Amsterdam with Dog and Cat: 3 Unmissable Stops

We visited Amsterdam over 2 days, with our dog and cat as travel companions, in August 2022. For our visit we got recommendations from a friend who lives near the city  , discovering a few less touristy but decidedly more authentic spots. Being summer, the weather was mild, though wind and rain can always be on the cards, which is why we recommend bringing a raincoat or a poncho  with you! We arrived in the city by campervan and stopped for free and stayed overnight for free in the NDSM Wharf district

If you only want to stop during the day you can park right along the canal, while if you want to stay overnight it’s only allowed in the surrounding streets. From this area the city centre is easily reached with free ferries departing roughly every 10 minutes (15-minute crossing, pets allowed!). Either way, even if you arrive by plane, the destinations we recommend are still the same! ✈️

3 unmissable stops

These places were recommended to us by Davide, and we’re happy to pass them on to you as friends would, for a slightly more fun visit to the city.

Jordaan district: in our opinion this is the most authentic district, with its buildings overlooking the canals. Peek behind the windows, you’ll always find some detail worth your attention. Pay attention in the evening — you might suddenly find yourself in front of a concert on the water, a truly moving experience.

Kat & Muis (Cat & Mouse) Museum: this is the small museum  of little mice. Free admission, a genuine work of art in every sense. You’ll hardly leave without picking up at least a souvenir postcard or taking a photo. Don’t be afraid to ask questions — the woman behind the counter is very kind and told us the whole story.

STRAAT Museum: this is the street-art museum  in the city’s northern district. You’ll find works on the walls of the surrounding buildings too, but genuine works of art are hidden inside. Among them are works by the Italian artist Millo (whom you can also see in Turin, for example  ). You might even catch an artist at work. The district can be reached for free with the F4 ferry  .

Full itinerary

Want to read every moment of our adventure in the city together with Olimpia and Sakè? Here’s our daily diary.

Day 1: having parked and slept in the northern part of the city, we took one of the first free ferries, and once off the boat we headed straight to the peaceful Jordaan district. Before our eyes: canals, buildings not too tall overlooking both sides, vintage shops, interesting little bars, a small Saturday morning market. Jordaan is a truly human-scale district, with people sitting on their doorsteps sipping a big mug of coffee or reading a book. We felt part tourists, part spectators. Reaching a city park, we had lunch with a couple of sandwiches prepared on board, then went back to the van, given the fairly warm temperatures, saving the heart of the city for later in the afternoon without Olimpia and Sakè. Around 5pm we took the ferry again and walked from north to south and east to west, nibbling on the typical fries (a local street-food must-have), before finding ourselves near the tulip market, in the red-light district, and finally back in Jordaan, among a crowd listening to a classical music concert on the canal. A wonderful show we stumbled upon by chance and by luck. Called back by hunger, we headed towards the station, where we ate a takeaway pizza sitting with our legs dangling over the canal, before heading back to the northern district.

Day 2: on a slow, grey Sunday morning we decided to go back to strolling along Amsterdam’s canals. If, unlike us, you know your travel dates precisely, we recommend booking tickets for the Anne Frank House in advance (they can only be bought online and usually sell out early in the month — book in time!). We then wandered around the city without a precise destination, letting ourselves be captivated by details like a chandelier made from an upside-down white horse. Still in Jordaan we made a lovely discovery: a small museum (the Kat & Muis Museum). Picture an entire miniature village climbing up a main wall, showing the interiors of shops and homes, populated by little mice, all different, all protagonists. On another wall of the shop, book covers translated into different languages are displayed, and continuing into the second room you find a miniature city overlooking canals, of course populated by the charming little creatures. The artist had started creating the first characters in her living room. In front of that curtainless window, all the children, but adults too, would stop to try to understand the story of those characters, study their evolution, ask for even more details. Month after month the construction grew to 3 metres tall, so rich that it ended up on display at the city library. Given its success, the artist started writing stories for each of these rooms and the various characters, which were translated into the languages of many countries. We left the museum shop happy as children, with a souvenir postcard to hang in the van. After lunch we decided to explore the district we were staying in a bit more, and with the bad weather as an excuse, we went into the STRAAT museum, home to street-art works with unique details. Some are so grand and rich in detail that they look like photographs. A truly interesting visit.

If you want to know more about our adventures across the whole country, you’ll find the dedicated article here.

Public transport

We walked around the whole city centre, but if you need it, public transport works great (see the ferry we took for free 8 times from our car park). And remember, in the city you need to watch out for bikes more than any other vehicle — they pop out from every corner!

Our thoughts

We have to be honest, Amsterdam was perhaps one of the destinations we liked the least in the whole of the Netherlands. Had we only seen the city, we probably would have liked it a lot; but having also discovered the small villages, we were struck more by those. It’s still worth a visit regardless, and if you happen to visit in spring, we recommend a visit to Keukenhof park to admire the fields of blooming tulips.

Travelling with your pet

There are numerous fountains around the city, but if you visit in summer with your four-legged friend, we recommend bringing a bowl (we use one we clip to our backpack with a handy carabiner) and a water bottle. We recommend keeping your pet on a leash to avoid trouble, especially with the many bikes zipping left and right.

Our vlog

In the video below you can walk through the streets of Amsterdam with us, or find the full series about the country at this link  .