Two weeks ago I was in a city break in Amsterdam. I needed a few days off, somewhere to do nothing but walk around and explore the surroundings. For me it was the third time I was walking in this lively city. Before I left, all my friends wondered how I would get there … because we were in a coldy winter, with closed highways and national roads with canceled trains and delayed flights. But I knew the weather would not be an obstacle for this little trip, so we set off. We went in and out of the highway several times, but we arrived well in Bucharest. There was no delay in the flight, as everyone thought, and we arrived at Schipol Airport, on Friday morning, with a small hand bag and with lack of sleep.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn hotel and we were very pleasantly surprised when we got the rooms at 9 am, plus a bonus breakfast from them! A wonderful way to start our weekend in Amsterdam, I was telling myself!

I visited Amsterdam on spring or summer time so I did not ask too many questions about the weather. In my mind in Amsterdam, the weather is like in London, but not so rainy, but I did not take into account the siberian frost that had hit Europe, so with the coolest coat and the warmest winter boots, I swirled in a great way.

Aside from the cold, because it’s not about it here, we explored the whole city, walked through the canals and had 3 days of relaxation.

Here are some ideas about what you can do in Amsterdam. By the way, I recommend visiting the town without children, because it is a city that is too free for the senses of the little ones.

1.Take public transport subscriptions from the airport during the entire stay. We gave 26 euro / person for a 3-day subscription, valid for any public transport in Amsterdam

2.Visit museums, there are a lot and many of them are interactive and very interesting. In addition, if you catch a cold weather, it’s great to hide from time to time in a warm place and moreover find out many interesting things about their history and not only

3.Go to the famous Red Light District. It’s a colorful neighborhood, where everything we know is forbidden or taboo, well there is not. Semi-naked ladies in the showcases awaiting their clients, live adult shows, coffee shops, where marijuana is the star and legal, all of these things are available to anyone who wants to feel the adrenaline

4.Take the ferryboat and stroll through the canals. They have a few free tours and you can, in this way explore the city and all the surroundings (on one of the walks, I found an island with a lot of colored containers, drawn with graphite, a very good place for a short photo shoot)

5.If you are curious what smells you feel at all corners of the streets, you can enter a coffee shop, because that’s the smell

6.Asterdam is a city full of life at night too, so you can try a club or pub, a play or a show

7. If you catch hotter days, take a bicycle and discover the city. It’s full of bikes on the streets, in fact there are more bikes than cars and the roads are specially arranged for them

8. In any cheese shop you enter, you will have the chance to taste many specialties and believe me they have a lot and are delicious

9. Every day, many antique trade shows are organized, in different corners of the city. Visit one because you will definitely find something to buy.

10. If you stay for more than three days I recommend you go outside the city, in Haarlem or Muiden (20-30 minutes by train from Amsterdam) and you will find plenty of beautiful castles and landscapes.

We did not have time to go outside the city but next time I want to turn myself into a little princess for a day, at least.

These little getaways, city breaks as agencies call it, are perfect for a restart moment and to take a well-deserved fresh breath of air. I recommend you, whenever you have the opportunity, to take your partner, and get lost in a small town. It’s so good!

Dearfully,