Picnics in Voldelpark
Wandering around Hortus Botanicus
Vegan treats at Vegabond
Sunset at the canals, 10pm
Starter plate at Mr & Mrs Watson
Oh Amsterdam. You beautifully colour coordinated, incredibly bicycle-friendly, delicious vegan cheese creating little city. Such a short, but sweet visit.
So I guess to preface the incoming stream of travel content on my website, my husband and I have bought a van and are spending the next 6 months (roughly) travelling around Europe and the UK *hooray*. It’s been a trip 3 years in the planning, ever since our final year of university when we decided we wanted to live intentionally rather than moving through life ticking boxes (i.e. degree *tick*, job *tick*, buy a house *tick*). Not that these aren’t incredible goals that we have on our list of things to do… but we wanted to be intentional with the timeline of when and how we do them….
Anyways, Amsterdam was our first stop and also where we picked up our baby/wheels/home for the next 6 months – introducing Vanny Devito.
Of course you can follow our travels and van life on Instagram. But here you will find my brief travel guide to each place we visit…[which will also inadvertently take form as a vegan food guide]
We spent all of 3 days in beautiful Amsterdam – some of which time was spent setting up our van (hellloooo Ikea) and recovering from jetlag.
But alas, here are my top tips, places to see and vegan eats.
TOP TIPS
Hire a bike
Seriously, without even trying, this city is so beautiful. So no real need to pack your schedule with specific tourist sights, just grab a bike and ride around
Visit Hortus Botanicus
This botanical garden is some kind of magical wonderland. Cannot recommend enough. Such a beautiful place to while away the afternoon meandering through incredible gardens and greenhouses.
Picnic in Vondelpark
Probably less inclined to do so in winter, but in summer this was a perfect place to ride our bikes around and set up near the waters edge and soak up the sun for a hour or so.
Sunset at the canals
Given in summer this means staying up until at least 10pm, which with jet lag can be a bit of a stretch, but its well worth it. Extra hours of daylight also mean you can squeeze in a cheeky little extra meal.
VEGAN EATS
Vegan Junk Food Bar
Now if you know me at all, you’d know I’m quite the vegan burger connoisseur. So you can trust me when I say these burgers are legit. Not the place you go if you’re looking for a healthy feed, but if post-flight, mid-jet-lag junk food is your vibe… go here
Mr & Mrs Watson.
This place is a little fancy, and has allllll the vegan cheeses. The make their own in house and they are amazing. Think “blue cheese”, cashew cheese fondue and more. We didn’t make a reservation and they could seat us outside, but could be worth calling ahead of time incase they are busy.
Vegabond
This place is a little cafe/grocery store with a great selection of speciality vegan foods incase you want to stock up on supplies. We only had cake here – the Dutch Apple Pie with whipped cream (of course). Decor is nothing fancy, but the food is worth the visit as they have an amazing selection of sweet treats.
JuiceBrother x VanLeeuwen
Little smoothie bowl joint which is good if you’re looking for something fresh and light. This particular location (Haarlemmperplien) has vegan gelato and on weekends they have vegan donuts (we missed out *insert crying face here*)
Other places I was recommended but couldn’t make it to
(as lets be honest.. there are only so many meals in a day).
Meatless District | The Dutch Weed Burger Joint | Pizza Heart Bar | Jackson Dubois