We did the 'Dutch Dash' from Hull to Amsterdam - but was it worth it?!

The premise:

I have been to the Netherlands before by ferry - but it was for a friend’s 18th birthday and we only got as far as Rotterdam - and it was half-day closing day! Everyone was hungover and it was really rainy and all we really did was go in H&M. It wasn’t really my cup of tea!

A few years ago I did the Bruges dash - which I really enjoyed. Apart from getting a really basic cabin and some rough seas, Bruges was a nice compact city, perfect for spending the day there, and my gosh the chocolate is good!

Me and Jono had been saying we wanted to visit Amsterdam for a while, and we looked at short breaks flying from Humberside, but they were a bit out of our price range while we’re renovating our house, so we decided to try the ferry.

Our trip:

Having learnt from my previous trips, we booked a slightly nicer cabin with a double bed! It was only £80 each, and it even had a kettle and a slightly bigger bathroom. It was a good choice - I got lots more sleep than I normally do on a ferry!

Getting onto the ferry was so much easier than flying - a quick check in and passport check, no having to pack mini toiletries or getting your bag checked, or having to take off your shoes/belt/jewellery to go through the scanner!

The entertainment and food on the ferry is a bit basic - we played bingo and ate some sandwiches! But you can keep it classy in the a la carte bistro and head up to the piano bar if that’s your cup of tea. Most people go for the buffet though!

The day in Amsterdam:

Luckily it was a beautiful bright sunny day in Amsterdam without a cloud in the sky. The city is extremely walkable with its pretty canals and tall buildings, though you do have to watch out for bikes and trams!

You arrive into Rotterdam quite early, and we were on the bus about 9.15am - arriving into Amsterdam at 10.30am. Since we’d booked the 10.45am - 11am slot for the Anne Frank House, it was a very quick dash across the city to get in in time!

I won’t go into Anne’s full story, but if you’d like to find out more you can do so here.

I was surprised to see that the museum was in a modern building - to preserve the annexe and accommodate visitors, there is a museum that tells you the Frank family’s story before heading up to the secret staircase that housed Anne, her family and their friends for two years.

We took an audio tour but you don’t necessarily have to, but without it you can’t hear what’s on the videos being shown in the different rooms.

It was very moving to see the rooms in the annex where the family hid, to see the articles and photos Anne had stuck to her walls, and see how she lived while she was hidden. It was also very moving seeing her original diary on display.

However, the museum was very, very busy and a lot of time was spent queueing in line to see the different areas of the museum and the displays were hard to see. If you have the time, I’d suggest going early in the morning when it might be quieter.

 

After the museum we headed down Prinsengracht, a really pretty street down the side of a canal, for a 20 min walk down to our restaurant for lunch.

I chose The Pantry restaurant as it came with really good reviews. This restaurant served traditional Dutch cuisine and was obviously targeted to tourists, with menus in lots of different languages.

The food was good value, with a 3-course set menu starting at 21 Euros, and the drinks were cheap too. It was a good way to try lots of different Dutch dishes, especially if you’re only there for the day, but I’d maybe pick somewhere with more of a local feel if I were to visit Amsterdam again.

Dishes on the menu included traditional dishes like hutspot, Boerenkoolstamppot and Poffertjes. I had a delicious sea bass, Jono had a traditional oven dish.

After lunch we headed to the Van Gogh museum, which wasn’t too far away in the museum quarter. With only limited time in Amsterdam we only took a quick tour of the museum, concentrating on seeing works by Van Gogh rather than other artists there. It was a nice museum, and we loved seeing Van Gogh’s works, but it was so crowded we couldn’t actually see many of the artworks!

I know I can’t complain, as I was also a tourist trying to see Van Gogh’s works, but it makes me wonder why the museums let so many people in? It was hectic, it was similar to the Lourve (if you’ve ever tried to see the Mona Lisa, it was like that for the Sunflowers).

We then headed back to the bus stop with a slow stroll through central Amsterdam, taking in the sites, and stopped for a drink at the Lanskroon Bakery, which was lovely - they make giant homemade stroopwafels but we were too full from lunch to sample them!

We also stopped at the Bloemenmarket to check out the tulip bulbs, but to be honest it was a bit of a tourist trap and not as nice as photos I’d seen to be honest. We then went onto see the very touristy areas like the Dam Square and Narrow Houses, before getting back to the bus stop for 5pm.

The journey home:

The bus journey back was quite long with rush hour traffic, and we were glad to be back at the boat for some food (we tried the buffet, which was ok, if a little basic and not many veggie options) and a rest! We arrived back into Hull with the ship's announcement waking us at 6am, so I’ll be honest I wouldn’t want to go to work for the day after a Dutch Dash - even though technically you can!

The verdict:

The Dutch Dash is an inexpensive way to enjoy a wonderful European city and get away from crisis island for 48 hours. Amsterdam is a fab city with loads to do and I’d like to go again for a bit longer to see the rest!