Of course, it’s not enough just to visit this beautiful island, but the island mentality helps you to slow down and let life be life. Whether in a hotel, in a holiday flat or on a campsite, whether alone, as a couple, with friends or family, with a dog or without, Ameland offers a suitable holiday experience for everyone.

Overview of one week on Ameland

Instead of going by day or topic I decided to sort things on this small island by village, from west to east:

• Hollum
• Ballum
• Nes
• Buren
• General Information
• Map of Ameland

What is Ameland?

Ameland is one of the West Frisian Islands in the north sea off the coast of the Netherlands. At 24 kilometres long and up to 5 kilometres wide, Ameland is not a tiny island, but you can easily reach everything by electric scooter or bicycle. If that’s not for you, buses also run several times an hour between the island’s four villages. You can easily rent a bicylce or electric scooter at Rijwielverhuur Nobel or Fietsverhuur Metz Ameland.

The island has an eventful history, which can be learnt and experienced in several museums. The island also offers activities for adventurers, from high ropes courses, surfing and beach rides to parachute jumping. Those who prefer a beach holiday will feel right at home on the 27 km of sandy beaches.

In this article, I give an overview of everything I did during that week in the four villages on the island, as well as a brief overview of general information such as the holiday flat, bike & scooter rental and shopping facilities for daily needs.

Hollum

Hollum is the largest settlement on Ameland and also the most populated. It is the westernmost one and the one with the lighthouse.

Eeterij Tante A’n

Restaurant and café Tante A’n is an well loved place on Ameland that has moved with the times. The interior is modern and offers free Wi-Fi. But the tradition of the establishment is also honoured.

The restaurant was named after Antje de Boer, whose father used to run a bakery in this very building. Remnants of the old bakery can still be seen today.

Unlike in Germany, gluten-free dishes / adaptations of dishes are not a problem. Instead of baguettes, there was gluten-free baguette, a gluten-free cake is always on the menu and for coffee there is a caramel sweet instead of a biscuit. It can be so simple.

Vishandel Metz Hollum

To buy fresh fish, seafood or fish specialities, you should go to Metz and avoid the frozen products from the supermarket. In addition to the counter, they also offer a selection of fish and seafood dishes. From deep-fried fried fish with chips to mussels in a vegetable broth, you can round off the evening with a delicious dish at the tables on site or back at your accommodation as a take-away.

Smikkel Skuur

Smikkel Skuur serves ice cream in Hollum on Ameland. You might not get the same ice cream twice, but their choices are always delicious.

In the picture you can see Stracciatella, Strawberry-Yoghurt and Salted Caramel. The Salted Caramel was my favourite, a perfect blend of sweet and salty in a creamy ice cream.

The shop only offers take-away, there are no seats, but going for a walk with your ice cream in hand is nice, especially when the weather is amazing.

Stichting Paardenreddingboot Ameland

The Abraham Fock Maritime Museum was built around the former lifeboat station in Hollum. As the name and location suggest, it is centred around the history and development of sea rescue on Ameland. The centrepiece of the exhibition is the Abraham Fock lifeboat, which was pulled from the station to the sea by 10 horses for decades. This spectacle can still be witnessed today, but it is no longer necessary for a ship to be in distress.

On fixed dates, the village farmers bring their horses to the station and practise launching the boat. If you would like to see this spectacle, you can find out the current dates on the museum’s website: www.amelandermusea.nl

Museum Sorgdrager

The cultural history museum in Hollum is partly housed in an old, traditional captain’s house. This house is part of the exhibition and shows how people lived on Ameland at the time of whaling. The attic contains furniture and everyday objects from several centuries and portraits give an insight into the appearance and fashion trends on the island.

A digital audio guide leads you through the museum in several languages. You can access the museum’s Wi-Fi, download an app and access the audio and video sequences stored at various stations as you wish.

Bornrif Lighthouse

No island or coastline is complete without it: Lighthouses. The beacons that show ships the way.

The lighthouse on Ameland, built in 1880/81, is 55 metres high and can be climbed via 236 steps.

Once at the top, you have a great view over the island and, depending on the weather, you can also see the neighbouring islands of Terschelling and Schiermonnikoog, as well as the North Holland mainland.

Ballum

Ballum is the smallest village on the island and after the “Nobles Nostalgish Museum” closed, only one of the things I can recommend for a visit here is inside the village. The other two are reachable by bike or electric scooter.

Nobeltje

The Nobel family has divided up the village of Ballum between them. One runs the hotel with restaurant and café, one runs the distillery where Nobeltje is produced, one runs the aforementioned museum and the last runs the bicycle sales and hire business.

So it is hardly surprising that they support each other and pass customers on to each other. For example, if you hire a scooter from one Nobel, you get a Nobeltje from the third Nobel when you buy a hot drink from the second Nobel.

