Last year when it became obvious the Hungarian residency visa wasn’t going to pan out, I began planning our time between when we needed to leave Hungary and when our house sit in the UK was going to begin.

In addition to that gap, we also had my birthday to celebrate. I ended up finding an excellent airfare between Budapest and Eindhoven as well as a cool ferry ride that would take us from the Netherlands to the UK.

I just couldn’t pass up the idea of celebrating my birthday in Amsterdam!

After having an excellent experience using a city pass card in Budapest and Berlin, I did some research about the I amsterdam [they leave it uncapitalized] City Card via their http://www.iamsterdam.com/ website. It looked like it would be a perfect resource for us. They were kind enough to offer us two cards so that we could evaluate how it works for a family visiting Amsterdam.

We had a great time in Eindhoven, so I was even more interested to spend a few days here. As soon as we exited the rail station, we could tell this was one lively city. The energy was great and welcoming. And getting around the city is super easy with its great transportation system.

The city pass covers public transportation which is a really good thing because otherwise you have to deal with getting the appropriate payment cards and making sure you’ve loaded enough funds on them. And it is not exactly inexpensive to ride the buses, metro, etc.

Since it was my birthday and I had some credits from Airbnb after a really rough experience, we were able to stay in a houseboat in the Jordaan neighborhood.

Being able to stay in a typical neighborhood added so much to the trip.

Because the I amsterdam City Card includes admission to a ton of museums, we spent some time trying to figure out which ones we wanted to visit. After spending a lot of time in Europe, Tigger was kind of museum’d out; however, there are so many really cool ones in Amsterdam that she ended up being interested in going to a bunch of them.

Or she was just being kind since it was my birthday.

She wasn’t as interested in the Jewish Historical Museum, Portuguese Synagogue, or the De Hortus botanical garden, so I headed out in the morning and explored those on my own.

I had never known there was so much Jewish history in Amsterdam. I was kind of surprised to see so much history and definitely hadn’t expected a Portuguese component. “Portuguese Jewish” just isn’t a term you hear a lot after all.

I’ll be writing more about these sites in another post.

Later Tigger and I headed out to explore and visit the NEMO Science Museum. When we arrived, they had a really cool physics demonstration going on, so we decided to sit down and check it out. Surprisingly, the demonstration was done in both English and Dutch! I hadn’t expected they would be doing any part of it in English.

This is definitely a museum where you spend some time. There are so many activities kids of all ages can do, and there was plenty of stuff to keep the adults entertained, too. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

The outside of the NEMO museum

Since we were meeting friends for dinner, we didn’t get to go to Micropia or the Dutch Funeral Museum. I was especially bummed about missing Micropia. It’s on the list for when I go back.

One thing that really struck me about Amsterdam was how incredibly charming and inviting it is. You want to constantly walk, take turns on unfamiliar streets, etc. The buildings are amazing and enticing, the life around the canals is somewhat unexpected and tempts you to slow down. You can’t help but go back out at night to see how they’re different.

Additionally, the Dutch are so much more friendly than I had anticipated. We had great experiences in Eindhoven, but I figured Amsterdam is so big it would be typical big city attitude. Not at all! And the Dutch culture is very supportive of family togetherness so you see families everywhere.

When it was time to leave Amsterdam, it was really tough to accept that. I felt kind of depressed during our last night. We were planning on returning to the US in a few months, but I was immediately rethinking those plans and investigating what visa options might be workable in a short time.

Amsterdam and the Netherlands just stole my heart. I can’t wait to go back!

Regarding the city pass card, we definitely found it to be worth it. I ended up walking a lot more than I had originally thought would happen, but the purchase price of the card was easily exceeded just with the museum admissions (you can also find discounts to restaurants and other attractions in the guide that comes with the card). And I really enjoyed not having to deal with getting the typical transportation card and trying to budget all that, etc.

What are your favorite places to visit in Amsterdam?

