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Cheerful, friendly and simple, this canal house in Plantage has a welcoming attitude to children, with family rooms. Breakfast is no longer served (there are places nearby) but hot and cold drinks, fruit and cookies are on offer during the day.

Overlooking the Singel and conveniently close to the huge floating flower market, this small, intimate hotel also has a peaceful garden. Wooden beams, good furniture, new bathrooms and reasonable rates make this place hard to resist.

Football fans will want to pay their respects to the brilliant Ajax club at their impressive new stadium, Amsterdam ArenA. Visit the interactive museum, which brings the club and its greatest moments to life, and tour the state-of- the- art 50,000-seat stadium. There are usually six tours a day in summer, four in winter, except on event days; phone ahead for times.

Shabby but vibrant, De Pijp is a district where a wide mix of immigrants, artists, students and young couples create a heady atmosphere. Albert Cuypmarkt, which has been trading since 1904, is its bustling hub. The street it occupies, once a canal, was named after Dutch landscape painter Albert Cuyp. With around 350 stalls, backed by all manner of shops and ethnic restaurants, it’s an unmissable experience. Typically Dutch food stalls – cheese, fish, waffles – jostle merrily with clothes, fabrics, shoes and bags, all selling at rock-bottom prices.

Albert Heijn is a rather upmarket supermarket chain – there’s at least one in each area of town. A little pricey, but the selection is wide, the aisles are wide, and they’re wide awake: unusually, several centrally located branches stay open until 10pm.

Parents may prefer old-world character, but children usually like their hotels to look spanking new, like this recently opened three-star hotel in the Canal Ring. Some rooms sleep three or four, and there is a brasserie for breakfast and snacks.

Located in a stately Neo-Classical house built in the 1860s as a bank, this delightful small museum was named after the University of Amsterdam’s first Professor of Classical Archaeology, and contains its archaeological collection. Fascinating exhibits conjure up vivid pictures of life in ancient civilizations; they include Egyptian mummies and sarcophagi, Coptic clothes, Cypriot jewellery, Greek geometric and red-figured pottery, Etruscan metalwork and Roman glassware and statuary. One of the museum’s attractions is its size: even with an extra wing opened in 1994, it is possible to see everything in one visit.

Authentic British fish’n’chips, complete with tabloids and lashings of tomato ketchup and brown sauce.