Two Chicks and a PassportTwo Chicks and a Passport
Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Netherlands · Northern Europe

Amsterdam

Canal light, a thousand bikes, and museums worth the queue — our own photos, our own trip.

Women safety score

8.9 / 10

Best months

Apr–Jun · Sep–Oct

Currency

Euro (€)

Language

Dutch · English everywhere

What to expect the moment you arrive

Amsterdam in the off-season is grey-blue skies, bare trees over the water, and canals so still they mirror the whole street back at you. It is one of the easiest cities we have travelled as two women: everyone speaks English, the centre is small enough to walk end to end, and the evenings feel busy rather than edgy. Museums in the morning, canals at dusk, a beer somewhere warm at night — that was the whole rhythm and we would not change it.

Arrival notes

Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal is a 15–20 minute train that runs constantly, including overnight — no taxi needed, and the platform is directly under the terminal. Buy an OV-chipkaart or just tap a contactless card. Centraal is busy but well-lit and staffed at all hours; we arrived after dark and walked to our hotel without a second thought.

Getting around

Walk. The canal ring is compact and beautiful on foot, with trams for anything further and free IJ ferries behind Centraal to Amsterdam Noord. If you cycle, know that Dutch cyclists are fast and unforgiving — stay out of the red bike lanes when you're on foot, and look both ways twice before stepping off a kerb. That's genuinely the biggest hazard in the city.

Highlights

  • 01The Van Gogh Museum — book a timed slot online; standing in front of the Sunflowers is worth planning the day around.
  • 02Walk the Jordaan canals in the late afternoon, then come back after dark when the lights double on the water.
  • 03The A'DAM Lookout across the IJ for the view over Amsterdam Centraal and the whole skyline at dusk. The free ferry behind Centraal gets you there.
  • 04Rijksmuseum first entry slot, then the Museumplein for a coffee break between galleries.
  • 05Anne Frank House — tickets release on a fixed schedule and vanish; set an alarm.
  • 06A canal-side café at the end of the day. Order a pilsener, watch the bikes, do nothing.
  • 07Friet from a walk-up window — order it with your sauce of choice and eat it standing up, it's the best cheap meal in the city.

From our trip

Photos taken by us, on the ground.

Houseboats and bare trees along a Jordaan canal
The same canals after dark, lights doubled on the water
Bikes on every railing — the city's real transport system
Amsterdam Centraal from across the IJ at dusk
Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the Van Gogh Museum
A pilsener at the end of a long walking day
The Rijksmuseum facade on a grey Amsterdam morning
Van Gogh's self-portrait in the straw hat
Love locks on a canal bridge railing in the rain
Friet met ketchup, eaten standing up like a local