Take advantage of the hotel
During our trip to Amsterdam we stayed at the Meininger Hotel Amsterdam Amstel just a 10-minute metro away from the city Centre. The hotel was clean, right next to a metro station, full of students from other countries and included room with beds, bunkbeds and a bathroom, a community kitchen area and FREE BREAKFAST! We defiantly took advantage of the free breakfast before we started our busy days. We enjoyed our stay there and would recommend it to students traveling as a group.
Use public transport such as tram and metro
If you’re in Amsterdam, use the public transport! The trams and metros are really easy to use and get you around quickly. We had an I Amsterdam card that included public transport for free. Using public transport was a life saver for us when we had to get somewhere quickly, or if we were getting back to the hotel late. The last metro was at about midnight, so we would usually get the one before that (they are around every 5-10 mins) just in case we missed it. Although the transport is great, I would still suggest walking if you can because you get to see so much more when you walk around the streets and canals.
Book in advance
There are a lot of fun tourist attraction in Amsterdam, such as the A’DAM Over the Edge Swing, the Ice Bar and museums. For most of these places you need to book in advance! Booking is simple. All you have to do is go to the website or call them. If you have the I Amsterdam Card, a lot of these places are either free or discounted but you still have to book by using your I Amsterdam card number.
Take out a budget each day
Amsterdam can be pretty expensive and if you’re on a budget it can be difficult to decide where to go. I budgeted myself to about 30-40 euros a day for food and attractions, but I wouldn’t usually end up spending all of it. For the whole four days I had around 200 euros and I had quite a lot of extra money spare. I didn’t do any shopping but if you are planning to you might want to take a little extra spending cash. It’s important to take extra emergency money just in case something happens and you can always exchange the money back. We would find little restaurants on smaller streets outside of the tourist areas and managed to find cheaper places to eat.
Sales Tax at restaurants
Remember that in Amsterdam the VAT is not included in the prices on the menus. If you’re out to eat with a group of friends remember to put a bit of money aside for the tax because the VAT at the end of the bill can be a nasty surprise. It’s not that much but just remember that it’s there.
Eat pancakes!
The pancakes in Amsterdam are famous for being really delicious. I can confirm that they are.