shots and a great cappuccino from a man obsessed with reaching coffee perfection. I love everything about this place. Good vibes and often good people-watching.
Then loop over to De Oliewinkel Amsterdam. I love the look of the store, which is so nicely merchandised. I bought a little tin olive-oil can here and you might buy some tinned fish or other speciality items to take home with you.
Now keep walking along the canal back toward the market street. You will find Café Thijssen, which makes a good pit stop.
Now walk another 2 or 3 minutes to Noorderkerk, an organic farmers market with a fresh oyster stand and a lot of other delicious things on offer sited next to this church. A vintage/antiques/junk market also sets up shop here. Facing these markets is Cafe Hegeraad which is very cute and very good.
Onward to Terre Lente! We were passing by this shop over the new year and as soon as I saw a gentleman inside wearing a certain kind of round, thick, black eyeglasses I immediately pulled left and dragged my family inside saying, “This guy has to be Italian. We can get good espresso here.” Correct. Terre Lente is an Italian deli, cafe, and wine shop. Buy snacks and provisions here for your hotel or AirBnB. I realize I am asking you to drink a lot of coffee on this itinerary, but it can’t be avoided. Sorry.