Amsterdam weekend visit from Copenhagen

This post explains how I spent a weekend in Amsterdam, way back in 2013. Amsterdam is a hub for KLM Royal Dutch airline, world’s oldest operational airline. Read my review of KLM here. Now India’s Jet Airways has also made Amsterdam Airport its new European Hub, offering frequent Amsterdam to Mumbai flights (earlier Jet had Brussels as their hub).

However, my trip to Amsterdam was from Copenhagen where I was based. It was a short 45 min flight from Copenhagen in a KLM flight. I took a Saturday early morning flight and arrived in Schiphol airport, from where I had to take a train to Amsterdam Central. Once at Amsterdam central, most of the attractions in Amsterdam were within walking distance.

I began with a canal tour- a must do activity for visitors in Amsterdam. The canal tour lasts for about an hour and takes us through the narrow canals of Amsterdam. Running commentary helps us understand the importance of each bridge or canal. We can see lots of house boats in the canals. Apparently government has stopped issuing new house boat license, to prevent canals from getting overcrowded. Only, existing license holders can transfer, sell or renew their licenses.

After returning from Canal tour, I headed to The Oude Church. Buying an entry ticket here gets you access to both the church interiors and the rooftop, from where you can see most of Amsterdam.

After Oude Church I walked to Dam Square. Dam Square is the place of historic significance in Amsterdam. It is right opposite the Royal Palace.


 I also visited the new church next to the palace which had photogenic interiors. They also had free WiFi. 

After exploring these places I went in search of food- Maharaja Indian restaurant was few stop away by tram. Had good lunch here and energized myself. I wanted to visit Annie Frank’s house, but the queue was so long, I had to abandon the idea.

Sail Amsterdam is once in 5 year festival. I was lucky this was happening right during my visit. In the evening I went to the dockyard where lots of big sail ships had parked from around the world. Few were allowing visitors to enter and take a close look. On the ocean, locals and visitors were hoping on their boats and take a possession. Indian Navy Ship was also participating in the same. Check more photos here

Only after exploring the city to my satisfaction, took train to my hostel, which was unfortunately bit far from city.

On my Day 2, I headed early to Zanse Schans, a popular windmill town away from the hustle of Amsterdam city. The visit was totally worth every moment spent. Zanse Schans has lots of traditional windmills- few powering wood cutting, few used to grind grains and so on. There’re many other attractions as well- wooden shoe factory, museum, cheese making units and so on. Visitors can easily spend full day here.

By evening I took a train back to Amsterdam central and then onwards to airport, to catch my return flight back to Copenhagen. Overall the short visit was a great experience, hope to visit one more time.