Famously family-friendly Amsterdam is one of the fastest European cities to get to from the UK.
With flights all year round taking an hour or less, and the historic Centrum district just 30 minutes from Schiphol Airport, it’s good for weekend breaks. And, for longer family holidays, there are seaside resorts, iconic cycling routes, charming towns and villages and legendary theme parks all within easy travelling distance of the city centre.
Direct daily flights from dozens of UK airports to Amsterdam take one hour.
The Dutch capital’s one of the greenest, cleanest cities in Europe and has a designated area for testing eco-initiatives in Centrum, known as Climate Street.
Beaches and forest less than 20 minutes from the city centre have excellent family camping and self-catering as an alternative to hotels in summer.
You can cycle anywhere in Amsterdam city centre and the famous tulip fields are less than an hour’s flat ride away in spring.
The historic cities of Delft, Utrecht and Haarlem are about 40 minutes by train from Amsterdam and Efeling theme park is an hour’s drive east.
Amsterdam hosts over 300 annual festivals and events, many of which are family friendly or completely kid-centred.
Accommodation in Amsterdam ranges from five star city centre hotels in traditional canal houses to eco-chalets in country parks, houseboats and unique one-to-five-star all-in-one hotels on the city centre’s riverfront.
Amsterdam city centre is compact and easy to walk around, almost all the major museums and family attractions are in Centrum or the ancient medieval quarter just to the east. It’s a famous city for cycling but, unless you’re very confident, save bikes for touring the countryside and parks with kids. Public transport is excellent and inexpensive and you can travel over Amsterdam by bus or train in about 30 minutes. There are fast, regular services to beaches and Amsterdam Bos and the ferry from Central Station to Amsterdam Noord is free and takes a few minutes.
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