In September 2026, my best friend and I travelled to Amsterdam for three nights. It was our first time visiting the Netherlands, and it’s safe to say there were many highs and lows this time…
If you’re new here, hello! I’m Pippa, and I’m an ambulatory wheelchair user with a chronic illness. I’m based in the UK but love to travel around the country and beyond when my health allows it – you can find travel posts here on my blog, watch my vlogs on YouTube, or find short-form content on Instagram. It’s lovely to have you here!
[ad] Thank you to iAmsterdam for gifting us their City Card, which covered some of the attractions and public transport included in this blog post. Links marked with * are affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own!
Our Itinerary
You can watch the full video from our time in Amsterdam here, but in a nutshell…
- We travelled by Eurostar from London St Pancras to Amsterdam Centraal. More on that journey here, but as a side note, I’m a VERY big fan of my new Staveley XL Scooter Bag* for travelling. Fits gorgeously onto the back of my Whill C2 Powerchair!
- We stayed at Ibis Amsterdam Centraal which is in a brilliant location for transport links. However, make sure you book the accessible room if you’re travelling with mobility aids – it’s a very tight squeeze if you don’t.
- We got on an internal train midway through our stay and took a day trip to the beautiful town of Leiden – one of the absolute highlights of our visit.
- We tried lots of different modes of public transport during our short time in the city – see how we got on with them here!
In this YouTube video I share a travel vlog from our time in Amsterdam, and then sit down at the end to share all my tips and advice for anybody planning a similar trip:
Accessible Highlights from Amsterdam
This trip wasn’t an easy one for us, but some of our favourite moments included…
- Enjoying a canal boat tour with the Blue Boat Company – the only wheelchair-accessible canal tour operators in the city centre. There was a platform lift to get on and off the boat, and plenty of space to accommodate two wheelchair users inside. We weren’t blessed with great weather during our time in Amsterdam, but thankfully the seating area was under cover!
- Zipping up in the lift to the top of the A’DAM Lookout and enjoying amazing views across the city with a cocktail in hand.
- Dining on amazing food at Foodhallen. This place does get busy at peak times but it was very doable in a wheelchair and had a brilliant range of food stalls and cuisines to choose from – even if you have multiple allergies or dietary requirements.
- Visiting Leiden for the day. It took around 40 minutes on the train to reach this town and it was worth it a million times over – a beautiful place with a gorgeous atmosphere. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting Hortus Botanicus and having a wander up and down the streets along the canal, and every person we met was full of warmth and good vibes.
- Watching Boom Chicago’s Comedy Improv Show (English-speaking!) wasn’t a plan we’d locked in before travelling, but we both thoroughly enjoyed it. There are two levels in the building so make sure you check which stage they’re performing on that night before you book your tickets, but well worth seeing if you can!
Things We Found Difficult In Amsterdam
- We should have been better prepared for the bikes. We knew they would be everywhere, but we weren’t expecting it to feel as chaotic as it did to walk around the city centre. At times, it felt like there were bikes, cars, and people coming at you from all directions which meant we felt we couldn’t really stop and take in the views and landmarks as we moved from one place to another.
- The weather is nobody’s fault and couldn’t be helped but torrential rain made it a little less enjoyable to explore – even with my raincoat and trusty BundleBean* wheelchair cosy on!
- We were very conscious of the overtourism issue in Amsterdam and have nothing but empathy for how this must affect locals – certain parts of the De Wallen area (as I’m sure you can imagine) were crowded and rowdy, which are environments we usually try our best to avoid.
- Some modes of public transport were trickier than others. During our visit we had a Metro lift break down, and a fair few struggles with using trams when there wasn’t enough room on the platform to get on the ramp to board. More on that here!
- As two young(ish) female travellers, there were a few times when we felt highly perceived and quite unsafe while walking around – especially in certain areas.
Whilst Amsterdam definitely wasn’t my favourite destination I’ve ever travelled to, I’m still glad I got to experience it for myself – and more than anything, I’m so grateful I got to see a bit of the Netherlands beyond the city centre too. I would travel back to Leiden in a heartbeat, and I know there are so many other beautiful areas of the country too.
This is just a short summary blog post, but if you’re thinking about or planning your own wheelchair accessible trip to Amsterdam, I really hope this video is helpful!
