Amsterdam

Amsterdam is least busy from November to March. Though it can be bitterly cold then, there are lots of cosy cafés to hole up in, and hotel rates are at their lowest. Cycling around is though miserable in the wet weather.

April and May is a peak time, as it’s the tulip season – trips to the famous Keukenhof Gardens and bulb fields are often combined with time in Amsterdam.

July and August are busy, but the city is lovely on warm summer evenings, with many an Amsterdammer chugging along the canals on their battered old boats. Cycling around the canals – especially early morning before the crowds awake – is special.

June and September are warm – with fewer crowds.

The cheapest and quickest way to get from Schiphol Airport to the centre of Amsterdam is by rail. Very frequent trains leave from below Schiphol Plaza concourse, and the journey to Amsterdam’s Centraal Station takes 15-20 minutes.

Another option is the Connexxion Schiphol Airport Shuttle, which provides minibus transfers between Schiphol and most Amsterdam hotels. Taxis from the airport to Amsterdam centre are expensive (€40+), and the journey during rush hours can be slow.

All main districts and sights are reachable on foot. If covering a lot of ground in a short period, rent a bike – there are bike rental shops on every corner. Like the Netherlands as a whole, bikes rule: most Amsterdammers use pedal power to get around on the city’s 250 miles of cycle lanes.

Though the public transport system includes a metro, buses and trams, you may well just use trams. The trams are efficient and enjoyable to ride, and connect all the stops you will ever need/want as a visitor.

Free ferries criss-cross the waterway behind Centraal Station – but there is little for the visitor north of it.

If the quintessential Amsterdam experience, make sure you stay in the scenic Canal Ring. Most hotels here occupy classic old gabled buildings with immense character, the streets along these canals are pretty quiet, and you’ll be within strolling distance of many of the city’s most enticing restaurants, bars, cafés and shops.

If you plan to spend time in the main art museums, also consider staying in the 19th-century streets near Museumplein, where rooms can be more spacious than in canal hotels.

Parts of the city centre within the canal belt (the central eastern part) can be a little seedy, noisy and tacky, so be wary there.

Restaurants and eetcafés are scattered right across Amsterdam’s canal belt and central district. The Nine Streets have many small but quality cafes and restaurants, where you can sit on the street and watch the world go by. The same is true of the Jordaan district, home to the city’s most characterful brown cafés.

For a lively night out, head for Leidseplein, which has the biggest concentration of bars and nightclubs in Amsterdam – including famous, multi-purpose venues the Melkweg and Paradiso.

Amsterdam’s most delightful shopping area is the Nine Streets (within the Canal Ring), where one-of-a-kind, independent stores, specialising in everything from cheese to toothbrushes, line little lanes crossing the canals.

For antiques and art, browse the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat. For designer boutiques and jewellery, make a beeline for PC Hoofstraat. The main (and rather unexciting) shopping street in the city centre is pedestrianised Kalverstraat.

What to buy

Bulbs (real and wooden) from the Flower Market on the Singel; Delftware ceramics, old and new; Dutch cheeses; reproductions of famous Dutch paintings – the main museums have good shops.