And after a glass, you think about taking a bottle of the rum liqueur home with you. Because the original is only available from and on Ameland. And I did buy one, as someone who does not like rum!

Amelander Bierbrouwerij

Amelander Bierbrauerei is a small, family-run brewery in a converted barn in the middle of the meadows between Ballum and the North Sea. In addition to the brewery, which can be visited, there is also a tasting room and plenty of seating in the garden under the sun in summer.

In the barn, the family keeps a ‘Beerwall of Fame’ where they collect beer bottles from all over the world. When I was there there were already over 1000 and they said there were more every day.

If you can’t decide on a beer, you’re in luck! With the beer tasting you can try 3 beers at once. There is also Amelander cheese and sausage. Very tasty. My favourite was the light beer.

Dijkwachter

The monument to the Dijkwachter, the dyke guards who used to risk their lives to check the water level so that they could warn residents of a spring or storm tide if necessary, is located directly on Ballum Bay and is easily accessible by bike.

One man walked to the highest point of the dyke with a lantern, while a second man stayed behind the dyke, holding a rope that was wrapped around the first man’s waist as protection against the wind.

Nes

Nes is the second largest settlement on Ameland, it is the one most people see first, since it has the ferry harbour.

‘t Commandeurtje

‘t Commandeurtje is a small gift- and candy shop in Nes on Ameland. Their “theme” are wadden related products, based on the “Wadden Sea“, the islands borders. Right next to them is the liquor store Slijter De Jong which is located in an authentic Ameland commander home and sells an herb liquor which is also called “Commandeurtje”. If you like herb liquor, you’ll like this one, too.

Galerie Ameland

We found the Ameland Gallery through a programme called “Wunderschön” on the German public broadcast channel WDR. In the small gallery space, artists from the island (Wim Kiewiet, Richard Kiewiet and Rinnie Wijnstra to be precise) exhibit their paintings and figures. The artworks are mainly still life from the island, landscape paintings and the occasional animal and human portrait.

If a whole painting is too expensive, or if you can’t find space for it in your own four walls, you can buy prints of selected paintings as postcards.

Overzee: Bistro & Logement

The Overzee: Bistro is a very tastefully decorated restaurant with an outdoor terrace and fresh, flavoursome cuisine. They try to source as much produce as possible directly from the island and process as much as possible to produce less kitchen waste. For example, the dish of the day when we were there was roast lung from the cow.

As I don’t have much of a taste for offal, I had the beef carpaccio instead and afterwards for dessert a latte macchiato and a mini cheesecake.

Natuurcentrum Ameland

The Ameland Nature Centre has a main exhibition dedicated to the special features of Ameland as a Wadden Sea island. Part of this is a large North Sea aquarium (observant visitors can also find out which sunken village the aquarium is modelled on), as well as many smaller aquariums housing native fish and sea creatures. Films, showcases and models illustrate the formation of the island and the effects of wind, weather and tides.

Changing travelling exhibitions deal with related topics such as plastic pollution in the sea, the effects of climate change and much more.

There is also an observation tower high above the main building from which you have a great view over the North Sea and the Wadden Sea.

Buren

Buren is the eastern most settlement on Ameland, despite being located in the middle of the island. The one further east, Oerd, sank at some point. Now the entire area east of Buren is sand dunes, flora and some beaches.

Fun fact: Two ferries were named after the two sunken villages of the island: MS Oerd and MS Sier.

Restaurant StrAnders

The StrAnders restaurant lives up to its name (In German: Strand = beach + anders = different). It is located near one of the beach accesses of Buren and does many things differently from other restaurants. Wherever possible, only Ameland island products are used. From fish and lamb to mustard and vegetables, almost everything comes from the island.

The rack of lamb with Ameland mustard and potatoes in port wine sauce is particularly recommended.

Landbouw-Juttersmuseum Swartwoude

Beachcombing, or ‘jutttern’ in Dutch, was for a long time not just a hobby on Ameland, but a means of survival for farmers, traders and other islanders who were dependent on the tides and the weather on the North Sea island. Flotsam and jetsam belonged to whoever found it and after a stormy night this could be anything from Lukas Podolski figures and ropes to wooden beams from which many an islander built a garden shed.

The beachcomber museum is an impressive display of the treasures that the sea has washed up on Ameland’s beaches over the years.

The stories of the ‘beachcombers’ are told through stories and videos that are available in Dutch, English and German.

General information for one week on Ameland

There are over 90 kilometres of cycle paths on the island. If you don’t bring your own bike, you can hire one from various providers. From ladies’ and men’s bikes to children’s bikes, tandems and e-bikes, you can find everything a cyclist’s heart desires.

