Amsterdam with a 15-month old

In December 2015 my husband and I decided to take our 15-month-old daughter to Amsterdam via ferry for a long weekend. 
The reason we chose to go away via ferry was mainly due to the fact that our daughter is very active and ‘strong minded’. This essentially equates to her not sitting still for a nano-second. As a result the thought of taking her on a plane filled me with dread and a ferry seemed like a good idea: a whole cabin to contain her but plenty of room to run around and play. 
We booked an extended mini-cruise with P&O via Direct Ferries from Hull to Rotterdam with a coach transfer to Amsterdam. It left on a Thursday evening, arriving the Friday morning and then we’d booked a hotel for Friday night. We then returned on the ferry overnight Saturday; arriving back in Hull on Sunday morning. The journey is around 11 hours but as it is overnight most of that time is spent sleeping. Well for those with young kids it is! Those without can take full advantage of the entertainment and bars, casino etc that were onboard. 
We parked the car in the car park at the port in Hull which costs £7 per 24 hour period. It was very easy to find and you can pay by card, cash or by phone which is very convenient. There is a lift down to the check-in area and the staff were very friendly and helpful. I had booked breakfast both ways but asked at check-in if I could switch the outward journey to dinner instead and although there was a higher fee to pay they did it no problem. We’d arrived quite early so we could get Hetty settled and have a run around the boat before it set sail. As a result there weren’t any queues and it didn’t take long at all to get to our cabin. 
Our cabin was really nice – we’d booked a 4-berth as that was our only option when booking but I’m glad we did as it gave us the extra space with the two beds on the opposite side folded upwards. We’d taken our own travel cot as although you can request them from P&O they can’t guarantee one would be available. It was quite annoying and we could have done without having to bring it but we managed. We set up the travel cot and got a few bits ready in the cabin to make life easier when we got back and then went off to explore the ship. We were really impressed with the facilities and the kids play area was really useful. The shops and restaurant didn’t open until 6pm so we were wondering around quite a bit which was annoying but we managed. For those with young kids a 6pm opening for the restaurant isn’t great but we were able to keep Hetty going a bit longer. At least it was a buffet so everything was ready to eat as soon as it opened.
The buffet was really nice – lots of different options and high quality food. There was soup to start and for main there were 3 different curries (with poppadoms, rice and naan), a chilli, chicken vegetables and chips. There were loads of options for dessert – I just wished I had room to try them all! My daughter has an egg allergy and the chefs weren’t very clued up on what had egg and what didn’t – perhaps it was the language barrier but they put little signs up with allergy information on them however they didn’t cover all the food options. Luckily they had little pots of icecream that were egg-free so we were all good.
The ferry on the way there went really well – Hetty slept well, although that was probably due to the motion! I think it must have been our position on the boat but we could hear car alarms going off for quite a while after we set off but it did stop. It wasn’t loud enough to prevent us from sleeping luckily. 
We arrived in Rotterdam at around 8am the following morning and getting off the ferry was a bit of a pain, especially with a buggy and all our luggage. Most people were going for the day so they were able to leave their luggage on the ferry, but we were staying one night in Amsterdam so we needed to take everything with us. 
Everyone was made to leave their cabins, but they hadn’t opened the doors, so everyone on the ship was congregated in the same area, queuing to leave. Luckily a staff member saw us and let us through to the front so we didn’t have to queue, but that wasn’t the case on the way back. It was really easy to find the coaches as they were straight outside the building and after not very long we were on our way to Amsterdam. The journey took about an hour and 20 minutes and Hetty slept a bit of the journey which was good and we just took some crayons and a colouring book to keep her entertained otherwise. The coach dropped us off near to Central Station and told us it would collect us at 5pm the following day to return to the port.

We then made our way to our hotel to drop off our things. We’d booked to stay at Hotel Mansion as we needed somewhere central, a reasonably sized room to fit Hetty’s cot and at a reasonable price. This seemed to tick all the boxes and it had decent reviews. We found it easily enough and it only took around ten minutes to walk there. Although we’d arrived early they let us check in (aside from the fact when we got to the room the cleaner was still cleaning it so we had to wait for a few minutes in the corridor whilst she finished!) and the room was really nice. It was clean and spacious and really nicely done out. We put our bags in the room, put Hetty in the sling and went out to grab some lunch.

In my research before we came I found that a common problem with visiting Amsterdam was finding somewhere to eat that was child friendly. One place that cropped up in a few different blogs was La Place at the library. We decided to give there a go. It was a bit interesting trying to find it as there weren’t any signs advertising it as we went in to the library, and looking at the floors list on the lift it wasn’t there. We asked a security man and he explained that it was on the 7th floor – the lift only goes up to floor 6. La Place is reached via a flight of steps from floor 6 so I was glad we’d taken her in the sling! Although it was child friendly in the sense that it was very spacious and there were high chairs, I wouldn’t say it felt child friendly as there weren’t many other children there. It felt more of a student meeting place – lots of people were there having coffee and catching up.

The food choice there was really good – freshly made, healthy and good quality. It’s cafeteria style so you go up, select what you want and put it on to a tray and then pay at a till at the end. At least the food is there and ready which is a definite bonus when with kids. 
The balcony at La Place gives an awesome view over Amsterdam but it was closed when we went unfortunately. We could see out of the glass doors and it was really foggy anyway but on a clear day it would be a good way to see Amsterdam. 

