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London/Paris/Amsterdam
We finally booked tickets for our Europe trip this fall, and settled on October, two weeks, London/Paris/Amsterdam. I'm very familiar with London and Paris (though always looking for new restaurant recs or "hidden gems"), but I'm wondering about general tips for Amsterdam. Place to stay? Restaurants? Can't-miss sites? We're planning on 2-3 days there.
A few other random questions -
We're planning to fly into London, train to Paris - would you train or fly to Amsterdam?
Do you think we'd be better off doing an open jaw flight and flying home from Amsterdam, or doing round trip out of London and making our way back there for a last day/night?
I'd like to do a day trip somewhere from Paris, someplace easily accessible by bus or train, easy to get around on foot, and ideally would like to see a chateau and/or a vineyard/wine cave tour. Any suggestions on where to focus our search/specific tours/companies to work through? I've been to the Loire Valley, and done many wine tasting holidays in France, but they've all been focused just on those areas rather than trying to use Paris as a base and seeing something in a day.
Thanks for any helpful tips you may have!
Re: London/Paris/Amsterdam
The biggest recommendation I have for Amsterdam is the Anne Frank House...I loved just wandering Amsterdam and seeing all the pretty little canals, buildings and the flower market!
As far as day trips from Paris, the most common is Versailles, which is very easily accessible by train and can easily take a full day if you explore all of the Trianon, etc. We also did a day trip to Rouen from Paris (which could easily be done with a stop in Giverny on the way). Rouen is where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, but it's a cute little town. I know some people have done day trips to Reims (Champagne country) from Paris...I've been to Reims, so there are lots of Champagne caves, but I stayed 2 nights there, so I can't speak to how good it is for a day trip.
We did an Amsterdam/Paris trip just about a year ago (blog entry here). We flew into Amsterdam, took the train down to Paris, and flew out of CDG. The train is really quick and easy, and it was much nicer to do the open jaw rather than have to backtrack to fly home.
For Amsterdam we stayed at the Museum Suites, which was fantastic, and it's right down the street from the Van Gogh Museum, which would be my one can't miss. It's not overwhelmingly large, and they also include pieces from Van Gogh's peers and artists who influenced him, which was interesting to see. I also really liked the flower market and the Albert Cuyp street market.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain
My Travel Blog
Amsterdam is a great city to use Priceline's Name Your Own Price feature. We went 2 years ago in May and paid like $80 bucks a night for the NH Amsterdam Centre.
I second the pp about just wandering around the city and enjoying the canal scene. We people/boat watched for hours!
And also, we took the train from Amsterdam to Paris with no problems. We then flew out of CDG to get home.
Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities anywhere, not just in Europe. A few things we loved:
1. We did a bike ride outside the city to a windmill and then a clog / cheese making factory. It was a little touristy (not something we generally go for), but it was much easier / less stressful than renting and riding bikes in the city. You will see what I mean when you get there!
2. Dinner at Indra Pura is something that we loved so much that we arranged for a one-day layover in July in Amsterdam on our way home from Europe *just* so we can go there again. It's an Indonesian restaurant that does the rice table, and it is incredible - a little pricey, but so worth it.
3. Van Gogh Museum - definitely has some incredible pieces; get there really early in the morning to avoid the crowds / lines.
4. Boat cruise of the canals - we did a small, free (donation based) boat cruise of the canals with a group that was called something like St. Nicolas' Boats or something like that and it was great. Much better than the larger boats which couldn't go in all the canals. They encourage you to bring food / wine on board for the trip and if you do that, I would highly recommend doing some bread / cheese / wine to make it really enjoyable.
Have fun! Amsterdam is a lovely city - DH and I are really looking forward to our 22 hours there in July.
We really like the Dylan Hotel in Amsterdam. Fabulous Michelin starred restaurant downstairs and the beautifully decorated and very funky rooms are a delight.
http://dylanamsterdam.com/
If not there, try Hotel de l'Europe. Freshly renovated, great staff and terrific location!
http://www.leurope.nl/
and the concierge of the Hotel de l'Europe recommended Incanto, this terrific Italian restaurant that happened to be across the street. The food was amazing and the gelato was better than I had in Rome earlier last year.
