Amsterdam

What a wonderful city! Built on waterways, Amsterdam is a great city to walk around taking in the beautiful old buildings and the lovely canals. There's a massive selection of lively restaurants, bars and cafes where you can sit back and appreciate this lovely city and its wonderful atmosphere.

We stayed in the beautiful and very modern Room Mate Aitana. Getting from the airport was easy with very regular direct trains and the hotel was less than a 10 minute walk from the station.

No trip to Amsterdam is complete without a visit to Anne Frank's House which I found fascinating but be sure to book it well in advance. The Van Gogh Museum is definitely worth a visit too. We went on a canal boat where we saw the city from a unique perspective and booked a day trip that took us into the beautiful Dutch countryside where we passed windmills and stunning fields full of the most colourful tulips.

Holland is a wonderful country, very safe, public transport is excellent and English is widely spoken. Amsterdam can be pricey at weekends so it's worth considering a mid-week break. Amsterdam can be easily combined with a stay or a day trip to Antwerp, Delft, Rotterdam, Gouda or Bruges.