The reasons I would return to Amsterdam in The Netherlands are varied. To sum it up, it was a matter of love at first sight the first time I visited the city with my wife, and she feels exactly the same way.

We made our first trip from our home country, the U.S.A, during Christmas week in 2004. It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment trip-planning thing, since we had not even thought about anything like that until about two months prior. We happened to watch a travel show on television about Amsterdam, and were both struck by how beautiful the city seemed to be, and that as far as European locations in general go, The Netherlands was a country friendly to Americans and with most of the native population speaking some if not fluent English. That was no small consideration for us due to the political climate in the U.S. at the time and how a lot of the rest of the world viewed our country, in addition to my wife never having travelled outside the U.S. and with me having done so only once on a business trip to Germany.

To say we both had concerns about getting on a plane and going to another country will no doubt sound absurdly silly to experienced international travellers, but those venturing outside their home country for the first time will know exactly how it feels. One of the great joys of going to Amsterdam for the first time, which we also experienced every time we’ve been there on several vacations since, was the ease of everything from getting out of Schiphol airport to our hotel apartment, using the outstanding public transportation system of the city making it totally unnecessary to worry about needing a rental vehicle, to the overall efficiency of everyone we dealt with at our hotel and at businesses. We did a lot of Internet research about the country and Amsterdam in particular in the short planning time before our first trip there, which paid off hugely in not having any nasty surprises or problems.

To us, Amsterdam truly has something for almost anyone to enjoy. For those inclined to such things, there are the famous “coffeeshops” where cannabis can be purchased and smoked legally, as well as the red light district with its legalized prostitution. For culture, there are numerous museums, with the highlights for us being the Rijksmuseum and the Anne Frank Museum. For music lovers and the dance/club crowd there are plenty of concert halls and clubs. For anyone that even remotely appreciates architecture, the canal houses are unique to any other country in their design and styles, and with laws regulating building types and heights in the city will retain their beauty and charm for generations to come.

There is also a sprawling city park that’s great in the warmer months (Vondel Park), the ringed canals encircling the city with its wonderful canal boat rides, and excursion companies with very cool partial-day and day-long bus trips to nearby locations including Antwerp and Brussels in Belgium, The Hague, Vollendam, the Flower Market, and others, all of which are well worth doing.

Amsterdam is a vibrant, bustling, truly international European city with so much to do and see that my wife and I had a blast each time we’ve been, and is why we would choose it as the place we would most like to return to for a future vacation. A beautiful city that’s easy to get around in by walking or using the efficient trams, with something for people of all ages and types to enjoy, and with friendly people.

**This short Travel Story was submitted as part of the Holiday Travel Writing Competition. All short-listed entries such as this one are published in our online Travel Guide**

Story written by John Shackelford | Since 2006 Holiday Velvet offers Apartments in Amsterdam.