Amsterdam with Pep: the European city that takes dogs most seriously

There are cities that tolerate dogs and cities that include them. Amsterdam is firmly in the second camp, and the difference is apparent within hours of arriving. It isn't a matter of specific legislation or tourism campaigns: it's that for a significant part of the Dutch population, the dog is simply part of daily life, and the city is organised accordingly.

In neighbourhood cafés — the bruine kroegen, or 'brown cafés' that are the Dutch equivalent of a local pub, their walls darkened by decades of smoke and their wooden bars worn smooth — dogs come in with their owners without anyone batting an eyelid. In many shops too. On the boats people use to get around the canals at weekends, even more so. There's no blanket system of restrictions that systematically bars dogs from covered public spaces, and the general assumption is that a well-behaved dog is as welcome as its owner.

Pep noticed before I did. In Amsterdam he walked without that low-tail tension he gets in cities where he senses he isn't quite welcome. He went with his head up, peering into shop windows. It suited him.

The Netherlands is a European Union member, so the rules for bringing Pep from Spain are the same as for any intra-EU trip: an implanted microchip (compulsory in Spain for years, so you've already got this covered), a European pet passport — the blue booklet issued by your vet — and a valid rabies vaccination recorded in that passport. No quarantine, no additional certificates, no special permits.

What is worth checking before you leave: the expiry date on the rabies vaccination. If it's close or already lapsed, a booster a few weeks ahead of the trip sorts it out without any last-minute rush. The passport is issued by any registered vet; if you don't have one yet, now's the time to get it sorted.

As for the flight, each airline has its own policy. Most won't allow medium-sized dogs like Pep in the cabin; he'll travel in the hold under whatever conditions the airline sets. Check before you buy your ticket, not after, because the terms and fees vary considerably. If you'd rather not put your dog in the hold, the alternative is to drive: Amsterdam is roughly eighteen hours by car from Barcelona through France and Belgium, a long haul but one some people do with overnight stops, and dogs tend to handle it well.

From both Madrid and Barcelona there are direct flights to Amsterdam Schiphol of around two and a half hours. Schiphol is very well connected to the city centre: there's a direct train to Amsterdam Centraal that takes about seventeen minutes and runs frequently. It's one of the most convenient airport-to-city connections in Europe.

If you've decided your dog isn't going in the hold, driving is the natural alternative. The most common route from north-eastern Spain is the AP-7 towards the French border, then along the French motorway towards Paris and on through Belgium into the Netherlands. The full journey is around eighteen hours of driving, which most people split over two days with an overnight stop somewhere in France or Belgium. It's a long trip but a well-trodden one: the motorways are good, there are service areas with green spaces to stop and stretch with the dog, and the reward on arrival — a canal framing the end of the street — makes the effort worthwhile.

Pep made the trip by car on our first visit and by plane (hold) on the second. Both worked fine; the choice comes down to your dog, how comfortable you are with the hold, and how much time you have.

Once you're in Amsterdam, the good news is that getting around with a dog is surprisingly straightforward. Dogs travel free on the GVB public transport network — metro, tram and bus — provided they don't disturb other passengers and are calm or in a carrier. In practice, a medium-sized dog like Pep who sits at your feet or on the floor of the carriage causes no issue at all. The only real condition is common sense: if your dog gets anxious or frightened by city transport, avoid peak hour.

The bicycle, which is the most widely used form of transport among Amsterdam's own residents, also has its canine version. It's perfectly normal to see small and medium-sized dogs in front baskets or rear racks while their owners pedal along without a second thought. If you're confident on a bike and your dog will tolerate it, hiring one with a basket and taking Pep the Dutch way has a particular charm, and it's the most local way to see the city.

But the form of transport I enjoyed most with Pep was the canal boats. Many of the small boat hire companies — the self-skippered kind you hire and steer yourself — take dogs without any fuss. Sailing through the canals of the Jordaan or the main canals of the centre at your own pace, with Pep at the bow taking in the smell of the water, is the kind of plan that in another city you'd struggle to imagine, and in Amsterdam is perfectly doable on a Tuesday afternoon.

Amsterdam isn't a vast city and its neighbourhoods are easy to cover on foot, but choosing where to walk makes a real difference when you have a dog.

The Jordaan is the neighbourhood where we spent most of our time. Narrow lanes, bridges over small canals, terraces where a couple of tables appear on the pavement the moment the sun comes out. The atmosphere is calm, the shops are small and local, and nobody gives you a second glance for walking in with a ten-kilo mixed-breed to order a coffee. It's the kind of neighbourhood you'd want to live in.

De Pijp has a different energy: livelier, younger, with the Albert Cuyp market as its centre of gravity. The market — one of the largest and busiest in the Netherlands — is open-air and full of people with dogs on any weekend morning. The neighbourhood's terraces, many alongside the canals or around the local squares, are among the most welcoming in the city.

