I've lived in Amsterdam since 2017. I moved here with an introvert lifestyle so it took me longer than I hoped to discover everything the city has to offer, but here is a collection of the things I'd recommend you do if you visit!

Cozy bars

Amsterdam is great for cozy bars, especially if you like beer. Outdoor or indoor seating, here are some of my favorite places to have a drink. Let's start with places for beer:

• Cafe Gollem - multiple locations, they're all great
• In't Aepjen - if it's not too busy, ask the bartenders for the story behind the name of the place!
• Bar Belgique
• Cafe De Doktor
• Cafe Brecht
• De Sluyswacht

I haven't been to all the wine bars but these are my favories:

• Barrica
• Paskamer
• La Dilettante (natural wines)

Cocktails:

• Tales & Spirits
• Law & Order
• Labyrinth

Finally, if you're just looking for somewhere to hang out and talk to strangers, check out Vice Versa.

Cultural venues

Amsterdam and the Netherlands are known for EDM, house, and hardcore, but actually has a pretty diverse music scene. Melkweg and Paradiso are larger venues with very diverse programming. More alternative venues include Cinetol, OT301, OCCII, and Nieuwe Anita.

Another less known fact about Amsterdam and the Netherlands is how many good small arthouse cinemas there are. I think this is in large part due to government subsidies - in any case I highly appreciate it! My favorite is Lab111, but I love The Movies, Rialto De Pijp, Kriterion, De Uitkijk, Studio/K, FC Hyena, and of course Eye Filmmuseum. Check out the website Cineville if you want to see everything that's happening.

During the summer, there are also many venues showing movies outdoors, which is awesome when the weather is nice. Programming can be a bit hard to find, but common venues are Pllek, Hotel Arena, Eye, Hermitage - and a few festivals: Pluk De Nacht, Cinetree Forest Film Festival, and West Beach Film Festival.

When it's warm and sunny, there are also some really nice open air stages - Openluchttheater in Vondelpark, and Bostheater in Amsterdamse Bos. That's on top of all the festivals happening in town of course, many of which are outdoors.

Food

The Dutch are absolutely not known for their good cuisine, but there are some nice aspects! If you'd like to have a classic Dutch dinner, check out Moeders or Hemelrijk. However, in my opinion the best parts of Dutch food are the small snacks: Poffertjes (tiny american-style pancakes), broodje haring (hot dog bread with raw herring, onions, and pickles), kibbeling (deep fried cod) and of course bitterballen (perfect with beer).

Amsterdam also has good choices for international cuisine. You'll find good Indonesian restaurants all over town, and there's a surprising amount of good Japanese places as well. Highly rated middle-eastern restaurants are also worth looking for. I'm not a fine dining person, but I do love De Kas.

In spring/summer there are also lots of food festivals and food truck festivals - many of which have free entry! Rollende Keukens in May is the most famous one, but I'm also a fan of Festival TREK and Amsterdamse Terrassen Festival. If you're willing to take a short train ride out of the city there's also Foodfestival aan de Zaan, Haarlem Culinair and Proefpark Haarlem.

Sightseeing

Generally, Amsterdam is a nice city to just walk around in. Rent a boat and traverse the canals for an extra cute experience!

Biking in Amsterdam is generally safer and easier than it seems. As long as you're comfortable on a bike and use common sense it's no more difficult than being a pedestrian.

If you do have a bike, these destinations become great day trips:

• Amsterdamse Bos
• Het Twiske
• Marken, biking through Schellingwoude and Durgerdam along the shoreline north-east of central Amsterdam (maybe stop by Broek in Waterland on the way back)
• Naarden
• Vinkeveense Plassen
• Bloemendaal aan Zee (beach!)

Further outside of Amsterdam, famous attractions like Keukenhof, Zaanse Schans and Giethoorn are generally super busy and (in my opinion) overrated. Lesser known alternatives include:

• Langedijk
• Schoorlse Duinen
• Texel

Day trips to neighboring towns like Haarlem, Utrecht and Alkmaar (look for their cheese market) are also totally worth it.