Park Hotel

More on Amsterdam, Dutch Cities

Like a rebel in a tweed hat, Amsterdam has a split personality. On the one hand, it’s got a touch of the grande dame about it – all sun-dappled canals, gabled waterfront houses and curvaceous stone bridges. The kind of place where days are played out to the bells of the Westerkerk – a trip to the Rijksmuseum with the morning’s peals, a caffeine fix as noon hits, and a bike ride through the Vondelpark as the afternoon chimes by. Then snoop down a different street and you find yourself hanging out with the wild child of Europe . Ladies of the night pose like mannequins in the parlours of the Red Light District. Cafés appear amid tell-tale puffs of fragrant smoke. And bars and clubs use neon to lure the party crowd. But it’s this two-faced nature that gives Amsterdam its kick – and makes it a pin most people want to prod into the city break map of Europe . Time here can be frittered in so many ways – and you can easily stick to whichever side of the city you like best. Chug along the waterways in a canal boat, peering into passing living rooms. Climb inside the secret annexe where Anne Frank wrote her haunting diary during her two years in hiding. And peek at the world’s most famous sunflowers in the Van Gogh Museum . Or just devote your time to the countless pubs, clubs and cafés that cram into this compact city. In terms of visitor difficulty levels, Amsterdam barely registers on the scale – it’s dinky enough to walk from one side to the other in half an hour and everyone speaks English. Easily the best way to get to know the place, though, is on two wheels. There are 700,000 bikes within its borders. Pedal past market stalls reaching topple point with tulips, pubs packed with Heineken-supping locals and houses with all the crooked charm of a Brothers Grimm fairytale. Just make sure you give the cafés a wide-berth beforehand – or those canals may fast lose their appeal.