Ah Amsterdam. This beautiful city really did steal my heart a little bit. From the canals to the fairy lights, the city really does feel a little magical.
As students, holidays come with a tight budget, something my friend and I experienced for the first time in Sweden a couple of years ago (you can read about that here). On that trip, we discovered two things: £250 is a great budget, and 3 days is the perfect length of time to explore a city. Having flitted between many places in Europe we finally settled on Amsterdam. With the challenge of replicating our successful holiday-on-budget blueprint, we travelled to The Netherlands for 3 days in the second week of January 2019, to escape our responsibilities before our final term of university started.
The best bit?
In this 3-part blog series I hope to give you an insight into what we got up to, so you too can travel to Amsterdam whilst on a budget, covering everything from travel and accommodation, to food and activities. In the final part of the series, I'm talking about activities: what we did in those precious 72 hours in Amsterdam. Believe me when I say that we avoided the clichés...The best bit?
We only spent £200!
Who Needs a Tour Guide?
As we arrived late on day one, and only went into the city to eat dinner, we decided to dedicate the first part of day two of our trip to exploring the city. Whilst I did find a self guided walking tour (where you had to pick up the instructions from a café - I can't find the website for it, sorry...), by the time we got to the pick up spot, we felt we had seen most of the route already (including Anne Frank's house, who's door is to the side of the entrance to the very busy museum). Instead, we decided to give Google Maps a well earned break and simply wander the streets for a couple of hours to see what what we would find. I personally think this is just as good as a canal tour, even if you don't get a full explanation for what you are seeing, because you get to explore the streets which don't have a canal, and it's free! One of the best things we stumbled upon was the Magna Plaza, which was stunning inside. It also still had its Christmas decorations up which, for an elf-in-training like me, was an added bonus.
Spa Zuiver
In the afternoon, my friend and I headed off out of town for the peak moment of our trip - a spa day. We discovered that morning that there is a deal going on, so called up to transfer onto the deal (reduced entry and free cake!). This 'Anniversary Deal' seems to be a long-term one, so take advantage of it if you can. My friend and I spent 5 hours there, going through their many saunas (including the 8 outside we almost missed), chilling in a hot tub and experiencing a loyly (where they place scented water on the sauna coals and waft it at you with a towel - it's much better than it sounds, honest!). Never in my life have I not wanted to leave a place more than this - it was so relaxing. To top it all off we were able to go on a swimwear day (needless to say, I am far to British for the whole spa-in-your-birthday-suit experience 😂). Would 100000000% recommend this place - I will definitely be returning!
Van Gogh Museum
Take it from the history student who dislikes museums: this is a fantastic museum. Over three floors (which are all accessible from the ground floor so you can break for lunch), the museum has displayed their HUGE collection of artwork in chronological order to give you a full account of the iconic artist's life. Incorporating images by his friends and inspirations, as well as development sketches by Van Gogh and letters he wrote (the museum was set up by his family), you really get a sense of how he created his works and the process behind his masterpieces. Furthermore, the text they provide next to the artworks describes the pieces in such a way that you can really understand the meaning behind the pieces, and why they were painted in the way they were - all the way down to the colour selection! The ticket price might be high, but it is worth every penny.Cost Breakdown
Van Gogh Museum: €19/£16.64
Postcards from Van Gogh Museum: €2/£1.75
Total: £34.59/€39.50
And so concludes the final instalment of my Amsterdam on a Budget series on my blog. Missed the first two posts? Click the links below to view them:
Travel and Accommodation
Food
Have you ever been to Amsterdam? What was your favourite activity?
Where would you recommend I travel to next?
Where would you recommend I travel to next?
June xx
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