…because sometimes all you really want to do is enjoy your visit!
Sounds like a silly thing to say but travel can sometimes be a lot of hard work. There’s so much planning, mapping, sightseeing and a whole host of other activities that go into it that you end up leaving your holiday needing another holiday to recover from the one you just had.
Needless to say, I know this feeling only too well, your excitement and enthusiasm for the place you’re visiting take over and before you know it, you’re spending 18 hours of your day sightseeing with very little time in between for sleep or any actual relaxation.
Now, while I totally understand travelling this way the first couple of times you visit a destination, I totally think one of the greatest joys of re-visiting a place is the freedom that comes from knowing you’ve ticked off most of the major sights and can actually spend time now thoroughly enjoying the city.
This is the point when it’s no longer about the city bending to accommodate your plans but instead is all about you relaxing and letting the city decide what your plans are.
It’s just such a refreshing change to the more active travelling and even better still, is one of the best ways to truly get to know a city.
Best of all, it comes without all the pressure that comes with being there for the first time.
kinda like the difference between going on a first date and after being in a relationship for a few years. everything is so much easier and natural by that point.
ams
Anyway, why all this preamble?
Well, as you might know, we’ve been to Amsterdam quite a few times and had so many different experiences every time we’ve visited and so, on our recent trip back to Amsterdam (which is nostalgic in a lot of ways as our very first trip, several years before even thinking of starting Hand Luggage Only was actually to Amsterdam, we decided that this trip would be a relaxed, no plans, no stress, no fuss visit to Amsterdam.
Needless to say, it felt very appropriate to be returning to one of our favourite cities in a similar fashion to the first time, albeit several pounds heavier and with a much richer appreciation for the city.
Before I begin properly (you’re probably like “What? This post hasn’t even begun yet?!”), it’s worth noting that this lazy guide to Amsterdam applies particularly if you’re just looking to have a nice relaxed holiday.
There are a lot of sights to see in Amsterdam and even more things to see and do but that’s not what this is about (we’ve got you covered on those in this post here and here).
This is all about letting Amsterdam be Amsterdam and taking you along on a ride.
FRIDAY
You could arrive early if you like but this is a lazy guide dammit and you deserve a nice lie-in!
To be honest, chances are that you’re probably going to be leaving for Amsterdam after you’re done with work (like we did the first time) so you’ll leave in the evening but as Amsterdam is only about 45 minutes away, you’ll be there even quicker from London than it would take you to get to Manchester or Edinburgh (it’s also equally quick to get to Amsterdam from Manchester or Edinburgh, I might add).
You fly into Schiphol, which is a gem or is a seriously huge airport and is home to quite a few gems but it’s late and you’ve got enough time to explore it on Sunday when you leave for home so you head out, grab your train and head into the city.
Now, to make things totally easy, book this unlimited Amsterdam public transport card before arriving. It’s so easy and one of the best ways to get around Amsterdam.
Where to stay?
We’ve stayed in quite a few places before but this time, we stayed in the Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy (which is now a Hoxton Hotel).
It’s a hotel, I realised later on that I’ve seen quite a few times and never really paid attention to, despite its grand Art Deco exterior, aside from making a few Lloyd namesake-related jokes and comments.
You know, the usual lame ones like; “Oh Lloyd, you didn’t tell us you owned a hotel here”.
The Lloyd Hotel, by the way, is incredible!
You step in and initially have this whole Grand Budapest Hotel meets Rocky Horror Show vibe but once you make your way through its rather eclectic hallways, you very quickly realise that this is not your average hotel.
Look at that bed for starters! How huge is that???
Then there’s the design of the different rooms and floors. As it turns out, this hotel used to be a prison and throughout your entire stay, you’ll never be able to place the hotel into a ‘category’ even when you look at its clientele.
The hotel is 1* to 5* and has a wide range of rooms and prices to fit that too! I’ve never heard of this concept before and I love the whole egalitarian nature of it – everyone is welcome here regardless of your budget.
The designs are so eclectic and hard to pinpoint to any specific genre and there’s a surprise at every corner. And there’s the ‘Cultural Embassy’ element of the hotel which, and I quote “plays host to a variety of cultural events, introduce people to one another and give them the lowdown on Amsterdam cultural life”.
It’s one of the most unique places I’ve ever stayed in and I seriously can’t recommend it enough!
Later that evening…
You’re all checked in, all freshened up and ready for anything! Seeing as you’ve had a long week, I’d say have a chilled evening, food, a few drinks perhaps and just enjoy yourself.
The weekend is young and you’ve still got Saturday evening to hit the town properly – you don’t wanna peak too soon.
