Amsterdam Travel Guide: 3 Day Itinerary & Best Things to Do

My 3 days in Amsterdam

Three days in Amsterdam, mostly spent eating my way through bakeries, wandering along the canals, and hunting for vintage treasures. Here’s exactly how I’d spend the time again, including where to stay, what to eat, which experiences are worth booking ahead, and one dinner I wouldn’t repeat.

Where I stayed

I stayed at the Pulitzer, in the Pulitzer Suite, and yes, breakfast was included. It’s a maze of 25 canal houses from the 1600s and 1700s in the Nine Streets, and the suite comes with a freestanding bath in the middle of the room and garden views. The Pulitzer bar is where I’d do cocktails & mocktails. Heads up if you’re vegan: room service was subpar, so plan to eat out.

Day 1: bakeries, cafes, and antique shopping

Day 1 is for eating and shopping. Here’s what I fit in:

Coffee: Luuks
Baked goods: BunBun, Louf or Saint-Jean
Stroopwafels & vegan stroopwafel: Melly’s
Brunch: Bakkerij Wolf
Antique shopping: Antiekcentrum Amsterdam, the biggest indoor antiques market in the Netherlands, and Kramer Kunst & Antiek, known for Delftware. Wander around and pop into any antique store that looks interesting – there are so many.
Matcha: Het Koffiemannetje
Dinner: I had room service at the Pulitzer. If you’re vegetarian, skip it: they don’t make breakfast for dinner and there aren’t many options.

Day 2: the Rijksmuseum library, lunch in a greenhouse at a Michelin-starred restaurants, Amsterdam canals, and the best apple pie

Day 2 is for museums and canals.

Rijksmuseum: you can spend a whole day here, so make sure to spend at least half a day. You’ll see Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, a Van Gogh self-portrait, and Vermeer’s The Milkmaid, plus a big Willem de Kooning exhibition through January 17, 2027, and many other pieces. Book below.

Just the ticket: go at your own pace, with timed entry to the permanent collection. Rated 4.7 by 33,000+ travelers. Book here

Guided tour: a 2-hour tour with a live guide and your ticket included, for the stories behind the paintings. Book here

Museum and canal cruise: skip-the-line entry plus a 1-hour canal cruise, so you get the museum and the water in one booking. Book here

Vondelpark: Amsterdam’s famous park, a short walk from the museum. It’s free and has a rose garden, a Picasso sculpture, and cafés, so it’s a good place to unwind afterward.
Seven Houses: a row of seven houses on Roemer Visscherstraat near Vondelpark, each built in the architectural style of a different European country.
Lunch: De Kas, a Michelin-starred restaurant in a 1926 greenhouse with a menu built around vegetables grown on its own land. This was one of my favorite meals of the year and I’d love to go back.
Canals: Walk them but also book a luxury cruise with unlimited drinks and bites – I walked them; for a boat view, a 1-hour cruise rated 4.9 by 31,000+ travelers.
book the best-selling canal cruise here

Tulip boat canal tour: a 1-hour cruise on a boat decked out in tulips, with a live guide and an onboard bar. You sail past the Golden Bend and the grand canal houses, and it’s made for photos. You can start from Central Station or the Anne Frank House. Book here

Apple pie: Winkel 43 for the best apple pie in Amsterdam
Drinks at the Pulitzer bar: each drink on the menu is paired with a song picked by Amsterdam DJ Elias Mazian, and you listen to it on headphones. It’s cool how they work art into everything, from the song pairings to limited-edition mugs by Anna + Nina, an Amsterdam brand.

Day 3: market snacks, vintage, and a wellness reset

Day 3 is for shopping and slowing down.

Coffeeshops and smart shops: Get a joint at a coffeeshop or truffles at a smart shop. Coffeeshops sell cannabis, and smart shops sell magic truffles which are a natural psychedelic with psilocybin, the same compound as magic mushrooms. Mushrooms got banned in 2008, but truffles are still legal and sold fresh at smart shops, and the staff will help you pick. Cannabis is also legal here.
When Nature Calls: When Nature Calls is my pick for cacao, sound baths, matcha, functional mushroom coffee and drinks.. Go for a cacao heart opener and book a sound bath if you want the full reset.
Vintage shops: Zipper, L’Étoile de Saint-Honoré, Gimme Glitter, Archive 1906, and concept store Carmen.
Sauna Deco: an Art Deco sauna on the Herengracht, with an interior rescued from a Paris department store. It’s mixed and towels only, no swimsuits. Book ahead on their website
Anne Frank House: Book ahead, because tickets sell out. They’re only sold online on the official site, and each week’s tickets go on sale six weeks early. If it’s sold out, you can book a guided walking tour of the neighborhood instead. Book here
Tulip tour: Tulip season is spring only, and Keukenhof is open March 18 to May 9 in 2027. This tour pairs Keukenhof with the Zaanse Schans windmills and takes about 9 hours, so it’s a full day trip. Book here You can also book a Keukenhof and Zaanse Schans tour.

Where to eat and drink in Amsterdam

Save these to your map. I grouped them by what you’re craving.

Coffee: The Coffee District, Toki Coffee, Lot 61, Uncommon, Spot.
Matcha and tea: 4850 (a coffee bar by day, listed in the Michelin Guide), Locals, Het Koffiemannetje (tea and chic pink interiors), Suki Matcha Club
Bakeries and sweets: Louf, Saint-Jean, Melly’s Cookie Bar (stroopwafels), Winkel 43 (apple pie), Van Stapele Koekmakerij (cookies), Cottoncake, De Laatste Kruimel (The Last Crumb)
Brunch: Little Collins, Bakkerij Wolf, Pats (pancakes), Eggs Benedicted, Bakers & Roasters
Lunch and dinner: De Kas, Entrepot, Café de Klepel, Fiaschetteria Pistoia (Italian), Choux (one Michelin star, vegetable-forward), Bird (Thai, on the Zeedijk), Krua Thai (Thai)
Cocktails: the Pulitzer bar, The Flying Dutchman, plus W Lounge, the rooftop bar at the W Amsterdam with views over the Royal Palace and Dam Square.
Also on my list: a wander through the Jordaan and the Negen Straatjes (9 Streets), the Van Gogh Museum, the MOCO museum on Museumplein, the photography museums Foam and Huis Marseille on the Keizersgracht, and the Waterlooplein flea market.
Albert Cuyp Market: the place to graze, browse, and walk around.

What I’d skip

The one dinner I’d skip: Vinkeles, the two-Michelin-star restaurant inside The Dylan hotel. The history is interesting: it’s in an 18th-century bakery with its original ovens, and the hotel building was once Amsterdam’s first theater. It’s luxurious but honestly a little stuffy, the food was just okay, and the portions were tiny. The bread was very crusty and hard.

The Red Light District also wasn’t for me, so I’d skip it. I felt that it was something I had to see, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. If you do go, be respectful and don’t take photos.

If you have more time…

Three day trips I’d add to a longer stay:

Utrecht
Zaanse Schans and Haarlem, paired in one day
Delft and Leiden, also paired in one day

Three days in Amsterdam barely feels like enough. This is the route I’d do again: spend the first day eating and shopping, the second exploring the museums and canals, and leave the third for wandering and doing a little less. Definitely book the Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank House in advance, and don’t feel like you’re missing out by skipping Vinkeles or the Red Light District. I visited in October and absolutely loved it, but I’d love to come back in the warmer months and spend a lot more time exploring. Amsterdam is one of those cities I could easily spend a couple of weeks in. Let me know what I missed or where I need to go next time!