Prepare for a lot of pictures throughout this blog post because this city is so photogenic. Me and my boyfriend had been planning on going on a short break to a city somewhere since we returned from Paris, we wanted somewhere quite chilled where we didn’t feel like we had to do a load of touristy things.

I found Amsterdam to be one of the top destinations for short city breaks, so next thing I knew, we were on a short plane journey and BAM, we were sat in Dam Square.

We stayed in the 5* NH Collection Grande Krasnapolsky Amsterdam which is situated right in the heart of Dam Square, so we couldn’t get any more central if we tried. Just a short 15 minute train ride from the Airport and a 5 minute walk we had ended up in the luxury resort. The staff were super helpful and so lovely, we also got an upgrade to a premium room when we arrived which was a great surprise and started our little trip off perfectly. I would 100% recommend this hotel if your looking to stay in the centre of this beautiful city, rooms can be found a lot cheaper on LastMinute.com.

We spent most of the first day figuring out what was around us, I honestly thought Amsterdam was going to be filled of just canals and boats everywhere but to my surprise there was a massive shopping avenue right behind our hotel (great, for a shopaholic like me!!) I had taken a few different outfits which I had planned to shoot in Amsterdam for some future blog posts and Instagram content (they can be found on @paigealiciabeauty) so we decided to take some photos and explore the city a bit more.

I instantly fell in love with the architecture and the people of Amsterdam within minutes of walking around the place. The short, little alley ways filled with family owned boutiques, the endless canals which all stretched across the area and the 100’s of 1000’s of bicycles parked up at the bridges of each canal. The people were all so chilled and what I loved most is they all spoke English (I always panic about language barriers when I’m away).

The second day of our trip we spent on one of the canal cruises which I have to admit was one of my favourite things we did. We had such a lovely driver who invested all his time in telling us all about the history of Amsterdam whilst we slowly sailed away down the river. He pointed out a lot of historic places where things had happened a long time ago which I loved as I am a total history geek!! Afterwards, we then took a stroll down to the I AMsterdam sign which was great to see (as it is a huge tourist attraction) and had a spot of lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, as its mine and George’s favourite place to go when were away, if there’s a Hard Rock Cafe around, trust me and George to find it!!

Later on into the evening we took a walk down to the famous Red Light District and went to the Sex and Prostitution Museum’s which were both actually very interesting. (Did you know an average prostitute goes through roughly 2000 condoms a year!!) I know, I was shocked too!! It was amazing to see how different the culture is over there and to experience somewhere that is so different to where your from.

We spent the rest of our trip wondering around the area exploring different aspects of Amsterdam, and eating a lot of Dunkin Donuts – it had to be done when you have one situated next to your hotel!!

Overall, I had such a fab time in Amsterdam and I definitely want to return in the near future to explore more of the stunning city.

All outfits are on my Instagram (linked below) and every clothing piece is tagged if you were wondering.