Dinner will be at the Hotel Restaurant, partly out of laziness but mostly because the food here is seriously good and at a very decent price too!
It’s about €15 for a 3-course meal – a price that won’t even get you a decent meal in de Bijenkorf these days.
Once you’re done with dinner, it’s your prerogative whether you want to head to a local bar for a few bevvies or retire for the evening.
SATURDAY
Morning
Treat yourself to a good lie-in and wake up fairly late. Not too late to miss out on breakfast though – that finishes at 10.30 am and so you wanna be there on time, even if it’s just to grab a few pastries and a coffee.
Have a nice long bath and take the time to enjoy your hotel. Most times, we all make such an effort to look for the best hotels possible, only to abandon them the entire time we visit and use them just for its bed.
If you’ve taken the time to make sure your hotel has a spa/pool/extra comfy beds/whatever, this is the trip to use it.
Leaving the hotel, head out for a stroll through the city centre… but then again, this is Amsterdam. You need to get yourself a bike to explore the city with.
Plus you get to sit the entire time, which is as close to lazy as we can get while exploring the city.
If you haven’t seen any specific sights before now, perhaps pop into a couple of them, but only after you’ve had a coffee in one of the many lovely cafes that are dotted all around Amsterdam.
The shopping here is pretty good too so do pop into whichever ones tickle your fancy.
Afternoon
Time for lunch.
I realise this now more so than the first time I visited but Amsterdam has some pretty fantastic restaurants and the culinary scene here is pretty amazing.
See, this is the thing about venturing off the well-trodden tourist path, the first time we visited, I was so unimpressed by the food offered in Amsterdam – it was overpriced and not particularly great. The same kinda held true for the next time.
By the time we visited the city for the third time (friends in tow), we started to discover a few hidden gems across the city and soon began to find amazing places to eat in the city.
Thankfully, we left those leathery steak days behind by the third time we visited and have found several amazing places across the city.
Let me know in the comments or via email if you need any recommendations and I’ll rustle up a post with all our top culinary recommendations for the city.
After lunch, time for a boat tour.
This is the best way to see the city and one that is perfectly in tune with our lazy weekend. Amsterdam’s canals are definitely best explored by boat.
You can either get yourself a private boat (which is great as you get a bit more flexibility) or you can get a more common group boat (which is great for its wallet-friendliness).
All this lazy boat touring can make you work up quite an appetite so do head over to Winkel 43 for the most famous apple pies in all the city!
Evening
Pop into a bar for a quick drink before heading back to your hotel to get ready for the night.
Night Time
First things first – dinner! Again, there’s so much choice on offer in the city so the city is your oyster really! We decided to head over to Guts and Glory for what turned out to be quite the culinary delight.
I only wish there was more as the meals were amazing though a tad on the light side as I was starving.
The menu is dedicated to a specific place/theme and everything you get is inspired and influenced by that theme.
You get no choice when it comes to what you eat – the chef decides for you based on that theme. All you do is sit back, relax and scoff whatever comes out of the kitchen – which, now that I think about it, is perfectly in keeping with the laziness theme of the weekend.
*We had originally planned to go to a bedroom-themed restaurant (the ultimate in lazy dining) called Supperclub but as fate would have it, that afternoon, they ended up with some problems in their kitchen (malfunctioning devices or flooding or something… can’t remember which) and so they had to shut their kitchen down for the evening.
The rest of the night?
Dance your night away at many of the city’s amazing clubs… or go to bed. The choice is entirely yours. The weekend is yours and you have no one to answer to but yourself! 🙂
SUNDAY
Morning
The same situation applies – have a lie-in but not so late that you miss breakfast.
Head into town at your own leisure and slowly cycle through the city, stopping pretty much anything and everything that takes your fancy. You don’t even have to bother taking your camera if you don’t want to.
Later that morning, find a good place for brunch. It might seem a bit too early to eat after just having breakfast but this is brunch we’re talking about – I’m sure you’ll find a way to make sure you save some space in your tummy for it.
Afternoon
If you’ve still got time after brunch before you need to head to the airport, try to make your way to the museum quarter.
Amsterdam’s museums are a nice and lazy way to finish off your trip, especially if you’ve never been before (if you have – skip this, unless you really want to).
You can also head over to the Sunday market at Westergasfabriek (though it does alternate between two other sites – the IJburg harbour (Krijn Taconiskade) and Roest Café (Jacob Bontiusplaats).
It’s the perfect place to find little knick-knacks you neither want nor need and to while away your free time.
Late Afternoon/Evening
Time to head home.
Pick your stuff up from the Lloyd Hotel and head to the airport.
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