How to Plan an Itinerary to Amsterdam

The dos and don'ts for planning a week-long itinerary for the Netherlands

We originally planned, when innocently booking our flights to the Netherlands, to visit 5 cities in six days. How foolish of us!

We high underestimated the number of things to see and do just in Amsterdam and its surrounding cities, let alone the time and energy it would take to traverse across the country to other places like Rotterdam and The Hague.

That is not to say it is impossible, by all means you know yourself and your trip goals the best! But even for us adventurers who usually pack only what we can carry in a backpack and jam as many sights, sounds, and cities into an itinerary as we can, we had to admit that to truly enjoy Amsterdam, Hilversum (the small, suburban city we stayed in) and Haarlem, we had to cut down our activities and travel time.

So, learn from our mistakes, and consider the following on what we would do differently!

1) Have a more central base

2) pre-purchased tickets for any and everything

3) Rent bikes every day (or a week-long)

4) Bring more base layers (if you are coming in the shoulder months)

5) Direct flights > Lily-pad hopping

But before we get into that, here is what I think we did right!

1) Relied on groceries and ate most at our Airbnb

2) Explored backstreets and vintage shops (Amsterdam has some of the best vintage collections and thrifting options I've seen)

3) Took lots of photos!

4) Biked twice, we rented from Frederic Rent a Bike, two days in a row and not only was he reasonably priced and a cheaper option than many of the other bike-rentals shops, but he was also incredibly friendly and a walkable distance from the central station.

Original photo at the NDSM Wharf, exploring the art offices of the warehouse

Have a Central Base

Our host tried to help us with transportation tips, suggesting we purchase the Amsterdam Regional Travel Card through Discover Holland (which we did) but due to both user error and something wrong with our NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegan) account (their version of a Metro App to purchase train and sprinter tickets)- we weren't able to access and use the travel card.

So, for every train ride to and from our Airbnb in Hilversum, NL we spent a minimum of 28 euros or $31.81. Which adds up!

This was our biggest expense for the trip and our most unexpected.

I had done some research but didn't look too deeply into how much the trains cost in the Netherlands, assuming they would be similar to New York or Balitmore-costing no more than $5 a ride.

So not only were these rides (though much smoother and cleaner in comparison to U.S. trains) eating into our travel funds but they were taking time from our day to explore.

We had chosen to not stay in Amsterdam because there were not whole apartments or units available, most were a room in someone's home (which cuts out the option for cooking typically) and most were at least a $30-50 more expensive a day.

But after all the commuting and the money spent on train tickets, if we were to do it again, we would just stay in Amsterdam and only do one- or two-day trips to visit one of the other cities-saving ourselves stress, money and time.

Pre-purchase tickets for museums, libraries, and events

In a similar vein as the previous point, this may sound obvious. We have looked at Corrie Ten Boom and Anne Frank's houses for tours prior but were not planning on attending.

But then the day came, and I wanted to see if we could tour the Boomhuis as we were in Haarlem.

The tickets were four months booked out!

The Netherlands are known for the variety of museums they have, from erotic walks through the history of sex-work to the flavorful process of making cheese, they have all the museums!

But we are not huge museum buffs and wanted to spend most of our time exploring the streets.

We still visited the Boomhuis, biking up to it and taking a photo. I read the book as a teenager, three times, and was rather excited to see the home and shop of the ten Booms in person, despite not getting a tour.

Original Photo of a blue bike by Marie's breakfast cafe

Rent bikes for the whole trip

We were lucky enough to have lovely hosts that loaned us two bikes for exploring Hilversum and getting groceries, but if we hadn't it would've doubled our walking. Everyone in Amsterdam has a bike! So, renting for the entire duration of your visit is helpful to cut down on train/bus transit and alleviate the pain of walking absolutely everywhere.

Not to say you won't be walking a lot. It's Europe, c'mon.

But even just shopping around or grabbing coffee is better with a bike.

We rented from Frederic Rent a Bike, who is only about a 15-minute walk from Central Station in Amsterdam.

He was kind, friendly and spoke any language you might come across! We even were late returning our bikes one of the two days because we got caught on the other side of the wharf and missed our ferry back. We took the long way around and arrived a few minutes after closing and this man didn't bat an eye.

It is true that biking in downtown Amsterdam can be intimidating, especially if you are not a regular cyclist or are not familiar with big cities and their fast pace.

Even I, who bikes pretty regularly in downtown Indy, was being passed by locals until I was biking with all my might. They go fast and use their bells frequently.

But it was my favorite way to see the city and save time when hopping from shop to shop or cafe to cafe.

If you are planning on having a central base in Amsterdam or Haarlem, consider asking your host if they have bikes for rent or loaning and if not, check our Frederic's Rent a Bike, as they have good deals for multi-day rentals.

Bring lots of Base Layers

This is typically a general travel rule, no matter where you are going, but I try to pack as little as possible and tend to forget what I should actually be wearing. Like all of a sudden, I forget how to dress myself.

The Netherlands generally get the most visitors in April and then again throughout the summer months. But if you are like me and travel on a budget, you are likely booking your trip for the shoulder months (March-April) and (September-October). This means that the weather, which is already unpredictable and chilly can range from low 30s (Fahrenheit) to high 70s (Fahrenheit).

So, do you bring a sweater or a tank-top? I found that it was best to have a thin, long sleeve, maybe even something lacey if you want to have flare, and pair it with a vest, sweater vest or puffer vest and then a jacket or button up on top.

Leggings are a must, too. Even if you don't want to be dressing in athleisure wear, wear it under your more stylish choices to stay warm and be able to change throughout the day as the weather jumps from icy-cold to summertime heat.

Direct Flights > Lily-pad hopping

Okay, maybe this is controversial, I don't know honestly. But after we added up the time and money spent on our indirect flights and lay-overs, it cost us more than if we had chosen the more expensive, direct flights to the Netherlands.

We have two major layovers in Baltimore before we had our two long-haul flights, stopping once each time in Iceland.

The cost of transit in suburban Baltimore, our Airbnb's both times and the food at the airports to satiate us between our longer, international flights added up to cost more than if we had just bought the direct flights to the Netherlands.

It may be more beneficial for you to simply take the cheaper flight and stay with someone you know or work remote and relax in a hotel. But for us, next time we will choose the direct flight.

For us, finding the cheap flights and then planning the itinerary around them is key, but from now on we will do our research on the cost of layovers because ultimately would've been cheaper to skip the airport food, the uber rides and metro transit and scary Airbnb in someone's basement.

All that to say, this was an awesome trip! Our adventures are just that: adventures. We don't expect a vacation because it wouldn't suit our style of travelling during this phase of life. We are here to learn about, experience and taste as much of the world as we can!