Amsterdam in April, there was still blossom in the trees and tulips starting to fill bicycles and flower beds and boxes. We were celebrating both our wedding anniversary and 48 hours child free, we clocked up 60,000 steps, ate pancakes, the best ever apple pie, walked up and down nearly every canal, crossed all the bridges, visited the Botanical Gardens, peered into various hotels, found the plant and globe house and sat watching sunrise by the pool atop of Soho House Amsterdam. Here are our favourite images from our trip and our recommendations….
I’d read about the apple pie being epic and we weren’t disappointed. It’s huge, with generous chunks of apple, layered high with copious amounts of cinnamon. The crust is brick thick and delicious. If you are going to eat a slab of pie this big you might as well accept the offer of cream too.
Just a few doors down from Winkel 43 is De Weldaad a stunning interiors shop which is just prop heaven. I found some lovely little ceramics that just fit in my carry on. Loved this find.
Plants, coffee and cake… what’s not to love. The interiors of Wildernis, is far more lovely than I’ve seen on Instagram. It’s filled with beautiful ceramics, plant books, gift ideas and of course plants - I wish there had been some way to transport most of this shop home.
We stayed at Soho House Amsterdam. As with all their houses, it’s more than a home away from home, no need to pack toiletries or hair straightners, the bedroom was delightful, the sheets and pillows as always so luxurious and waiting for you is the nespresso coffee machine and House Cookies in the cookie tin.
This site opened last year in the 1930s Bungehuis building, a huge art deco site, that until Soho House took it over, was inhabited by squatters. (I was told they have moved next door) The art deco touches are evident throughout, the members area is relaxing and stylish. The roof has fantastic views plenty of seating areas and a pool if you fancy doing some lengths! Cecconis is on the ground floor, if you don’t want to venture too far, I can recommended the Aubergine parmigiana!
*Our stay here was gifted as part of some work I did for Soho House last year.
street scenes
25 Canal houses have been woven together to create this unique collection of guest rooms, inner courtyard gardens, meeting rooms, cafe, restaurant and event space. We had a little peek and look around it is indeed lovely, you can feel the history and the past lives the houses have had.
The Dutch House with Globes and Plants!
This one pops up on Instagram all the time. Apparently the plants and globes have been here for 20 years, I couldn’t find out why or who owns it but I’m so glad it’s here. If you are looking for it, it’s on the way to the Botanical Gardens near Cafe t’ Hooischip.
street scenes
About a 30 min walk from our hotel, we spent a couple of hours at the botanical gardens, it’s fairly small so it was easy to fit into our limited time in Amsterdam. The orangery style green house is gorgeous and the gardens were just coming into bloom when we visited. The more traditional style green house is the hot house, exceptionally hot and filled with tropical plants and flowers.
ENTRANCE 9.75 EURO
Other
Huge sweet and savoury pancakes served in an old converted warehouse, we were advised to get their at 9am (we got there at 915am and there was a queue already) when we left the queue was so long! The interiors is bare brick walls, and as many dark wood tables they could fit in, it’s very dark so unless you fancy squeezing through the queue of hungry people to get outside to find some light, I’d suggest you enjoy your pancake and take pictures of other things. Good quality ingredients, interesting, extensive menu, quite expensive.
A cafe and interiors shop, there were some very pretty ceramics and gift ideas in this lovely curated shop, we couldn’t stay to eat as the little restaurant was completely full but worth popping in if you are passing.