City break goals: making Amsterdam toddler-friendly

No two of the 225 guest rooms are the same, and range from lead-in Cosy Rooms, to our Classic Suite with a separate living space, to the gargantuan split-level Family Suite located on the top floor.

There’s a Vermeer-esque attention to detail in guest rooms too, including a bicycle-repair kit, a pack of stroopwafels and a Pulitzer tote bag, while for Ezra there’s a cuddly Pulitzer rabbit, a voucher to concoct his own ice cream and a cute treasure hunt.

And as we’re on the special Vermeer package, including guaranteed tickets to the sold-out exhibition, we’re also welcomed by an edible ‘Girl With The Pearl Earring’ on a little chocolate easel, which survives exactly 17 seconds before Ezra smashes it to pieces.

TODDLER-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES 

Not only is Pulitzer Amsterdam walkable from the railway station (though, with a pushchair and a giant suitcase, I’d recommend a taxi), it’s also just 25 minutes’ walk from the Amsterdam Museum Quarter (the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum and the Van Gogh Museum), and – crucially for us – 25 minutes from the city’s largest green space.

Vondelpark, with its lofty treetop canopy walkway, roller-skate hire and a host of cafes and restaurants, is a hive of activity. There’s a playground attached to Groot Melkhuis cafe, where we enjoy coffee and appeltaart while Ezra scoops half of the sandpit into his pockets.

A morning at Nemo Science Museum in the eastern dock area is another perfect half-day outing. Housed in a striking copper-green building designed by Renzo Piano, it’s the largest science museum in the Netherlands, with three floors of hands-on activities, from making giant bubbles and playing with static electricity to donning a lab coat and safety goggles to do cool stuff with baking powder and vinegar.

However, we’re less sure how toddler-friendly the Rijksmuseum, with its imposing Gothic architecture and austere Rembrandts, will be. 

Ordinarily, the state museum is home to just four of the 35-or-so paintings officially recognised to be by Johannes Vermeer, but for four months in spring 2023, the gallery has brought together 28 of them in the largest-ever exhibition of the 17th-century painter’s work.

We needn’t have worried at all about feeling welcome: staff are incredibly friendly, and even at 10am on a Monday morning the rooms hosting the works are so busy that nobody really notices Ezra sitting in his buggy murmuring along to Hey Duggee.

Vermeer has been described as a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, but there are always reasons for art lovers to revisit Amsterdam. And for 2024, the Pulitzer team is excited about a Frans Hals exhibition running from 16 February-9 June, which will bring together around 50 of the Dutch Master painter’s greatest works, and ‘Framing Rembrandt’ at the Rembrandt House Museum is on until 5 February.

COCKTAILS AND CHIPS 

Dining out isn’t necessarily a pleasure with a picky two-year-old, and with its elegant wood-panelling and low lighting, Pulitzer Amsterdam’s main restaurant, Jansz, might not have appeared the most suitable choice for us. But the waiting staff could not be any friendlier, supplying crayons, an activity sheet, and a kids’ menu. 

Ezra refuses anything but chips, while we feast upon venison with potato mousseline and pine nuts, and perfectly crispy sea bass with pearl barley and a foamy sauce, followed by an insanely delicious peanut butter sundae.

A second restaurant, Pulitzer Garden, serves an Italian-inspired menu, while the moody, decadent Pulitzer’s Bar is renowned as one of the city’s best cocktail bars. 

It’s one thing for a hotel to describe itself as “family friendly” and offer a kids’ menu and amenities – but when Ezra comes down with a noro-bug and is sick all over the carpet of our sumptuous suite, he really puts that family-friendliness to the test. Mortified, I alert reception, who respond with absolute kindness and discretion and assure me that “it happens”. Our carpet is clean and fresh by the time we’re back from lunch.

There’s lots more we’d have squeezed in with more time: Pulitzer Amsterdam offers group cruises on its own canal boats, and the brilliant Van Gogh Museum has treasure hunts and children’s painting workshops (6-12 years), while Anne Frank’s House is a three-minute walk from the Pulitzer (though pushchairs aren’t allowed, and it’s best-suited for children aged 10+).

Our return journey by Eurostar is scheduled as precisely as our outbound leg: we wake the toddler from his lunchtime nap, leave Amsterdam Centraal on the 4:47pm train, and tuck Ezra into bed at home just an hour later than normal.

Of course, it helps that we live within an hour of St Pancras International, but for us, travelling by Eurostar proves infinitely more relaxing than flying. And since children up to the age of four travel free on their parents’ lap (versus two on most airlines), and passengers can each take two suitcases for free, it can be more cost-effective.

This action-packed city break was certainly a different experience to our pre-parenthood trips to Amsterdam, but for three days, we felt something like our more cultured, more adventurous former selves, and we’re already scouring the Eurostar timetable for other nap-suitable city destinations.

Ezra, of course, looks forward to eating only chips in every single one.

Book it: Kirker Holidays has a two-night stay in a Classic King room at Pulitzer Amsterdam in March for two adults from £1,098pp including return Standard Eurostar tickets, private transfers, Rijksmuseum tickets and breakfast. A cot for children up to the age of three can be put in any room category for no extra charge. An extra bed can be added for children aged 3-12 for €27.50pn but can’t be squeezed into Classic rooms; kirkerholidays.com

Agents can earn commission on Amsterdam tickets and tours through Viator (viator.com), or book a GoCity Amsterdam Explorer pass from £52 per adult via DoSomethingDifferent.com