Next summer I was planning on visiting my family in England. However, there is only so much you can do whilst there. I've already seen a fair amount of London as well as Essex, Kent and Sussex. So, when my cousin was here in March I posed the question to travel somewhere else in Europe on my next visit. Now, I've been to France, Spain, Italy and Greece. Granted I did not see everything I wanted to see whist in those countries and would like to go to them again. I'd also like to see some that I have not seen before. Now my cousin is recently divorced and really needs to unwind bigtime. So I mentioned to him Amsterdam. He has been a big fan of it ever since and has not even tried to suggest anything else. So the one question I have is, other than the Hash Bars and whores what else is there to do in Amsterdam?
Heineken Brewery is pretty good. The tour is boring but at the end, it's all you can drink for 1/2 hour or so, and they're pretty good about keeping the drinks coming. The Van Gogh museum is a must. I'm a little biased because I love his artwork, but some of his stuff is amazing. Up close it's just a bunch of different colored dots, but when you see some of it from far away, it's seamless. The Sex museum is umm...interesting. I think you can take bike tours as well as canal tours. Anne Frank House is really cool. Go somewhere and have pancakes for breakfast. Amsterdam is famous for their pancakes, which are huge! I can't really think of much else. Just a word of warning, if you get approached by drug dealer don't make eye contact or he'll bother you for blocks.
If you like beer, the tour of the Heineken brewery is kind of fun. When I went, the entrance fee was a $0.50 donation to UNICEF. For the $0.50, you got a quick 15 minute tour of the brewery before they took you up to the reception hall. Up there they gave us seven rounds of beer, snacks and showed a bunch of comical short films about Heineken, beer, Amsterdam, etc. Plus, the reception hall was on the top floor so the views from the balcony were really nice. Brewery tours are generally kind of cheesy but this one was a great time. Murf
Well... when are you planning to come to A'dam? I might know some fun things to do and generally nice places to hang out. But it also kind of depends on what you like to do.
I was thinking at either the end of July or the end of August. Don't get me wrong, I do want to experience the Hash bars and the whores. The Heineken Brewery sounds good and so does the Van Gogh.
The whores are a total waste of dough IMO. It's fun walking around, but you shouldn't go in. Gotta go now. I'll be back.
Well for my cousin, I think that it would be time well wasted. For myself as well. We are also bringing along another cousin that is very timid and really needs to get laid.
dont do the canal cruise....boring and put my mates and me to sleep rijksmuseum is very impressive, check out the Arena too... everyone here has mentioned cool stuff though...its also a ton of fun just walking around in the canal belt, vondelpark too, you can do that for hours. The city is just beautiful. one of my friends is obsessed with Albert Heijn - go figure..make sure to stop by Maoz though I was there a couple months ago though for spring break, best trip of my life - just the whole vibe of the city really clicked with me - im moving after graduation next year!
I'd do this as a last resort. As in you're famished and don't have a lot of cash and it's convenient. But I'd take a restaurant over this anyday (Febo is a place where they have food in little windows under heat lamps. Put a coin in the slot and the window opens up and you grab the food and eat it). There's also a cool place where they keep stray cats on this boat in a canal and feed them and take care of them until someone wants to adopt. Kind of like an animal rescue. If you visit they'll let you hang out with the cats and stuff. I got really stoned and went there one afternoon, it was really relaxing.
So, fuck all then. I'm not wishing to stunt your European growth at all but frankly there's shit loads to do here (and yes I know that's proabably another thread). "There's only so much to do" here?? This isn't Belgium or Luxembourg. If you're not going to Amsterdam particularly for weed and whores, then the history or surroundings are going to be pretty much top of the list - but as the UK only has "so much" to offer, then you may be disappointed with what Holland has to give.
I know what the Hague is but I'm wondering what the hell you should go there. Madorudam maybe... And what the hell is that forum? The dirty old men with too much hair on their ass forum? Don't you people phuck at home? Weird
The Dutch pretty much invented the idea of the beer bar, and Amsterdam has quite a few fine venues for the serious beer nut. It also has a lot of "brown bars" -- kinda the Dutch answer to the traditional British pub. Anyway, if you're into beer, check out websites like: http://www.xs4all.nl/~patto1ro/pubs.htm (a multi-section review of Amsterdam pubs with links to the other sections at the bottom of the page) or this (has a map) http://www.employees.org/~mudpuppy/pubcrawl.html The only place I've had a chance to visit was In de Wildeman. Great place. Great beer. I'd vouch for the Van Gogh Museum, too, by the way.
Make sure you check out the Bluebird coffee house. The java is OK but the other stuff is out of this world
i go to amsterdam 2 or 3 times a year for vacation and to watch football and it is easily my favorite city to visit. first off art--not only the van gough and riksmusem but also the stendjik (sp) musem near the riks musem is a must visit in my opinion. dinning in amsterdam is fantastic and not really that expensive. there are good places to eat in every price range. joordan has tons of nice places to eat, also on singel along the canal are a few very nice places. the places near the liedsplan are pretty touristy and i don't like them much. most hotels include a breakfast. as much as i love the coffeeshops, i also think it is absolutely crucial that you go to a "brown cafe" and have drinks. hanging out is a great way to have fun and meet dutch folks. there are any number of these all over amsterdam. there are tons of fun bars to head to all over town. architecture/design--dutch architecture is amazing and the dutch have the most incredible "built environment" on the planet. you can find any number of great houses/buildings, etc. i definitely recommend this. rent a bike--no better way to see the area. get on a train, you can get anywhere in the country in a couple of hours. check out volendam, den hagg, breda, etc. you get a very different view of holland if you get out of amsterdam in my experience. ok down to the nitty gritty--i don't have any personal experience on the hooker thing--doesn't look my idea of good time but your experience may vary. at least you don't have to worry about getting arrested or rolled. coffeeshops--once you try them, you'll never want to smoke the crap you buy here. you must be prepared for maximum powered bud. no matter how much badass cali-hydro or humbolt you have had, etc., it just is no where near the power of the stuff you can buy in amsterdam. go slowly at first. my favorite places include: Picasso--the best place to go early in the morning, great guys there. mostly dutch dudes there. Internet Coffeeshop/easy times--next door to each other just off the leidsplein. my favorite to hang out in--the easy times has hot reggae and a lot of island folks hanging out. the internet cafe next door is much quiter--both have a fullbar, though not the greatest weed and hash selection. dutch flowers--always a nice spot grey zone--very americanized, i think it is run by an american guy. you can also go to smart shops and get mushrooms, etc. nothing more fun than to eat some shrooms and hang out in vondel park. whatever you do, don't try to buy coke, herion, etc. from the endless number of guys who will come up to you near the red light district. nothing good (and no drugs) will come of that. while safer than any big US city, don't forget you will be very drunk and stoned and an easy target.