Getting the Most Out of Traveling to Amsterdam With Children

We did it! After much research, we narrowed down two locations that we thought would be great for our 11 month old’s first trip to Europe. Amsterdam and Brussels were two places that were continuously talked about as being family friendly locations and we could not agree more. I’m going to break up the trip into two posts, as we did so many things in both cities.

Traveling to Amsterdam with a baby and toddler

First things first, I can absolutely say I was a little anxious about our little girl E’s first red eye 8 hour flight. Our almost 3 year old had his own seat with snacks, headphones, and Mickie Mouse playing on repeat. E crushed it though. Only fussy a few times but mostly from just being a little overtired, but overall slept about 75% of the flight.

Click here for my advice on flying with an infant.

When choosing a location in Europe for us to take our 2 young children, a couple things are a must. Number 1, the travel location must be considered safe by our standards. Two, hotels must provide cribs. Three, the public transit must be easy and safe. Amsterdam checked all three boxes. There is a train and bus system from the airport to take you directly downtown. There are numerous options for hotels that offer cribs. This kept us from having to travel with Pack N Plays and car seats, which makes getting around on public transportation and walking much easier.

Of note, our personal decision when traveling with our children to Europe is not to have a slammed pack itinerary. For us, the key to having an enjoyable trip is to be flexible. We typically have 1 or 2 things we want to do or see in a day. If you are someone who likes to who likes to see everything in case you never go back, I recommend combining two days of the itinerary into one. One of my favorite things to do in Europe is sitting at a cafe having a nice cup of coffee or wine. That is our travel style.

Where to Stay in Amsterdam with a baby and a toddler

We stayed at the Hotel de Looier which had everything we needed. It was a close walk to the public transportation. Also it was close to attractions, restaurants and shops. Importantly to me, it was less then a 15 minute walk to the Anne Frank House. They also provided a portable crib and expresso machine in the room.

When we travel, we do a lot of research on where we should stay when going somewhere foreign to us. We chose to stay in the Jordaan neighborhood in Amsterdam after seeing many great reviews about this area. This area is considered the new up and coming area and too me it already is.

We broke up our trip into three parts. We stayed in Amsterdam for 3 nights, took the train to Brussels for 5 nights and ended back in Amsterdam for the final two. The train was only a few hours, and being our son loves trains, it was a nice adventure for him anyway. We did it this way due to award flight availability during our trip dates.

We stayed at a different hotel in the Jordaan for the last two night of our trip, Melrose hotel which is discussed on day 9.

Day 1: Getting from the Schiphol airport to our hotel and exploring Amsterdam

Public transportation in Amsterdam is super easy to navigate. Our hotel gave us instructions via email but it was very easy to figure out. There is actually an app called “9292” that is very accurate with routes and departure times.

Bus from Schiphol airport to Amsterdam

We just followed the signs out of the airport to the buses and found the sign with the “397” bus. We hoped on and stayed on until our stop which was near the end, Elandsgracht. Our hotel was a quick 5 minute walk from the stop. The walk was only through one big intersection so it was easy to do with a double stroller and a huge rolling suitcase with a duffel on top.

Train from Schipol airport to Amsterdam

There is are also train routes that travel from Schiphol airport to Amsterdam but they take you to the Centraal station. This was a long distance from our hotel and we would have needed to get on a bus from there. So we just opted to get right on the bus from the beginning.

The first day we were in Amsterdam, we were expecting to be a lot more jet lagged than we actually were. So decided to go out and walk the area.

For dinner we ate at Café Luxembourg based on a recommendation from a friend. This place was great for children. There was outdoor seating, covered seating, as well as indoor seating. They had high chairs for the kids which we came to find out in some restaurants this was not normal. Because of the time we showed up they were between lunch and dinner so were only doing the snack menu and drinks. This worked out fine being we wanted to try different foods anyway. They were known for their beef stew croquette balls and they did not disappoint.

Day 2 Nemo Science Museum

It is important to us when traveling to make sure we did some activities that the kids would enjoy. There are a lot places to go with children in Amsterdam including parks and museums. We took our kids to the Nemo Science Museum which was great for us since it is free for 3 and under. Most places in Amsterdam are free for kids younger than 3 years old. The museum had numerous areas for all types of ages. There is also a restaurant on the second and top floor for whenever you or the kids get hungry. Both restaurants have high chairs.