From there we decided to go and buy a hop-on hop-off canal cruise ticket, so that we could see Amsterdam from it’s famous waterways but also use it to get around. We got on the next boat and planned to get off at the Van Gogh museum, but en route we listened to the facts on Amsterdam via the headphones provided to us when we got on.

On our way to the Van Gogh museum we stopped via the ‘I amsterdam’ sign to take some photos. As we had some time to kill before our allotted entry time (we had booked our tickets with the canal cruise place and had to specify a time in order to get direct entry) we stopped at a little cafe called Blissfully for a coffee and cake whilst Hetty slept in the sling. It was a lovely place – just off the main busy touristy area containing both the Van Gogh and Rijks museums. 

After our brief bit of quiet, once Hetty woke up we entered the Van Gogh museum at our allotted time, skipping the queues. We had to check our backpack in as nothing bulky was allowed in to the exhibitions but we transferred what we needed for Hetty into a carrier bag. The cloakroom was free but the queues were very long. 
Going to a museum in general with a toddler is not the best idea but it felt like we were being frowned upon as we went into the exhibitions. Hetty didn’t take kindly to standing still for very long and did cry a few times so we took her out so as to not disturb anyone and we took it in turns to go in to view the paintings. The way the museum is set up was quite handy as there were large corridors outside the main doors to the exhibitions so we could let her run around a bit whilst the other was in the exhibition. Some of the items we saw were fantastic, but I particularly enjoyed seeing the sketch of ‘the scream’ by Edvard Munch, Van Gogh’s self portrait, sunflowers and the bedroom, amongst others. We had some food whilst at the museum and although there wasn’t much choice we managed to find something Hetty would eat and the quality of the food was very good. They had high chairs although they were few and far between. Luckily it wasn’t very busy when we went or we might have struggled to get one! 

By the time we left the museum it was dark, so we took some more photos at the ‘I amsterdam’ sign and then headed back to the canal to get the last boat back to the stop nearest the hotel. At one point near to the last stop we got stuck in the canal as there were too many boats. I think it must have been the time of night but it wasn’t great timing as Hetty was becoming very tired and cranky! Eventually we got through after a bit of ‘argy bargy’ (see what I did there?!) and back to the hotel to put Hetty to bed via the shop at the train station to get some milk for her drink before bed.

The next day we were up early in order to go to the Anne Frank House. We arrived around 15 minutes after it opened and the queue was around the corner. As it wasn’t really toddler friendly we took it in turns to see the museum. The only way it would have been feasible to take a baby/toddler would be if they’d be quite content in a sling or napping at the time. As it is busy you have to queue most of the way around inside as well so it can be quite slow moving. It was incredibly moving to be in a place with such history and to see the actual diary was amazing. I loved the way it has been displayed – with minimal furniture and original pictures on the walls so you really get a sense of what it was like when they lived there. 

Whilst Andrew was queuing and visiting the Anne Frank House I took Hetty for a walk along the canals and side streets to get more of a feel for Amsterdam. Unfortunately a lot of shops are very small, down in basements or have steps so aren’t stroller friendly. 

We then came across Dam Square and Hetty had her photo taken with a person dressed as Darth Vader. There were lots of people dressed up in various costumes, demonstrating things and even a horse and cart. Everyone was in good spirits, the atmosphere was great and it seemed like a popular place to meet and have coffee.

Once Andrew had finished it was lunch time so we chose an Italian restaurant that didn’t look too busy just off Dam Square. Unfortunately I didn’t make a note of its name as they were really accommodating; they had highchairs, space for us to store our pram and the staff were friendly. The pizzas were good too 🙂

That afternoon we decided to try and fit in a diamond factory tour via the canal cruise that they’d mentioned was free. As the ticket was for 24 hours it was still valid (just!) so we used it to go to the Gasan factory. It wasn’t a ‘tour’ as such, more a talk about how they cut diamonds and they showed us the machinery. We were then taken into a consultation room and showed various sized diamonds of various qualities, including some jewellery. It wasn’t a hard sell to get you to buy anything which was refreshing – it was more a: ‘if you see anything you like or want to ask me prices for a diamond then we can maybe do a deal’.

From there we walked back to the hotel although unfortunately right at that moment the heavens opened. We packed our cases and headed to the meeting point to get the coach although carrying all our belongings (including the travel cot!) and pushing Hetty in the stroller in the pouring rain was not fun! We stopped via the shop at the station to buy Hetty a sandwich for the journey back to the port. The shop in the station is really useful – it has all sorts from snacks to drinks, fruit, milk sandwiches etc. And at normal prices. 

The journey on the way back was not as smooth unfortunately due to the weather. There was a force 9 gale which meant the boat was swaying a lot on the way home and I didn’t get much sleep. Hetty slept ok considering but it’s not a journey I would want to repeat! 

I had a lovely trip to Amsterdam and although travelling with a toddler is much harder than with a baby, we managed it and were able to still see some sights and experience Amsterdam. I enjoyed going by ferry as it was something different and life is all about experiences.