Fietsverhuur Metz

We opted for two ladies’ bikes, which were waiting for us when we arrived at the ferry terminal in Nes with an employee from Fietsverhuur Metz. He picked up our suitcases so that we could cycle the 10,5 km to our holiday flat without a care in the world.

For the rest of the week, the Metz bikes accompanied us on our tours of the island. When it was time to say goodbye to the island, we left our bikes at the holiday flat and they were picked up again to accompany another family on their holiday.

Rijwielverhuur Nobel

One day we hired an electric scooter from Nobel. The scooter was fully charged and there were no technical problems. However, an introduction to the scooter would have been nice, as none of us had ever sat on a scooter before, let alone driven one.

Coop Supermarket

With only one supermarket in Hollum (where we stayed), you don’t have much choice. So it’s all the more pleasing that the Coop Markt is very well stocked. There is an extensive fruit and vegetable department, a butcher’s shop and a cheese counter that leaves nothing to be desired. The selection of gluten-free foods is much larger than you are used to in German supermarkets. And if you ask nicely you can get gluten-free bread from the frozen food store, which is a lot less dry than the pre-packed bread on the shelf.

Map for one week on Ameland

How to read the map: Blue is everything in Hollum, green is everything listed above in and around Ballum, purple is everything in Nes (and some additional shops I visited, which can be recommended, but I didn’t take any pictures at) and orange is everything listed above in Buren.

You can save the map to your Google Maps for one week on Ameland by clicking here.

Info for transparency: I’ve been here in the summer, but I didn’t get to writing this post earlier.

Der Beitrag One week on Ameland – West Frisian Islands erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

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Friday – Arrival Day

We (me and a friend) drove down from Hameln to Amsterdam on Friday morning, took plenty of breaks, had lunch on the road and checked in to our hotel at around 3 pm.

Leonardo Hotel Amsterdam Rembrandpark

Originally we had booked a room at the Leonardo Hotel Amsterdam Royal*, which had a huge sale on. A week before we were set to arrive we were transferred to a different hotel of the same chain. We ended up staying at the Leonardo Hotel Amsterdam Rembrandpark*. Asking nicely (you would be surprised how far that will get you in any situation) got us an upgrade and we stayed on one of the top floors in a corner room, with a great view over the city. Ultimately this hotel turned out to be a much better option for a long weekend in Amsterdam since it is much closer to the city centre and you have to spend less time going places.

Breakfast at the hotel was great, they had a fresh buffet with all the hot food being served regularly so it was actually hot, a waffle station, a granola station and a wide variety of coffee specialities.

Vegan Junk Food Bar

On our first evening, we had dinner at the Vegan Junk Food Bar since we had heard good things about it and it was pretty close to the hotel. We had two bottles of Kombucha, vegan calamari rings with pink sauce, as well as an “Mc Cruelty-free”, and shared a serving of sweet potato fries with smeck mayo. Everything was extra because who wants sauce on their fries, am I right?

The burger was okay, the calamari only tasted like fat and were incredibly chewy and the sauces tasted mainly of oil and salt. Vegan food can be delicious, but sadly this was not. (I’m trying very hard not to make a junk food joke here…)

Can you tell why I don’t get direct brand sponsors?

Vondelpark

We spent the rest of the evening with a cider from a local supermarket, wandering through the Vondelpark. The Vondelpark is probably Amsterdam’s most well-known park and the second biggest one in the city. The Vondelparkpaviljoen, a building in the neo-renaissance style at one of the entrances of the park is located at the lowest point of the city. It used to be the film museum of the city before it moved to a more futuristic building on the other side of the IJ, which splits the city into Amsterdam Noord and Amsterdam Zuid.

Saturday – 1st full Day

Saturday was the first full day of our long weekend in Amsterdam and we made the most of it.

eye – Film Museum Amsterdam

After breakfast first thing in the morning, we took the bus halfway across the city, took a ferry from the main train station across the IJ to Amsterdam Noord and then walked the rest of the way to the Amsterdam film museum called the eye. Inside they show the history of film and cinema, with plenty of exhibits and practical demonstrations that we could try ourselves.

blue° Café Amersterdam

After the museum, we took the ferry back to De Wallen, the city centre of Amsterdam. We walked around for a bit, then had a Latte Macchiato at the blue°, looking out over the rooftops of Amsterdam.

This modern café has a 360° viewing window at 30 meters above the ground. While you can also get food there the best seats are at the small coffee tables directly in front of the window.

You have to go through a shopping centre (the Kalverpassage) and take an elevator in the middle of it to get to it, so it’s not too easy to find, which is great, because it’s not too packed.

Café de Prins

After coffee, we had something small for lunch (as it was very hot and we weren’t particularly hungry) at Café de Prins. It has seating outside, along the “Prinsengracht” one of Amsterdams’ many canals, with umbrellas and trees providing shade.

