I last visited Amsterdam a lifetime ago.  When the chance to came to revisit it again, I was on it like a car bonnet.

The place is just effortlessly cool and I can recommend staying in the Vondlespark district, with its beautiful parkland, gorgeous houses, great restaurants and about a 10-15 minute walk for the Museumsplein.

You can also rent bikes easily and the city has extensive bike lanes, with the majority of locals opting cycle for most day to day trips.

The Museumplein is a square containing multiple world class museums including the Rijksmuseum, which has some amazing works by old Dutch masters and another museum dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh. 

You could spend an entire day in either of these museums. Since I had visited them both before and didn’t have the luxury of endless amounts of time I decided to visit MOCO, which was originally built to resemble a hunting lodge between the two larger museums.

This was my favourite part of the trip, it’s exhibits included works by contemporary artists like Banksy, Andy Wharhol, and Damien Hirst.

Other exhibits included mind bending digital light installations, and a sculpture garden.  MOCO’s exhibitions are quirky, lighted hearted, easy to navigate and well worth a visit.  The entrance fee is €22.50 and has a pretty cool gift shop.

If you’ve had your fill of culture and want to see an “earthier” side of the city, you can visit the De Wallen district.  This is home to the city’s legal red light district, with sex workers posing in windows facing out onto the street to entice customers.  It’s a busy area and didn’t feel unsafe when I visited, but it’s also popular with stag parties and things can get a bit leery late at night.

You’ll also find any number of legal “Brown cafes” or coffees shops selling an eye watering variety of hashish, edibles and cannibas products.  You’ll probably leave the place with a contact high as the smell of weed is everywhere for a couple of streets (quick traveller tip, don’t use the taxi rank in De Wallen, we were quoted €45 for a short trip that ended up costing €14 with an Uber).

A short walk brings you onto Dam Square where can sit outside in cool cafes and people watch, before window shopping in the high end designer shops.

If you walk a short distance towards the central train station you’ll find lots of companies offering canal cruises starting from €16. You can also take cruises that include drinks and dinner if you want something fancier.

We took an evening cruise which was a fantastic way to see the city’s unique architecture with the elegant 17th and 18th century buildings beautifully flood lit at night. You’ll learn more about the massive wealth that was accumulated by Holland’s merchant class that turned a small village into a cultural and financial hub. You’ll notice homes in Amsterdam don’t tend to close their curtains at night. This is meant to hark back to a Reformation tradition that you left curtains undrawn to show you had nothing to hide, (it’s also great to be able to get a looky loo inside some of the houses)

The locals are friendly and customer service is great, and excellent English is spoken virtually everywhere. It’s easy to find great places to eat. Prices for food and drink vary depending on how close you are to tourist attractions (like most cities). If you are visiting don’t forget to try the local specialities like chips with mayonnaise (you’ll burn those calories off when you’re walking/cycling around the city). Don’t forget to stock up on some stroopwafels for coming home.