If you are planning a weekend or a longer break in Amsterdam, one of the best ways to feel instantly at home in the city is in a holiday apartment.

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Hotels can often feel somewhat impersonal and hostels are strictly for the low budget traveler. And while bed and breakfast arrangements are increasingly popular in the Dutch capital (although often the breakfast bit is missing) with a holiday apartment you are completely free to come and go as you please – and eat whatever you like as well.

In addition, booking one of the many holiday apartments Amsterdam has to offer may well work out cheaper than a hotel and be particularly good for family visits, especially with young children.

A holiday apartment is also a good excuse to check out the local food shops for Dutch specialities and stock up on delicious Dutch cheese and chocolate to take home.

Walking distance

Many holiday apartments in Amsterdam are located within the city’s historic centre so most of the main attractions and others which are not so well-known are close at hand.

If you don’t dare to rent a bike – and if you are not used to cycling it is not to be recommended – there is bound to be enough sightseeing within walking distance to keep you busy.

An excellent way to get to know Amsterdam is to take a canal cruise; either take an organised trip or, if your budget is big enough, rent a classic wooden salon boat and enjoy your own private cruise.

The canals are rich in Amsterdam history. The house where Anne Frank wrote her diaries while in hiding from the Nazis during the Second World War is located on the Prinsengracht 267. The queues are a giveaway and it is best to get there very early in the morning if you want to really savour the atmosphere.

Mansion house

But less well-known is the Willet Holthuysen museum, a magnificent mansion built in 1685 and now open to the public at Herengracht 605. It’s rooms are stuffed with treasures from the collection of its last owners who died childless in the 19th century and left the house to the state. The dining room, set for a banquette, is particularly impressive.

The very heart of Amsterdam, the oldest part of the city where the first Amsterdammers built their homes, is now home to the notorious Red Light District. One of the oldest streets is the Zeedijk (sea dyke) which dates from the early 1300s and traces the route of the old sea wall. One of the two wooden-fronted houses still standing in Amsterdam can be seen at Number 1 Zeedijk.

The other wooden house is in the Begijnhof, just off the Spui. If you want to get a feeling of what Amsterdam was like in the early days, pay a visit to this little oasis of calm in the middle of the busy city.

Secret places

Dating back to 1346, the Begijnhof was originally built as a sanctuary for women who wanted to avoid being forced to marry and lead a convent life without being nuns – the Begijntjes. Today it is like a film set – a grassy square with a white-washed church, surrounded by pretty houses and open to the public during daylight hours.

The little houses are still lived in by elderly women. Unfortunately for tourists, none of them have been turn into holiday apartments in Amsterdam.