I had Bitterballen with mustard. Now, what are Bitterballen? They are breaded meat croquettes, traditionally stuffed with a beef or veal stew, then deep-fried.

Flagship Canal Cruise

I have been to Amsterdam three times so far, but never found the time to actually do a canal cruise, or Grachten cruise, as the Dutch call their canals. Walking along the canals you see several checkpoints of several tour companies offering you a canal cruise at widely varying prices.

Eventually, we decided on taking a Flagship Canal Cruise* through the Grachten, starting from the dock in front of the Anne Frank house. They have many different tours, we opted for the cheese one.

The Madras Diaries

Apart from Bitterballen, which I am a big fan of ever since I tried them for the first time on the island of Ameland, I am not a big fan of Dutch cuisine. However, due to Amsterdam’s historical importance as a port accessing Europe (and the Netherlands’ history of colonisation), you can find great options for international cuisine in Amsterdam.

We had dinner at the South Indian Restaurant The Madras Diaries. Ordering lamb curry with sona masoori rice led to this conversation between me and the waitress:

“How spicy is it?”
“Spicy.”
“Yes, but… white people spicy or Indian spicy”
“Indian spicy.”

We spend the rest of the first full day of our long weekend in Amsterdam wandering around the city, taking in the atmosphere and hitting up every single second hand and vintage shop we found on the way.

Sunday – 2nd full Day

For Sunday we had booked a full-day tour*. At 8:30 we were picked up at Amsterdam Centraal, the main train station of the city, where got onto a bus and caught some more sleep while they drove us to the first stop of the tour:

Klompenmakerij

The Stoom Klompenmakerij Marken* is a workshop where you can watch a historically accurate representation of the traditional Dutch wooden clogs being made. It was a bit stuffed, especially because of Covid and some people (mainly American tourists) refusing to wear their masks, but the process itself was very interesting, especially because they’re still using the old steam-powered machines.

After the presentation, you enter a museum where you learn about the history and usage of clogs, like how the farmers wear them on the fields because they don’t sink into the muddy ground.

At the end of the workshop, you walk through an exhibition of strange and detailed clogs. Oversized clogs, intricately carved wedding clogs, tiled clogs, mirror clogs and even bedazzled clogs.

Once everyone was back outside we walked to the small near harbour where we took a ferry to Volendam. In Volendam we got to the next few stops of our tour:

Cheese Factory Volendam

The first thing I have to say about the cheese factory in Volendam* is that it did not reek of cheese. I expected the worst before we walked in, but it only really smells of cheese in the store room. In the production and presentation room, you can’t even tell.

They use modern machines, but the technique is still the same as it was a century ago. Most cheese is made with the same steps: The milk is heat treated (pasteurized), and then it is cooled in a big tank. Afterwards, a “starter culture” of bacteria is added which converts the lactose in the milk into lactic acid. Next, they add rennet, an enzyme which curdles the milk. The curds are separated from the liquid, salt is added, it gets heated again, they remove the heat-extracted liquid again, and then the remaining curds are formed and moved to a shelf to age. Then: Tadaaaa! Cheese.

After the Cheese factory, we grabbed lunch at one of the restaurants at Volendam, then visited the Woltjes Backerij a museum/shop in Volendam where they make the Dutch Stroopwafels. Afterwards, we got back on the bus once again, which took us to the last stop of our tour:

Zaanse Schans

The last stop of our tour was the Zaanse Schans*, a residential area where the 18th and 19th centuries are brought to life. In an old bakery, a warehouse where clogs are made, a cheese factory and a pewter foundry you can a glimpse into the past of 200 years ago. The highlight of the area is its various windmills, which are still used for production. There are 11 mills in total, paint mills, spice mills, wood-saw mills, polder mills and smock mills.

Foodhallen Amsterdam

For dinner on Sunday we went to the Foodhallen, a market-like setup where lots of small food stalls serve every cuisine you can think of, so we both ordered whatever we wanted, but still ate together. I had a taco platter with five different kinds of tacos: Pork al pastor, Jackfruit, fried chicken, spicy tuna and braised beef. They were delicious!

Monday – Drive Home

On the last day of our long weekend in Amsterdam we had to check out at 11 am, packed our bags and stored them in the car, and then took the tram to one of Amsterdam’s many city beaches. We went to the one closest to us in the Sloterpark. This morning we had the beach all to ourselves and enjoyed the warm sand and peace before starting the journey back home.

Map of our long weekend in Amsterdam

What would be on your must-see list for a long weekend in Amsterdam?

Whether it is a sight, a restaurant or something entirely different, I would love to know. Leave me a comment!

Der Beitrag Long weekend in Amsterdam erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.