Netherlands 2025

A Magnificent Tulips Paradise and Beautiful  Canals in the Netherlands  

  For the long weekend of the first of May, we decided to take the train from Freiburg to Amsterdam to spend some time in the Netherlands - first for a city trip in Amsterdam and Utrecht, but mainly for the beautiful coloured blooming tulips of Keukenhof. After some stressful working weeks, I really needed a little time out to enjoy a different environment with some delicious Dutch specialities.

  After arriving late the night before, we started our tour to explore Amsterdam not too early in the morning. After taking the tram and having a short walk along some of the canals outside of the city centre, we reached our first destination for the day - the wooden De Otter paltrok mill, a classical sight that shouldn't be missed when visiting Amsterdam and a perfect start into the adventure in the Netherlands. Afterwards, we made a stop at a bakery for a little breakfast - I got a delicious strawberry tarte - before we immersed ourselves in the pure life of the city in the Jordaan district with all its magnificent canals, which give the city the special atmosphere. We skipped the canal boat cruise, but we walked along the famous Prinsengracht and Singelgracht, also to enjoy the beautiful flowers at the historical Bloemenmarkt, where the colourful flowers and plants are displayed on barges. It was a real pleasure to stroll through the flower market and admire the different flowers and typical Dutch clogs. While walking through the Jordaan neighbourhood, we also passed by the Anne Frank House, where Anne Frank went into hiding during World War II, but it wasn't possible to get tickets to the nowadays museum. Instead of going to the museum, we really enjoyed walking around - from canal to canal and from one decorated bicycle in front of a shop or bridge to another one - all in all, we were super happy with the sunshine in the flower paradise of Amsterdam. After the sightseeing tour in the city centre, we wanted to calm down in the Vondelpark, the most famous and largest park of Amsterdam. We lay down in the grass for a moment to rest, before walking through the entire park to see all the beauties of this oasis of convenience.  

  Since our train on Sunday afternoon was cancelled, we had to take an earlier train back to Freiburg. Luckily, we still had enough time to visit the breathtaking light show about the art and masterpieces of the Dutch painters van Gogh, Vermeer and Mondriaan inside the Fabrique des Lumières. I'm really glad that we didn't miss it, since it felt like being in a picturesque wonderland of the paintings and from the above observation platform, we had a fantastic view. After the marvellous show, we still had some time left to walk through the flea market in front of the building of the Fabrique des Lumières and to buy some of the famous chocolate cookies at the Van Stapele Koekmakerij. Luckily, the queue wasn't as long as it had been the days before, so we were still able to stock up on the delicious cookies.

  Foodwise, we made good decisions to try the Dutch specialities as much as possible, starting with stroopwafels. The stroopwafel from the Stroopperie at Damrak wasn't bad with its decorations - I chose caramel and Oreo as toppings - but to be honest, the more basic one just with dark chocolate at Rudi's Original Stroopwafels was even better, so I'd recommend to take the way to the Albert Cuyp Market to try the more delicious and much cheaper stroopwafels there, even if there was also a long queue of people, which is also a good sign for the quality of the food. At the Albert Cuyp Market, we also tried an Asian pancake and a fruit smoothie. In general, I really love food markets, it was just a pity that it already closed around 5 pm. So for the dinner, we had to find something else and we found Vlaams Frittehuis Vleminckx, a famous French fries place which offers many different unique sauces to serve with the golden crispy fries. Moreover, we also tried something non-related to the Netherlands. We went to Kim's So Korean Food to eat some very delicious Korean chicken with honey mustard sauce. It was simply fantastic.  

  For me, the biggest highlight of the long weekend trip was the visit of the tulips paradise of Keukenhof. We started our journey from the Amsterdam RAI station by bus and 40 minutes later, we finally arrived at the gate of Keukenhof. We arrived around 10 am and it was already super crowded, especially in the entrance area, but still, it was a delectation for the eyes from the beginning on. No matter in which direction we looked, a veritable sea of flowers stretched out, with tulips, daffodils and hyacinths of every species and colour. This colourful flower fireworks brought a huge smile to our faces and provided us with magical moments of happiness. We tried not to miss any of the highlights, so we couldn't miss the walk-in windmill, the labyrinth or the magical orchid world in the Beatrix Pavilion. As a huge orchid lover, the beautiful blooms of the orchids were another very special highlight for me, alongside all the magnificently and elegantly landscaped tulip meadows, all of which were planted and tended by hand by the staff in the 32-hectare park. After about five hours of admiring the idyllic tulip fields and the pleasant floral fragrances, we decided to take the bus back to Amsterdam as we were getting tired from all the walking through the park. It was definitely an outstanding experience and certainly one of the best things to do in the Netherlands in the spring season. 

  On Saturday, after the wonderful Keukenhof adventure, we took the train to Utrecht, which is only half an hour away from Amsterdam. Before we started to explore the city, we went to the Kafenion Café for a coffee and a traditional Greek bougatsa as our breakfast. Afterwards, we went to the close by St. Martin's Cathedral, a Gothic church, which was once Netherland's largest church, but the nave collapsed in a storm in 1674 and has never been rebuilt, leaving the tower isolated from the east end. Hidden between the cathedral church and the university's academy building, there's the entrance to the cloister garden, an idyllic oasis full of flowers and herbs in the heart of the city with a fantastic view of the cathedral tower and the church. After another little break of enjoying the cloister garden, it was time for a relaxed walk along the Oudegracht, the old canal, which runs through the centre of Utrecht with many restaurants and cute cafés around. There was also a flower market around the Oudegracht, which, although not as impressive as the one in Amsterdam, was still worth a visit. Then, we walked a bit further away from the centre to see the Boekenkast Street Art, a huge house wall in the style of a bookcase. Afterwards, we decided to spend some more time in Utrecht's beautiful city centre and stroll along the Oudegracht again. Another highlight was the Twijnstraat, one of Utrecht's oldest shopping streets, located in the heart of the Muesum Quarter and at the end of the Oudegracht. From here, it was just another ten minutes walk to the train station. Since we were getting tired and hungry, we returned back to Amsterdam, but we just had a great time in Utrecht.