It is much cheaper than traveling by plane, although the journey does take longer. The flight can be as fast as 50 minutes (between Amsterdam and Norwich) while the ferry crossing lasts about 7 hours. Although, the Stena ferry can be more than 10 times cheaper (and that’s before you add extra airline fees such as checked baggage) which is a very significant difference. We paid £51 total (about $65 USD; excluding the cabin) for the two of us.

Since we weren’t pressed for time, this was an easy decision.

 What is the Stena ferry like?

When we first boarded the ferry, Tigger’s comment was “Fancy shmancy! Are you sure this isn’t a cruise ship?”

The ferry has various lounges both indoors and outdoors. In addition to the general sitting areas there are:

• An internet center (although there is free WiFi on board)
• An on-board cinema which were showing two different new release movies
• A teen gaming center
• A play center for younger kids
• Duty free shop
• Bars and coffee vendors
• A cafeteria-style restaurant and a sit-down restaurant with a fancier menu
• A premium lounge (extra fee) that is a designated quiet zone and has decent work areas plus complimentary beverages and snacks
• Sun deck
• ATM machine
• Currency exchange
• Private cabins.

What are the cabins like?

They have various cabins. They start with a basic interior (no window) two-person berth and go up from there. We chose the comfort 2-person berth. This level was 64€ and included complimentary beverages (including wine and beer, teas and coffee, etc.), snacks, and came with one twin bed and one queen (which is a full-size bed in the US) bed. The beds were extremely comfortable. We had an ocean view, and the cabin also included a small sitting area, electric kettle, and en suite bathroom with a shower. Linens, including towels, and shampoo/body wash were provided. There is also a TV with several English-language satellite channels available.

I figured for a 7-hour trip, I’d rather have the comfort of a private space where we could just relax, and it was absolutely worth it. I enjoyed a nice hot shower with great water pressure followed by a luxurious nap.

We went into the public areas a couple of times, and I loved being able to retreat to our room to escape all the people and noise.

Restaurants

We had some pretty good food on board, and I was surprised at the reasonable prices (in the 5-8€ range for a large portion of food). I expected they would charge quite a bit more for the convenience factor, but their prices were actually lower than most of the restaurants on the mainland in the Netherlands.

For night crossings, they serve a breakfast buffet in the morning.

You can also bring your own food on board.  I didn’t see a microwave for public use, but there were plenty of people who had ice boxes, etc., with their food and drinks.

Baggage & Check-in

There is no charge to check baggage, and you aren’t restricted to the number of bags you can check which is nice.

Check-in was super easy. I purchased our tickets for the Stena ferry via Direct Ferries, which is a comparison site. Their prices were cheaper. If you aren’t purchasing a ferry plus train package, then you get an electronic ticket and don’t have to print out anything. For rail service, you’ll have to print out your tickets.

Border control is right after the check-in desk, and everything moves pretty quickly.

Reserving a Cabin

The above site only offers you an upgrade to the captain level cabins. If you don’t want that level of upgrade, just wait until you board. Go straight to the Guest Services area (not hard to find) and you’ll easily see the area for getting a cabin.

If you do a night crossing, then a cabin is cheaper accommodation than a hotel.

Payments on Board

There is an ATM which dispenses both euros and pounds. On this route, all prices are in euros, but they will accept pounds as payment. There is also a currency exchange if you require that. I used my US-based debit card to make payments on board and had zero issues.

Transportation to/from the Ports

Rail service is located at both ports, so it’s very easy to get to and from the ports in both countries. There is bus service as well.

The port on the Netherlands side is really close to Rotterdam, which is a really cool city, so you may want to plan to spend some time there.

As mentioned previously, there is a package deal that enables you to pay for your rail and ferry tickets at a better price. It’s also known as the Dutchflyer service.

Taking the ferry was really a wonderful experience, and I wouldn’t hesitate to travel that way again. We both really enjoyed it.

Have you taken the Hook of Holland to Harwich ferry with Stena or another ship? What was your experience?