Travel
Words: Charmaine Yabsley Canals, cocktails and culture beyond the tourist trail are on show for the whole family as Get It spends two days exploring windmills, tulips and some serious art. There’s a reason travellers fall hard for Amsterdam. Yes, there are the postcard-perfect canals, crooked merchant houses and bicycles weaving past flower boxes. But spend 48 hours here and you’ll discover another side: hidden cocktail bars beneath bridges, sustainable fashion hubs in old shipyards, tiny brown cafés lit by candlelight and neighbourhoods where locals picnic beside the water long after sunset. And it’s all family friendly. With excellent train connections throughout Europe and easy onward access via Eurostar, Amsterdam also makes the perfect stopover city from Australia. Compact, walkable and endlessly atmospheric, it’s the perfect place to leave the real world behind. DAY ONE 8am: Start with coffee and canal views Begin in Jordaan, the city’s prettiest neighbourhood, where narrow streets open onto canals lined with leaning 17th-century houses. Once working class, the area is now filled with independent boutiques, galleries and cafés. For breakfast, head to Pluk Amsterdam for excellent coffee, pastries and acai bowls beneath shelves overflowing with flowers and citrus. Or try Saint-Jean Bakery, a tiny plant-based bakery locals queue for thanks to its pistachio cruffins and cardamom buns. Afterwards, simply walk. Amsterdam is best absorbed slowly, without a destination in mind. 11am: Museum hopping You could spend days inside Amsterdam’s museums, but with only 48 hours, choose wisely. The essential stop remains the Rijksmuseum, home to Dutch Masters including Rembrandt and Vermeer. Nearby, the Van Gogh Museum offers an intimate look at the artist’s life through letters, sketches and works spanning his troubled career. For contemporary culture, visit the Moco Museum, showcasing works by Banksy, Basquiat and Yayoi Kusama. Want something quieter? Museum Van Loon offers a glimpse inside a beautifully preserved canal house complete with hidden gardens. 1pm: Lunch beside the canals Make your way to De Pijp, one of Amsterdam’s liveliest districts. Bakers & Roasters blends New Zealand-style brunch with Brazilian influences and serves legendary ricotta hotcakes. Nearby, Albert Cuyp Market stretches for blocks selling stroopwafels, herring, vintage clothing and wheels of cheese. 3pm: Discover Amsterdam Noord Catch the free ferry behind Central Station to Amsterdam Noord, once industrial docklands and now one of Europe’s coolest creative districts. The standout is NDSM Wharf, a former shipyard transformed into a cultural hub filled with giant murals, waterside bars and shipping-container cafés. Beyond the street art and warehouses, Amsterdam Noord is increasingly becoming the city’s creative frontier, with adaptive reuse architecture, waterside cafés and spaces like A Lab drawing designers and artists away from the tourist centre. Nearby, thrill seekers can swing over the city at A’DAM Lookout. 6pm: Dining delights Amsterdam’s food scene has quietly become exceptional, with more than 20 Michelin-starred restaurants across the city. For something genuinely unusual, dine at Mediamatic ETEN, a waterfront greenhouse restaurant growing many of its own herbs and vegetables onsite. 9pm: Cocktails after dark Amsterdam after dark can be surprisingly sophisticated. Door 74 remains one of Europe’s great speakeasies, while Hiding in Plain Sight serves inventive cocktails beneath candlelight. In warmer months, locals spill onto the canalsides long after sunset. DAY TWO 8am: See the city from the water You can’t visit Amsterdam without experiencing the canals – literally. Skip the large tourist boats and instead book a small electric canal cruise with a local guide. Early morning is particularly beautiful, with reflections shimmering beneath arching bridges as the city slowly wakes. Of course, there’s also cycling. Amsterdam’s bike lanes are wide and easy to navigate, although locals ride fast and with absolute confidence. 10am: Hit the Shops The charming Nine Streets district (De Negen Straatjes) is filled with vintage stores, concept boutiques and independent labels. Browse Scandinavian interiors at Sukha Amsterdam or wander through hidden laneway boutiques. Nearby, De Hallen, a former tram depot transformed into boutique cinemas, cafés and food stalls, captures Amsterdam’s increasingly design-led energy. Noon: Time for culture For contemporary art lovers, STRAAT Museum in Amsterdam Noord showcases large-scale street art and murals inside an enormous warehouse space. 2pm: Lunch like a local Locals increasingly escape the tourist-heavy centre for greener neighbourhoods including Amsterdam Oost. Here, De Kas has become one of the city’s most sought-after dining experiences. Set inside a greenhouse, many ingredients are harvested from onsite gardens just hours before serving. If you want something more casual, grab sandwiches and wine for a picnic in Vondelpark for some relaxation and people watching. 4pm: Hidden Amsterdam One of the city’s quietest treasures is the Begijnhof, a peaceful hidden courtyard dating back to the Middle Ages. Nearby, Our Lord in the Attic Museum reveals a secret Catholic church concealed inside a canal house. For something entirely unexpected, Electric Ladyland – the world’s only fluorescent art museum – offers one of Amsterdam’s quirkiest cultural detours, while Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam provides a calmer side to the city among centuries-old greenhouses and rare plants. 7pm: Final night indulgence End your 48 hours with dinner beside the canals at Café de Jaren or book a table at Moon, a revolving restaurant offering panoramic skyline views. Then walk the canals one final time: just watch out for the cyclists. Have More Time? The Dutch rail system is fast, clean and simple to navigate, with frequent trains departing from Amsterdam Centraal and contactless tap-on travel available throughout the network. Within 30 minutes, visitors can swap canal houses for tulip fields, beaches and windmills. In spring, the colourful tulip fields surrounding Lisse burst into bloom, while nearby Keukenhof showcases millions of flowers across its famous gardens. For classic Dutch postcard scenery, visit Zaanse Schans, where historic windmills stand beside canals and wooden houses. Alternatively, Haarlem offers boutique shopping and café culture without Amsterdam’s crowds, while coastal Zandvoort delivers beach clubs and North Sea sunsets just a short train ride away. Travel tip: The I Amsterdam City Card (https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/i-am/i-amsterdam-city-card) offers you a unique way to explore Amsterdam while saving money. You can
