Gay man and gran – 72 hours in Amsterdam

When you think of Amsterdam, you might think red light district, café culture or fields of tulips. What you probably don’t think about is an 80-year-old pensioner and a 21- year- old gay man going on holiday there together… Hi, I’m Thomas and I took my Grandma (gma) Doris to Amsterdam for three days.  

Introducing ✨ Gay man and gran: 72 hours in Amsterdam ✨ 

Now, I have to premise something about Doris early on. She’s not your average grandma. While I wasn’t going to get her out and about in the clubs, she was happy to endure endless mooching, fun trinket collecting and putting up with my gay walking speed. She loves a cappuccino (we had to stop for one every other hour), a nice glass of white wine (obvs) and the girls, gays and theys (queen). So, naturally, when we were deciding where we were going to go for our grandson-gma holiday, we settled on the inclusive babe of a capital city, Ammy D.  

Day 1 

Once we landed in Schiphol Airport, we rose up from the metro like Beyonce singing her Drunk in Love Dubai riff – confused, a little overwhelmed, thinking what on earth are we doing in this busy airport, but, overall, excited for our trip. When we booked, we bought the iAmsterdam card, which is a real hack for the city and something you can either book ahead online or pick up in the airport. This card gets you free public transport and entry into a huge range of selected museums and galleries for however long you need – 24, 48, 72 hours etc – which was perfect for our trip, as we wanted to see as much as possible in a short time. From the airport, we grabbed our bags, cards and then headed to our hotel, just a short walk from Station Sloterdijk (pronounced slot-er-dick, which, as you can imagine, we both enjoyed greatly).  

We stayed in the Urban Lodge Hotel in a quiet area outside the city centre, 10 mins away from Sloterdijk. The hotel was modern and the perfect base for our trip. There was a cute bar, a fire pit, deep sofas, bookshelves and lovely staff, who were on hand to provide us with recommendations for places to see, eat and do. Also, they were on hand to have a flirt with our Doris, which I know she loved.  

Once we chucked our bags into the room and did the classic selfie for the family group chat, we were well and truly ready to hit the town. So, what is there to do for your first night in Amsterdam? Questionable club with dodgy toilets? Red light district? Canal cruise on a rave boat? Hmmm perhaps, but not for this gay man and gran. We decided to have a walk around Central Station to grab some dinner. Breathing in that crisp Netherlands air and playing our favourite game of ‘spot the hottie’, we stumbled upon Fabus – a women-led wine bar on a quiet street. Inside, we were greeted with brick walls, cool interior, lovely lighting, perfectly Instagrammable tables, gender-inclusive bathrooms, wine based on your exact taste and some banging sharing plates. What more does a gay man and gran need? The vibes in here were immaculate and our server quickly picked us a gorg wine. Then, we enjoyed a whipped feta and asparagus delight and a beetroot puree dish with some sourdough, which Doris was speechless over.  

After our wine-and-dine, we giggled and wandered over to the tram and headed back for the night, ahead of our first ‘proper’ day tomorrow. The city break starts after you’ve had a hotel buffet, right?  

Day 2 

The next day started with a quick planning session over a cup of (you guessed it) cappuccino and a varying array of delights from the hotel buffet. I opted for a loaded plate of carbs, eggs, cereal and salmon, while Doris – AKA the queen of the brekkie buffet – went for croissants and a bowl of Nutella).  

We then headed out on the tram and started our day with a poke around an old royal house, Museum Van Loon – this, of course, was free of charge with our iAmsterdam card. Next to a canal, it’s full of fun historical knick-knacks, a luscious garden and some impressive royal portraits. Not to mention that Barak Obama himself has visited the Van Loon too – who knew? Now, this very house is where gma and I almost got into a bit of an argument. As well as losing her in the toilets and her almost falling down the narrow staircase, we realised our interest in reading every minute detail in museums is completely different. I love to take a quick pic and stare blankly at a portrait, but Doris loves to lap up every single detail in all the scripture. Come on grandma, we’ve got an oat cappuccino to sip and more mooching to do.…  

Eventually, that’s what we did. Really recommend Village Bagels, just around the corner for a quick coffee, bagel and people-watch. The vibe in here is stripped back chill vibes, right by the canal and there’s lots of outdoor seating for those who might want to live their Von Dutch life with an iced latte in the summer. After a little review of the coffee from Doris (a solid 8/10 – high praise from the coffee connoisseur), we were charged up and ready for another museum.  

