Family Travel

A fun city for children

Where else can you see thousands of animals from the most exotic countries, can you cycle through the canals, and do you come face to face with Johnny Depp? Where else do you find a palace built on 13,659 piles, can you take a ride in an old-fashioned tram, can you feed the pigeons on Dam Square and can you work with the most modern computers? Where else can you climb three church towers in one day, and will the train take you to the largest airport in Holland via a long tunnel?

In a fun city like Amsterdam no child is ever lost for something to do. If you want to spend a day (or longer) in the capital of Holland with the children, it will not be hard to put together a nice and interesting programme. The list with suggestions below may help you do this.

All the animals of the world

Even before you have entered through the gates of Artis you’ll see them. Two dinosaurs, so big that their backs nearly project above the trees. Not all animals in Artis are this old. Fortunately, not all animals are made of stone either, as these colossuses are. The funny penguins, running monkeys and roaring lions, together with more than 1,400 other species, welcome visitors to the oldest zoo in Holland. Among other things there is a children’s farm with animals just waiting to be stroked. The special thing about this farm is that all the animals represent traditional Dutch species of pets. There are moorland sheep, goats from the Veluwe with amazingly long hair, and also tufted ducks.

In the aquarium building all the aquariums together contain more than one and a half million litres of water. You will certainly be surprised when, all of a sudden, you see a tank with a car wreck and a rusty old bicycle between the aquariums with the brightly coloured tropical fish. The bream and rock-bass just swim around these. In this tank, one of the four mammoth aquariums, you’ll see what lives in the water of the canals in Amsterdam.

In Artis you’ll also find the Planetarium where you will be whisked off to the stars.

Madame Tussauds Amsterdam

Stand face to face with famous stars like Robbie Williams, Madonna, or Arnold Schwarzenegger; did that one move... or didn’t it? Take a trip through the eventful history of the Golden Age, experience the first landing on the moon, and meet celebrities in the television studio.

If you have no fear of heights, you shouldn’t miss out on the splendid view of Dam Square, the very heart of Amsterdam, from the enormous round window. You can see all this and more at Madame Tussauds Scenerama.

Fun with science and technology

At the spot where the IJ tunnel starts and thousands of cars disappear under the water you will find the large, brand new centre for science and technology, NEMO (former newMetropolis). The motto of this museum is: forbidden NOT to touch. Here you can find out many things about the everyday world around you. You will become acquainted with special phenomena of nature. You can, for example, blow a soap bubble so large that you can stand inside it! And why is water clear, but the ocean blue? Why does toothpaste contain sugar? In the laboratory you will find an answer to these questions. You can also make liquorice there, the favourite sweet of Dutch children.

Let the computer decide how much of a talent you are on the drums. Will the jury throw you roses, or will the screen fill up with tomatoes? Discover what you can do with electricity. Make the right connections in the sockets, so that the water for the potatoes will boil or the incubator will start. Or would you like to build a house from polystyrene foam and bamboo? The helmets are ready and waiting for you. Wander around in the labyrinth full of jungle noises, where the monkeys scream, the lion roars and a deafening electric storm is blowing up.

When you have seen and tried out enough you can go up on the roof. You’ll be some thirty metres above the water of the IJ River and you’ll look out over the city centre of Amsterdam. Even if you do not visit Nemo you can climb the broad slanting stairs from the Prins Hendrikkade and enjoy the beautiful view.