About day trips from Paris...
I found Versailles to be Ok...but not worth a second trip. The crowds of annoying tourists are thick. You can do the gardens in a golf cart though.
I am taking my mom to Giverny as our day trip from Paris. I want to see Monet's garden and studio.
For chateau day trips from Paris, I would recommend Versailles, Fountainebleau, and Vaux-le-Vicomte. Other good day-trip possibilities include Reims (champagne tasting), Chartres (beautiful church and quaint town), and Giverny (Monet's Gardens).
If you can fly into London and out of Amsterdam for the same price or even slightly more, do so. It's always a pain in the butt to spend the extra time to get back to your original destination.
I agree with PP's suggestions for Amsterdam - Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum and canal tour. We also loved just wandering around through the city. We spent one afternoon in Vondel Park just wandering around and people watching. You can also rent bikes to ride through. If you're adventurous, do a sex show in the RLD. It's a fun and different experience.
As for places to stay, last time we stayed in an apartment and absolutely loved it. http://www.linnaeussuite.nl/index.php?lang=eng This time, unfortunately the apartment isn't available so we're staying in Mae's B&B. No first hand experience yet, but it has good TripAdvisor reviews, is really affordable and is in a great location.
Have fun! We rarely visit the same places twice, but we loved Amsterdam so much we're making an exception. :-)
For London, if you haven't been on a London Walk, you really ought to. My favs were Jack the Ripper, Secret London, Notting Hill & Portobello and the Hidden Pubs walks.
Little gems: Little Bay restaurant (inexpensive, Med style, funky decor), Cinnamon Club (French style service, Indian flavours, expensive but lovely), Brew Dogs or Craft Beer Co (pubs with great beers).
Open-jaw, for sure.
I highly, highly recommend Hotel Estherea. We stayed there in November. Perfect location (quiet yet easily walkable to anything...Amsterdam is a very easily walkable city), interesting hotel, very nice. We loved it.
Definitely go to the Anne Frank House. We opted to do the reservations that include a talk in English prior to the self-lead tour and we're very happy that we chose to do so.
Eat at an Indonesian Rice Table restaurant for dinner. It's kind of like Dutch-influenced East Indian/Asian tapas, except you order based on the number of people. I can't remember which one we went to but it was great.
Have fun, we really enjoyed Amsterdam. I was surprised as to how much we really enjoyed it...enough that we decided to skip our last destination, switched our departure airport and spent our last few days there.
Ditto, which is should be cheaper flying out of AMS as LHR taxes are some of the most expensive of any airport.
Amsterdam info: I highly recommend the iAmsterdam card if you plan to visit many museums. It is good for the number of days you get - 48 hours, 72 hours... Clock starts when you first use the card. It is good for entrance fee in to most museums that are high on the must visit list. Also included unlimited rides on trams, buses for the time period. I have used it on two separate trips. Can purchase them at the central train station in a building across the street.The booklet has the information on the museums with times, etc. I went to places I might not have gone to if the entrance fee had not already been covered. I definitely got my moneys worth. Plus if a museum is not that interesting you can move on to the next - or just go in and check one out you might not otherwise go to. We did the houseboat museum which for the price is not worth it but since it was included it was interesting and quick to do.
Note Ann Frank house is not part of the card but a must see. Go early before the crowds get there. I recommend going 30 min before they open and get in line.
Recommend the following all part of the card: hidden churches (Museum Amstelkring), Rijks Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Dutch Resistance Museum. , canal tour, Museum Willet-Holthuysen and Van Loon (shipping merchant homes). For dinner go to an indonesian restaurant. We went to one in Leidesplein but can't remember the name. We stayed at West Violet B&B near Anne Frank House, 2010. Found it on bookings.com. They keep the kitchen stocked with breakfast items - make your own at any time. We even made sandwiches to take with us to maximize museum time. 2006 found a great deal at Park Hotel in Leidesplein but recently have not found a great price there.
Other places to visit (free) Begijnhof, flower market.
My must purchases - Droste's pastilles (really anything chocolate), Stroop waffles (waffles with caramel in between them - get from street vendor or in cookie section of grocery store).