Double DUTCH

Travel and interiors writer Sara Emslie explains why Amsterdam’s winding waterways, heritage houses and old-world charm draw her back for more

Famed for canals, clogs and centuries-old history, Amsterdam is a city that beckons time and time again. For a double dose of this Dutch delight, consider a TUI River Cruise that starts and ends in this magical city, meandering along the waterways of Holland and Belgium, allowing plenty of time to explore all it has to offer. My top tip is to don some comfy shoes and wander the narrow streets that straddle the canals. Be sure to stop for a coffee or beer and a slice of delicious Dutch apple pie at one of the traditional ‘brown’ cafes, and sit and admire the charming streets of narrow, tilting canal houses with their gabled roofs. One of the most striking of these is now the Museum Van Loon (Keizersgracht 672), which boasts an exquisite 17th-century interior of elaborate frescoes and an enormous country-style scullery kitchen with Dutch Delft tiles and rows of copper pans.

The city has museums aplenty; two more that should be top of your list are the Anne Frank House (Westermarkt 20), which tells the story of the family who hid in its tiny attic during the WWII German occupation of the Netherlands, and the Tulip Museum (Prinsengracht 116), where you can learn about the vast fortunes made and lost since the country’s iconic flower was introduced during the Ottoman Empire. Pick up some bulbs in the museum shop before you board the ship for your next port of call and bring them home to plant alongside other country-garden favourites.

Sit and admire the city’s charming streets of canal houses with their gabled roofs