Traveling to Amsterdam with kids? Here's an insider guide for what to do and where to go, tested by us and proven to be kid-friendly and cool.
House and Park Frankendael
In the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age, it was the fashion for Amsterdam’s wealthiest merchants to buy a plot of land outside the city and build themselves a stately country house. The beautiful old House Frankendael, located about a mile east from the city centre in Watergraafsmeer, is one of those country estates and in fact the only one remaining in Amsterdam.
It is located in the historical Park Frankendael, which is a lovely place to visit for a relaxing stroll with the family. There’s a playground to be discovered and also a little ruin on a (tiny) island. The restaurant in the old coach house of Frankendael House is open 7 days a week and is a good place for breakfast or lunch combined with a visit to the park — especially in summer when the terrace at the back of the house is open.
The famous restaurant The Kas is also located in Park Frankendael, in a huge greenhouse dating from 1926, and is a great place for dinner, with or without children.
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Restaurant As — pure food
One of my favourite restaurants in Amsterdam is Restaurant As. Located in a modern chapel on the edge of the Beatrix Park, this is slow food at its best! The cooks use organic, seasonal food from local sources and are big on treating the food the way it should be treated, so that it tastes exactly like what it should taste like. They smoke their own salmon, cure their own ham and bake their own bread. A pig and some chickens roam around at the back of the restaurant and remind us respectfully of where it all comes from.
Children are welcome and have enough room to play and even run around. And in summer there’s a lovely, big terrace.
ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| De Parade |
The Hortus
Amsterdam’s botanical garden, the Hortus Botanicus, was established in 1638 as a medical garden, and is now one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. It’s a fairly small botanical garden, but it still houses over 4,000 plant species (about 2% of all plant species growing on Earth), amongst which a good selection of carnivorous plants (that my kids find absolutely fascinating), cycads or ‘dinosaur plants’ and a giant water lily.
Children can see how rice grows, learn where cinnamon comes from, and study the transition from caterpillar to butterfly in the butterfly greenhouse. The old orangerie has been renovated and now houses a restaurant with purely organic dishes (high chairs present), and there’s a small gift shop with a cute selection of toys and books.
All in all, a lovely and educational escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, and, thanks to the greenhouses, a chance to enjoy nature even when it’s raining cats and dogs.
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ALSO IN THE AREA:
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| Utrechtsestraat | Raining? Go tropical! | Tokyo Café |
Rijksmuseum
After taking the children to the Rembrandt House a while ago, we thought it would be a good idea to now take them to the Rijksmuseum to see Rembrandt’s most famous painting, the Nachtwacht (Night Watch). The Rijksmuseum is Amsterdam’s Arts, Craft and History museum and houses a large and important collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age (think Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals).
The fact that the museum is currently being renovated, and has only the ‘best of” on display, makes it a more manageable size for children. There are some lovely publications for sale in the bookshop that will help you make the visit as interesting for your children as for you. And the doll’s house is seriously amazing, I still remember that from my childhood, and I’m pretty sure it made an equally big impression on my kids. Don’t miss it!
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| Tokyo Café | Such fun at TunFun | Not a fish! |
Delle 4 Stagioni
Delle 4 Stagioni is the neighbourhood Italian restaurant that every Old-South family knows about. It is located in a beautiful old butcher’s shop with all the original antique wall tiles still present (and depicting the four seasons). The restaurant serves a good Roman style pizza, tasty fresh pastas and has a decent wine list. The manager, the very kind Giulia Consonni, has a friendly word for each child and takes them to the kitchen in the back of the restaurant for an ice-cream cone as dessert — provided the little ones eat their dinner, obviously! (more…)
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| Imps & Elfs | Le Fournil | Restaurant As — pure food |