Next on our list was the Foam Museum, just across the canal. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. Did you really take your grandma to a foam party in the centre of Amsterdam? Fear not, this was actually a photography museum with a particularly powerful main exhibition about father-daughter relationships. Walking around the museum, with its dim lighting, family home videos and letters sent from father to daughter stuck on the wall, I felt connected to my grandma in a way that we might not have been before. She was viewing this from the perspective of someone who has lost her father, whereas I saw it from the eyes of someone currently living with my father. It felt poignant to share this moment and our thoughts together.  

The emotional impact of this, of course, had to be quelled with a cappuccino for gma in the fancy gallery café and an iced oat matcha for me. Side note, but the Foam Museum café had the BEST iced matcha I have ever tasted in my life. Not to take away from the emotional significance of the gallery and exhibition, but by brain chemistry actually altered after drinking it. So perfectly made, the perfect temperature, in a boujie glass, with a little cookie on the side. Also, we were sat by a sunny window, so it made the perfect photo for my close friends Instagram story. Take. My. Money.  

Ofc, the rest of our afternoon consisted of a heavy dose of mooching, shopping and cruising (get your mind out of the gutter). Amsterdam really has all the shopping that a gay man and gran could want, with a great collection of shops, from high-street fashion names to independent crafting shops. A particular shout out goes to the shop selling bread lights and tulip- shaped bags, which of course gma had to stumble in and flash those euros for a tulip- shaped coin purse. We also loved the Amsterdam Cheese Company shop for all the free samples of fun- tasting cheeses, such as pesto, truffle or siracha. The offer of freebies overruled my dairy intolerance here (oops) and I’m glad, ‘cos it was delish. 

Loaded up with bags of cheese and other shopping finds, we headed over to our river cruise, which started on the banks of Leidseplein – near the infamous Rijksmuseum. We got this free with the iAmsterdam card and I would highly recommend it. It lasted over two hours, we listened to some of the historical and cultural highlights of Amsterdam, sipped on another cappuccino (natch) and slowly bobbed along the canals. Not quite a Jane McDonald sing along, but there were some fun musical interludes on the cruise, which kept everyone’s spirits high, if not ready for an afternoon Appy spritz.  

After bidding the captain a fond farewell (in gma’s case, a very fond farewell), we took a short walk through the streets and grabbed a bite to eat. If you’re in Amsterdam, I would say to deffo check out the Food Crib for a quick meal. It’s a vegan and veggie street food burger place, near the main ‘museum’ part of town, and had the most incredible burgers. We’re talking beetroot-loaded vegan burger dripping in vegan mayo with thick waffle-cut fries that gma referred to as ‘the best burger ever’. Ding bloody dong. 

 This got us ready for our final stop of the day, the Moco Museum. This whimsical museum features the work of Banksy, Robbie Williams, Warhol, Haring and more. It’s also housed in what I can only describe as a posh H&M-style building with three floors of interactive artworks and interesting installations. One moment, you’re in a room full of LED screens and the next, you’re face to face with a chair made of teddy bears. It truly was a unique experience! After a meander through the gallery shop, we headed back to our hotel for what I call ‘hotel tapas’, which basically consisted of an assortment of picky bits from the local Spar served on the crisp, white bed sheets. 

Day 3 

After our action-packed day yesterday, we took our final day a bit easier. We had a slow morning and long old sleep, packed up our bags and headed to the Van Gough Museum. If you’re a fan of Van Gough, then I have no doubt that you’ll be chomping at the bit to get here. While I was excited to go, gma was giddy with excitement on entering the hallowed halls of the museum. We grabbed our audio guides and worked our way through the different stages of Van Gough’s working life. From sunflowers to bedrooms, he really did paint it all. After a stop in the Van Gough Bistro and the gift shop (ofc), we were onto our final museum of the trip, the Stedelijk Museum. This was a design and art museum that sure got us thinking about arty design, giving us Bauhaus realness and wartime portraits in the same room – not one to be missed!  

Later in the evening, we ended our trip with a fantastic meal at La Perla. This cosy pizza restaurant was around 20 mins from our hotel and had been recommended to us by a few people in Amsterdam. The restaurant is opposite the pizza takeaway, where all the pizzas are made fresh in the pizza oven. They’re then run over the street and brought into the restaurant, which was fun to watch. I sampled the limoncello spritz (it would be rude not to) and gma had an iced tea, but we both had a carciofo (mushroom and artichoke) pizza. Also, we had a flirting competition with the attractive Italian waiter… Spoiler alert, gma won.  

 That wrapped up our 72 hours in Amsterdam, and what a trip it was! From our tentative excitement at the airport to all the mooching and galleries, Amsterdam really was a great place to visit. As both gay man and gran, we were accepted with open arms and love the city for it.  

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Author: Thomas Dadswell (he/him)
Last updated:12/05/2025