Amsterdam Would Like to Invite You to a Very Special Birthday Party
For a city that is turning 750 this year, Amsterdam is looking very well on it. On a recent wintery weekend in January, the windows were twinkling, the blackish canals were sparkling and the city chimed with the peals of a thousand bike bells warning tourists from strolling into the cycle lanes. It was my birthday too, and feeling not a day over 725 myself, it felt like the perfect place in which to celebrate.
It was in 1275 that the enterprising Count Floris V decreed that the settlement of Amsterdam, congregating around the mouth of the Amstel River, should be exempt from toll bridge charges. The ease of access this permitted led to the city flourishing into one of the great trading hubs of Europe and then, in the late 16th century, to becoming the heart of the Dutch Golden Age (a term which has lost its shine, due to the Netherlands’ involvement in slavery and colonialism at the time).
Amsterdam, famously, is not a city to do parties by halves – see King’s Day in April, Pride in July, etc – and their 750th celebrations are likely no exception. Leading up to the official birthday on 27 October, the city is hosting major events including “Future Fest”, which considers what’s next for the capital and its people; an enormous sailing festival called, well, Sail; and a big knees-up on the city’s ring road, which will be pedestrianised for the occasion.
The hospitality industry is not slow to pass up an anniversary either, and in January it was the Pulitzer Amsterdam – a five-star hotel complex made up of 25 canal houses located in the charming and bustling De 9 Straatjes (The 9 Streets) area – who were on hosting duties. Until October this year, it is offering a couple of two-person packages, for either a single night or for three, that enable partakers to stay in one of the hotel’s beautifully characterful rooms and choose from a selection of carefully curated activities. (Also, if it happens to be your birthday, they might just give you a cake!)
If you’ve ever tried to book in for museums in Amsterdam you’ll know that, unless you got yourself organised in about, ooh, 1275, the tickets can be dishearteningly hard to come by. Being able to have someone else go through the heartache of securing you tickets to the excellent Van Gogh Museum or the atmospheric Rembrandt House is a birthday present in itself, although the longer package also includes the option of non-museum perks such a private canal boat tour (plus snacks!), a tour of the Bols distillery, or lunch at Restaurant The Mark in the quaint village of Durgerdam, 15 minutes from the city centre.
I opted for the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum (which, on a previous visit to Amsterdam, I had – sure enough – failed to book for in time), plus a delightful evening canal cruise aboard the teak-panelled Tourist, the Pulitzer’s preferred partner boat, helmed by the charming captain, Nils; I’m not sure if it was Nils himself who put the caviar on the blinis, but I thank him for his service either way.
But of course, it’s fun to follow your own nose in an unfamiliar city, too, and Amsterdam has an incredible concentration of great things to do and see; though when see “do and see” I really mean “eat”. I gorged my way through every stratum of cuisine, from a cone of chips at Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx (go for the classic oorlog topping – mayonnaise, raw onion and peanut sauce: it’s better than you think!) and stroopwafels from Lanskroon (crunchier than you were expecting!), to a plant-forward tasting menu at the coolly post-industrial BAK, and the surprisingly (and successfully) ambitious offerings at the Pulitzer’s own Jansz and Garden restaurants (but fear not, you can also get a club sandwich). I was also pleased to check in with London-born chef Anthony Joseph at Ladybird Fried Chicken in De Pijp, whom I interviewed in 2020 to discuss his other project, High Cuisine, and though there’s no psilocybin in this venture, there are still plenty of vibes.
And of course the other great thing about Amsterdam is that you can nip there from London on the train and make a proper low-stress weekend of it. It doesn’t even have to be your actual birthday (did I mention it was recently mine?), but, with the city on fine form it may just feel like it is.
The Pulitzer Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary packages are available until October 2025 with prices starting at £499 per night, pulitzeramsterdam.com
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