We slept in our first full day in Amsterdam. If you want to get up and start the day early I would have breakfast at a bakery. De Laatste Kruimel came highly recommended. Then I would head to either the Van Gogh Museum or the Riijksmuseum with a small group guided tour so you can truly understand the art.

Day 3: Pancake Cruise/ Artis Zoo

Pancake Cruise

On the 3rd day in Amsterdam, I can without a doubt say my kids had their best day. We started out in the morning going on a Pancake cruise. We took the Pancake Cruise Boat tour which I highly recommend. The pancakes were delicious, they had all types of toppings, and a hidden ball pit that they opened about half way through the cruise for the kids. Our son’s eyes lit up when they opened the hatch. There was a slide and stairs that took you down and all the kids were having a blast.

Getting to where the cruise took off from is a breeze as well. We took a free ferry cruise across the canal and it is a short few minute walk to the boat from there. There is a coffee shop there if you are early and want anything prior to boarding the boat.

Artis Zoo

That afternoon, we took a bus from the ferry port at Centraal to the Amsterdam zoo called Artis Zoo. Again, highly recommend. They have a ton of animals, places to pop in to eat or drink, and a couple of playgrounds to let the kids run. JL is a huge fan of giraffes and lions. They had both animals plus so much more. The sidewalks around the zoo are nice and spacious so getting our double Mockingbird stroller around was no issue at all.

Side note, our Mockingbird stroller definitely made the whole trip much easier. It has the undercarriage to carry a couple bags, seats for our almost 3 and 1 year old. On Amsterdam public transportation, they always keep a section on the bus or train for a spot to park your stroller.

For dinner that night we went to Cafe Sonneveld for traditional Dutch stamp pot and their famous ribs. They did not have high chairs so be prepared to hold your baby the whole time unless they are napping. It is also really small so we had to fold the stroller up and leave it in the front entry room.

Anne Frank House

Major FYI for the Anne Frank House, if you want to visit the museum and annex where they hid for 2 years, you need to make sure you set an alarm in your phone. Every Tuesday at 10am CET, tickets become available for six weeks out and they go really quickly. We made the mistake and did not do this, so we did not get to take the traditional tour. There are no tickets sold on resale sites.

Luckily, there was a special event in the evening while we were in Amsterdam. I bought a ticket for the special event and was able to visit the museum and the annex. The only caveat is that the audio guide was not the normal audio when visiting. The audio was a special exhibition by a South African composer. A friend who had visited before told me that most of the audio is written on the walls. So I was able to enjoy the special exhibit and get most of the normal experience. It was a win!

Anne Frank House with a Toddler and infant

Visiting the Anne Frank House was a bucket list item for me. I have always loved history and reading her diary as a young girl in school really inspired me to learn more.

Due to the ticket snafu, my husband and children were unable to visit with me. In the future, when my children are older and can understand the magnitude of what the Anne Frank House represents, I would like to go back as a family. Not to say you should not take your whole family if you have the chance. However, I will add that the stairs to the annex are steep and narrow so you would need to carry a baby in your arms up the stairs while balancing.

DAY 9: Vondelpark

Since I am breaking up the trip into two posts and wanting to keep this one strictly Amsterdam, this is considered Day 9 of our trip. We traveled back from Brussels Centraal to Amsterdam Centraal by NS International train. We bought our tickets online prior to our trip but they are also available on the NS International app. The train ride only took about 3 hours and it had great views of the countryside.

We stayed at the Melrose hotel in the Jordaan area, only a few blocks from our other hotel. The hotel was nice, but the room was on the smaller side. However, we only had two nights left on our trip so it did not bother us much. All the hotels we stayed at before had espresso machines in the rooms. This one came with only instant coffee. They also did not have a breakfast offering like the other hotels. There was a nice complimentary coffee machine in the lobby which was great to stop at before going out for the day. Otherwise the hotel was nicely located and easy access to anything we wanted to do.

Vondelpark

When we got back to Amsterdam we really wanted to hit the ground running once we checked into the hotel. Our days were numbered on the trip.

We walked to a Vondelpark that is on every list for activities to do in Amsterdam with kids. This is the biggest park in Amsterdam with huge fields, tons of play areas, and a cafe located basically in the middle. There is an open air theater that offers free concerts during the summer months. We really enjoyed walking through the park, but the cafe De Vondeltuin was our favorite. There were lots of kids running around playing while parents/adults sat down having some food and drinks. Our son even made some friends with some other kids that were playing. I highly recommend taking the kids to this park.

