I am so in love with Amsterdam. I can´t even believe it was my first time there are all these years of traveling. But I am so happy to have gone my first time during my favorite season, Autumn, together with great friends and during the music festival ADE.

There is so much to see there, just the walks throughout the city are insanely gorgeous, the museums are top notch, and the people well educated and polite. And let´s just say that the freedom people have there is enviable. In a world where there is so much hate and discrimination, it was refreshing to see so much respect for people´choices.

Not to mention the amazing fashion aspect of that city. From unique local brands to worldwide names, Amsterdam offers a wide variety of incredible stores. From street style to Haute Couture, the designers seem to choose a more edgy look to merchandise their Dutch stores.

The bicycle culture is just the best, I am used to biking every day in Rio and often in Miami, but in Amsterdam, riding bikes is something completely different. It is a big chunk of their way of transportation and so the rules of traffic are very similar to those of a car. There are specific stop signs for cyclists, the hand signals are used frequently and the left speed lane is very well respected. It does take some skills to ride there since there are so many obstacles, the cars, the buses, the trains, the bridges, and loads of people. But if you just want to have a chill ride, go to a park like the Vondelpark and relax. It was one of the best experiences I have had riding bikes ever. So much fun!

The ADE festival was in town, bringing more than 400,000 people attending and appreciating the ultimate and best in electronic music from all over the world. There are 450 events, 2,200 artists over five days in 115 clubs. The entire city was covered with shows, conferences and parties.

The food is absolutely delicious and fresh, the fries frenzy is contagious and they are indeed delicious! The fries are served with your choice of dressing, from ketchup to honey mustard, there are tons of options. You should also pair them with any of their 100+ local brewed beers, including my all time favorite Heineken, which you can also go to their brewery and have the Heineken experience.

We stayed at the Museumplein which is the area where most of the museums are located. Close to the fashion district, Vondelpark, and walking distance to several hot spots in the city.

Talking a bit more about the museums, the Van Gogh is absolutely stunning, and the Moco and Diamonds museums are incredible and very unique. But the biggest one is the Rijksmuseum. I didn’t get to go to that one so it will be on my next trip´s list including the Eye Film museum which has an incredible modern architecture.

Resuming, Amsterdam is hip, elegant, old and new, decadent, fun, free spirited, professional, cutting edge and beautiful. If you haven´t been, go plan your next trip there right away!!!

Here are some of the pics from my adventure.

useum, vangogh museum, netherdalnds