I wanted to visited a friend in the Netherlands and I though it would be a great idea to choose Amsterdam for this short trip. 

Before my trip I have already heard many about Amsterdam. Now I wanted to see for myself if I also become a fan of the city. Since I am already in education, it was important to me on a low budget to travel, which I succeeded partly well. From time to time, I have also treated myself to things, because it was the first trip after a long time again. 

How do I get to Amsterdam?

I wanted to save myself the stress at the airport with the luggage and to be honest, I do not want to fly this short distance and thus swirl unnecessary CO2 into the air. I decided to take the IC train from Berlin, which got me to Amsterdam in about 7 hours for about €50 each way. 7 hours… It may seem long to some but you can do so many in that time. Read, write your to list, plan what you will do on the spot, watch nature from the window, catch up on sleep, work and whatever else comes to your mind.

One advantage, I had booked a train where I did not have to change trains, so I could enjoy the ride.  The train is equipped with Wlean and with sockets. However, I recommend you always have a powerbank with you. Another thing to keep in mind is that many seats are already reserved. So if you are traveling low budget and you don’t want to spend extra 4,50€ for a seat reservation, you will have to search for a while until you find a free seat on the train. I think it depends on time and place though, maybe you’ll get lucky and find a seat faster than I did. I was briefly panicked when I arrived in Amsterdam. To get out of the station, you had to pass barriers. But don’t panic! You can just hold a train ticket to the scanner and then the barriers let you through. 

A much cheaper way to get to Amsterdam is the Flixbus. I have found some routes where I would have had to pay only 20 € per tour. However, I would have been about 11 hours on the road and the legroom and general comfort would have been something to be desired. 

The other option that probably most people will use is to fly. Road trips are also very popular. 

Overnight stay?

Unfortunately, I booked my trip a bit late, so I got an expensive hostel in Towndown. I can only recommend you to book early and best not to travel on weekends. I stayed at Xplore Hostel Amsterdam for €40 per night for 3 nights. What I didn’t like was that it was a 14 bed room and that the stairs were very steep and there was no elevator. What was good was that the hostel was very centrally located and I only needed 9 minutes walk to the central station, the room had two showers and two restrooms.

 

How do I get around?

The best and cheapest option is to walk. Everything is super close together and this is the fastest way to get to know the city. Of course, you can also rent a bike and ride around the city, because there are many more bikes than cars there and the bike lanes are big. But be careful, you have to pay attention to drivers and pedestrians and vice versa. 

If you can’t use mobile data in Amsterdam, it’s best to download a free map of Amsterdam that you can use in offline mode. I downloaded the MAPS.ME app and it really helped me find my way around the city and see the sights. You can also save your points you want to visit as favorites, so it’s easier to see which places to visit one by one. Of course you can always ask the local people for directions. The local language is Dutch but most people speak good English. 

Where can i eat glutunfree, vegetarian or vegan?

There are a large number of restaurants that offer gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan food. i have not been gluten-free for that long and was very surprised how easy it is to get gluten-free food. There are numerous suggestions of good restaurants on Google. I personally can recommend Bagels & Beans for breakfast. As the name suggests, they offer bagels for every taste and diet. The food ranges around €10. Unfortunately, I did not make it but Pancakes Amsterdam is also supposed to be quite good and offer vegan, lactosefeie and glutunfreie pancakes. 

For lunch and dinner I have once a Glutunfreie pizza, the typical fries and at TerraZen Centre I ate rice and vegetables with a glutunfreie soy sauce. Always ask the restaurant if they have an English menu for you and if they can make the food gluten-free or vegan. 

What places should I visit in Amsterdam? 

During my research I noticed that there are THE landmarks of Amsterdam or I just haven’t noticed yet :D. 

I was a fan of just walking off with my friend who I was visiting there and letting ourselves drift. First of all, we made a photo stop at the houses by the water, a spot you definitely associate with Amsterdam. Furthermore, we took numerous photos along the canal, each place looked similar and at the same time totally different. So if you love photos and their backdrops, you will certainly get your money’s worth. 

I can also recommend you to visit at least one of the museums. The most famous are the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank museum and Vincent van Gogh. Since all three cost around 20 €, I opted for the Rijkmeums, which offered me personally from each something, from Jesusabbildungen, old paintings from the 18th century to an Infekten exhibition. There was something for everyone’s taste. Also in the Rijksmuseum you will find the famous library. You may have seen some photos of this one on Instagram. 

At Amsterdam Central there is even a free ferry that takes you to the other side in just 5 minutes. From there you can look out over Amsterdam and enjoy the sun and the water. A also great place to enjoy the sun is the Vondelpark. 

My conclusion:

I’m really excited about Amsterdam. A really cute city that has a lot to offer. Even the weather has absolutely played along. Actually, it should rain according to the weather forecast all the time but I would be graced with warm rays of sunshine. Even if intolerances or a different diet has, one finds in this city connection. Furthermore, I felt safe during the entire time there as a woman traveling alone.