Vacation with family in Amsterdam

Now I'm talking about vacation again =) We landed in Amsterdam with the family to spend a few days here. A vacation with family in Amsterdam is a great idea, as the city is beautiful and also child-friendly. Since Amsterdam is just a stopover for us, we're staying near the airport and will be checking into the Hyatt Place there.

Since we're getting two rooms but only need one, I'm setting up my office in the other. That's practical and ultimately creates more space. I'll be working from here for two more days, and then we'll have the weekend to explore Amsterdam.

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in 2007. That was exactly 15 years ago. Time to get some new impressions. Back then I was in Cadzand, Zandvoort and Amsterdam. So it's time to check what has changed in Amsterdam. I, for one, haven't changed much, as you can see in the photo =) I still love the color yellow.

Hoofddorp

Our hotel is in Hoofddorp. A name I could never remember, so I'm writing it down here. It's a nice little town south of Amsterdam, near the airport. The hotel told us we'd have to walk about 20 minutes. In reality, it turned into almost 60 minutes because the kids kept discovering ladybugs, flowers, and grass. In between, we take photos of the flat landscape. Since we're walking on a bike path for more or less 60 minutes, we're glad to survive in the end, but we're almost collapsing from hunger. We find a good restaurant called Mooca, sit outside, and freeze because it's only 25 degrees here. That's what happens when your body gets used to 30 degrees after two years of Barbados.

But it's nice to have different food again, fresher and with cheese. So we're enjoying the late afternoon here. Hoofddorp is an alternative to Amsterdam. You can get everything here too. It has many shops, but it's naturally just a small town, with about 80,000 inhabitants. If you need more action, then it has to be Amsterdam.

Mobile Office

Back at the hotel, I first set up my office. For me, a vacation with family in Amsterdam also means planning in one or two office days. During short stays, I usually don't have a separate office. So I'm really enjoying that there are no teddy bears or toys lying around on my keyboard right now 🧸.

Since we're on the 10th floor, the view from here is great and it's wonderful to pull another night shift. My setup isn't always this big, but depending on the project I'm working on, it sometimes requires multiple monitors.

By the way, if you also work on the go and rely on good tools, then you can check out my Digital Nomad Tools Article look at or also right into the Software Tools Packing List. There's definitely something useful for you among them.

Amsterdam Sightseeing

What better way to explore Amsterdam than by boat. Since we didn't bring our own, we booked a tourist boat that takes us through Amsterdam. Thank goodness we could choose the audio program in English and understand it. Even as a German, I still find Dutch difficult to understand. By boat from Lovers Canal Cruises Let's drive through the city for an hour and get a nice overview. The advantage with this provider is that they have WiFi on board, so I can answer my last emails. After that, it's quitting time.

In addition, there are numerous museums. There is a kind of city card that already includes many admissions. We only managed to visit Madame Tussauds, but what you should definitely see are the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. Two of the top attractions in Amsterdam.

Madame Tussauds

Right on Dam Square is the Madame Tussauds wax museum. The kids have been playing for what feels like hours with a clown making giant soap bubbles right in front of the museum. If you Vacation with family in Amsterdam If you do, you should definitely visit Madame Tussauds. It makes sense from age 6 and the kids have fun. So I only go there with our oldest. She finds the wax figures super exciting and occasionally gets scared when visitors next to her suddenly move. By the way, the view from up there over Dam Square is fantastic.

In contrast to Londoner Madame Tussauds, there are rather few wax figures here. Nevertheless, the admission is worth it and we had a great time.

Flower Market Amsterdam

The Flower market in Amsterdam is the largest floating market in the world. It takes place every day and you can find it at the Koningsplein stop. Since flowers used to always be delivered by boat from outside the city, this market is on the water. Today, of course, the flowers are delivered by land. The market is more of a tourist attraction and you can buy flower bulbs here as souvenirs. It's hard to get our oldest daughter away from here because she loves plants more than anything. Therefore, we use the Botanical Garden as bait. It works, and we leave the flower market without tears.

Amsterdam Botanical Garden

The botanical garden is worth a trip Leiden Botanical Garden, which was founded in 1638, making it one of the oldest of its kind in the world. The garden is relatively small, but you can easily spend three hours here to see everything.

Our family vacation in Amsterdam wouldn't be complete without visiting at least one garden. So, here we are, exploring hundreds of plant and flower species with our daughters. There's a pond with water lilies and a river with ducks. In the center of the garden, there's a small but lovely butterfly house. It's teeming with butterflies. Surrounded by numerous grasses and flowers, we walk through a small wooded area and even see a Sequoia (Giant sequoia). It is the tallest tree in the city.

A delicious lunch is available at the Garden Café. The selection isn't huge, but there's something for everyone and it tastes great. We're all happy and have regained our strength to explore the Tropical House.

After our stay in Barbados Above all, the kids here feel right at home. The climate feels pleasant to us, and we walk through a jungle like the one we know. The only difference from Barbados is that all the trees and plants are labeled here. 😉

Shopping in Amsterdam

We're thrilled by the wide selection here. But besides the standard clothing stores and the occasional McDonald's in between, there are also a few shops that catch the eye. The Lego store, for example, is huge here. It spans two floors and makes not only children's hearts beat faster. I watched a Lego roller coaster for 10 minutes, which kept going in circles. 🙂

There are also countless candy stores here. Huge, with a selection of 100,000 different candies. From lollipops to cotton candy, to Swiss chocolate and the good old gumball machine gum. Childhood memories are awakened, and the vacation with family in Amsterdam becomes perfect. Our kids are quite content with these things, though. Everyone picks out a lollipop (Schleckstengel, Swiss German) and then we move on.

To finish off the shopping day, we found a rubber duck store. Yes, something like that really exists, and we are amazed at the ideas the inventors/creators came up with. Pretty much every professional group is represented as a duck, and even Duck Antje from Holland is there.

Conclusion – Vacation with Family in Amsterdam

I can highly recommend a family vacation in Amsterdam, provided you have a family. 😀 It's really super easy to keep the kids entertained here. There's something to discover everywhere, like the flower market in Amsterdam, for example. We didn't see everything by a long shot, but we were only there for three days. If you plan for a few days longer, you can also take a great train ride to the beach.

Here are some more impressions for you from Amsterdam.

Have fun!