We decided to just wing it on dinner walking back from the park and that ended up working well for us. With two young kids we normally look to have dinner early anyway. We ended up going to a place near our hotel called ELA. It worked out nicely because our daughter was napping in the stroller and we just wheeled it right into the restaurant and parked it next to the table.

Day 10: Canal Cruise/Foodhallen

One thing we were not going to miss before leaving Amsterdam included a canal cruise. There are tons of options doing these cruises including ones that have wine and cheese and others that are just the basic ride around and listen to the history of the city. We would have loved to do the boat with the wine, but with two young kids we knew it was better to do the basic.

We went on the Lovers Canal Cruise, which was fine. It comes with headphones that you plug in so you can hear the history of the city in numerous languages. A few things I will tell you about this cruise that we did not know and ended up regretting was you are not allowed to eat on the boat. Our less than one year old was not thrilled about this. This boat does not have a live host, so you have to get all the information from listening through the headphones. There are more personable canal cruises with a live guide, but we did not research very much before going. (Picture was pre us being told no food)

Foodhallen

After the canal ride, we walked to a place we thought was extremely cool. Foodhallen has a ton to offer. If you cannot decide what kind of food you are craving, this is the place for you. Inside a large venue, there lies a food court called Foodhallen. The options are endless including sushi, pizza, seafood, and Thai. There is a location that sells wine and another that serves beer. It is a loud location so we had no issue taking the kids in and letting them just have some fun. Most of the seating is indoors but we discovered they also have a few picnic tables out back.

The building that houses Foodhallen also has shops and a movie theater. While we were there, they had a special market event that was going on in an exclusive area. You had to pay money to enter so we skipped it.

Day 11: Winkel 43 and getting back to Schiphol

Our flight back home was not until 5:00 p.m. on the final day, so we paid an extra 20 Euro for a late check out at 1:00 p.m. so that we could venture out one more time before leaving. We had three goals in mind for that day: Apple pie, shop, and burn the kids energy.

If you visit Amsterdam, you have to stop at Winkle 43 for their famous Apple Pie. We walked by this restaurant on day 2 of our trip, and the line was down the street, so we decided to wait for another day. We went early and the line was not nearly as bad. Winkel 43 has a smaller menu on market days. So we got the apple pie, coffees, and a couple sandwiches. The apple pie had whip cream and was a healthy-sized slice. Seating is first come first and we were lucky a family was getting up when we arrived. The apple pie was great and our children loved it.

Market Day in Amsterdam

Next we wanted to do a little shopping. There is a market by Winkel 43 on Saturdays and Mondays that we walked through. Be prepared to pay cash as some sellers do not accept cards. We had some stores we had window shopped before that we knew we wanted to go in. We were able to get our son a soccer jersey and shorts, and our daughter some nice European dresses. The shopping in Amsterdam is really good. When we travel we really try to stick to the small local shops and Amsterdam is perfect for this.

Lastly, before checking out we knew we needed to burn some of the kids’ energy before our long flight back to the United States. One of the great positives to where we stayed is there is a playground within 5 minutes walking. We stopped on the way back to the room and let the kids run around and play with the other kids. They really enjoyed this. It honestly was hard walking by this playground daily because our son always wanted to go.

We were proactive the night before leaving and had 90% of the luggage already packed up. So once we were done with all of our final activities, all we had left was take a quick shower, put on our plane clothes, and head to the bus stop. The bus stop was about a 10 minute walk and the bus that goes to the airport leaves about every 7-8 minutes. The 397 bus will take you all the way to the airport, making some stops on the way.

Overall Experience in Amsterdam with Children

Amsterdam with a baby and toddler was a blast. Obviously, Amsterdam is known for the night life, which from talking to people around is amazing. But when traveling with 2 young children, that was not what we were interested in. We researched a lot and felt like there were ample activities for the kids, and we were right. I felt like Amsterdam was very family friendly and I would definitely take them back.

One bit of advice I would give is be aware when walking around. Amsterdam is known to be the city of bikes and that is not an exaggeration. When you are in the city, you feel like there is more bikes than cars. And I can tell you, pedestrians do not have the right away. Also, if you have young children with you, you probably want to avoid walking through the areas with the marijuana cafes and the Red Light district.

Questions about Amsterdam with a toddler and infant?

Have questions about our trip to Amsterdam with an infant and toddler? We would love to engage with you in the comments!