Amsterdam Noord, on the far side of the IJ river, is the opposite of the tourist centre: quieter, more spacious, and reachable in just a few minutes on the free ferry that departs from behind the central station. The ferry takes dogs without any fuss. Noord has a more relaxed energy and plenty of open space where Pep could move around more freely than in the tightly packed canals of the Jordaan.

Westerpark, a little further west of the centre, has a large park with Sunday markets and a very residential feel. Worth a visit at the weekend.

Parks are the backbone of any day in Amsterdam with a dog. The city has several genuinely useful ones, and you don't need to go far to find real space.

Vondelpark is the city's best-known urban park: large, with ponds, well-maintained paths, and a dedicated area at the far end where dogs can go off-lead. It sits in the Oud-Zuid neighbourhood, a short walk from the centre, and on any weekend morning it's an informal gathering of dogs of every size and their owners. Pep particularly enjoyed that off-lead zone, where he befriended a golden retriever who had clearly been in residence far longer than we had.

Amsterdamse Bos is another matter entirely. It's about fifteen minutes by bike from the centre and is an urban forest of a scale that takes you by surprise: meadows, lakes, paths winding through the trees, and the freedom for dogs to roam off-lead across most of the park. It's a place where the city disappears completely, and where Pep stopped walking like a city dog and started walking like a country dog for a few hours. If you can only go to one park, make it Amsterdamse Bos.

Westerpark is more compact but very pleasant: it has a weekend market in the former Westergasfabriek industrial complex that makes it a destination in its own right. Design, food, live music and dogs everywhere. It works very well as an afternoon plan.

Amsterdam's food scene isn't usually the main reason people make the trip, but eating well is perfectly possible — and doing so with Pep at your feet even more so.

The general rule is that canalside terraces welcome dogs without fuss, especially in spring and summer when almost all social life moves outdoors. There's no need to ask awkwardly whether you can bring him in: in most cases the answer is a gesture towards any free chair and nothing more. Open-air markets — the Albert Cuyp in De Pijp, the Westerpark markets on Sundays — are perfect for eating standing up or perched on the edge of a square with the dog beside you.

For sitting inside, the bruine kroegen are your safest bet. These old-school neighbourhood cafés — 'café' in the Dutch sense meaning a bar that also serves coffee — have a long tradition of welcoming dogs. They're the places where Amsterdammers themselves go after work or on rainy afternoons, and a well-behaved dog is as welcome there as at a friend's house.

One practical note: always carry water and a collapsible bowl for Pep. Some places will offer water unprompted, but having it to hand avoids the moment of mime-based negotiation if the person behind the bar doesn't speak Spanish or English — which in the more local spots does happen.

Accommodation is, by far, the most important variable to sort out when travelling to Amsterdam with a dog, and the most honest advice I can give you is this: go for an apartment or, if you can manage it, a houseboat, and save hotels for another trip.

Amsterdam hotels generally have quite restrictive policies on animals. Many don't accept them at all; those that do often have weight limits that exclude medium-sized dogs, and the nightly supplement can be considerable. Finding a hotel that actually works isn't impossible, but the search takes time and the options are limited.

Self-catering apartments are a far broader and more comfortable alternative: more space, a kitchen to work around your dog's routine, and owners who are generally more flexible if you ask directly. The key, as with any destination, is confirming before you book that they genuinely accept your dog's size. tuPetate's accommodation filter helped us narrow down the search in Amsterdam, where the supply is wide but the small print can trip you up.

The option that wins outright, though, is houseboats. The houseboat apartments moored along Amsterdam's canals are one of the most special types of accommodation in Europe, and many of them accept dogs. Sleeping on a houseboat with the sound of water beneath you and Pep curled up at the end of the bed while bicycles and ducks go past outside is hard to beat. Search early — houseboats in good locations that accept dogs get booked well in advance — and always confirm the arrangements for your dog.

Amsterdam in spring is one of the most beautiful urban spectacles in Europe. In April and May the flower markets fill with tulips, the parks are at their best, and the northern light has that particular clarity that makes the canals shine in a way they simply don't in winter. For Pep, spring is the best time: the temperature is comfortable for long walks without the extremes of summer heat or the dry cold of January.

Summer — June, July, August — is when the canalside terraces reach their full glory. The Dutch embrace the sunny months with an energy that contrasts sharply with the quieter autumn and winter, and the city has a festive, relaxed atmosphere that's catching. The downside is that it's also peak tourist season; some spaces get very crowded, and Vondelpark on a Saturday in July can feel more human than canine.

Winter works, but you have to know what you're signing up for. The days are very short — in December it's dark by four in the afternoon — and the damp cold of northern Europe is a different kind of cold to Madrid or Barcelona; it gets into you in a different way. Pep, with the short coat of a Mediterranean mixed-breed, is not a fan. The Christmas markets have their charm, but long park walks become shorter and require more layers.