Visiting Amsterdam

we are visiting amsterdam this weekend, and we r staying at a hotel near to Airport, how to visit Keukonhof(Tulips garden). Is it worth taking the tour which costs 35US dollars or we can go on our own taking our own transportation. Please suggest. Thanks very much

I would definitely suggest taking a trip.

You take the train to Leiden, then there is a bus that goes to the Gardens, (forget the number), the bus is either really cheap or free with tickets to the Show. You can get tickets at the train station. Much cheaper than the bus. And then you are on your own to wander around.
Its about 30 min from Amsterdam central I believe, Holland has great machines to use to get tickets for the train. And they are easy to use too.
I did a trip there a few years ago, and it was wonderful.

do not do the tour !! It is a beautiful place with fields and fields of tulips (you are in the right season for it) but its just a big farm where they cultivate flowers.. paying 35 eur for a tour is useless. the central train station there has regular trains to get there and cost you a tenner as opposed to 35 but well worth seeing! Since its also the 400 anniversary of rembrandt, there are some amazing exhibits on right now, as well as go to the anne frank house ( a must see) and i thought the canal boat cruise was really worth it (even though I originally had my doubts).. was just there 2 weeks ago and loved it!!

Have a great trip!

Go to dam square, go down the alley to the right of the Palace and there are a couple of cool coffee shops. Have a smoke or a cuppa tea and then go back and listen to the guy playing bagpipes in the square

Fooking awesome

Ok so while we are on this subject, what is the cheapest way of getting to the Dam from Munich and does anyone fancy a trip this/next weekend?

PS: Is it just the way my mind works or ...

IF you go.. you have to go and eat POFFERTJES (pronounced in english poffertures)

They are the best ever.. they are like mini pankaes covered in icing suger and lemon or syrup.. you just can't not have them

I tend to go for the shrooms myself

Going to Hamsterdam August 2-8, and don't want it to be Campsterdam or hosteldam.

Does anyone know tips on hotels that are cheap (for two)?

(inundated by the barrage of marketing links when searching).

Any Amsterdam experts out there (with hotels, links and/or phone numbers)?

Hotel Rembrant at Rembrantplein, right around the corner is a great Aussie pub!

I am going to second the shrooms thing. Was just there, ate shrooms then went to the Van Gogh Museum. Was a great trip!

I used to live in the 'Dam and whenever I go there now I always stay in the Hotel Arena It's a fantastic , quite cheap for the Dam , hotel that used to be an orphanage, the restaurant is quite good and they have their own nightclub on the premises..so getting a room on the w/e may be difficult.

It's quite near the Zoo, and has a fantastic non-touristy coffeeshop round the corner ( Het Ballontjes )

PS If anyone wants GPS coordinates for all the coffeeshops in the 'Dam/ all of Netherlands I can supply these (I know, I got bored one day

last time i was there was sat ouside the white building behind the tram in Dam Square after just having a mighty nice splif of Orange Bud.



There was this guy playing bagpipes and it really just blew me away. One of my best ever times stoned

any other hotel recommendations? want to treat a friend to a really nice hotel, somewhere in the centre as we're only there 2 nights.
oo & what should we definitely squeeze in seeing as we only have 2 full days there!

standard things to see in Amsterdam include:
- van Gough museum (highly recommended)
- Rijksmuseum (sp? - see the dutch masters paintings)
- Anne Frank house (usually a long queue)
- cannal boat tour (i prefer the night tour)
- Heiniken brewery tour (can be fun)

not commonly done, but good:
- visit some of the "hidden churches" - they look like normal houses on the outside, are catholic churches on the inside.

there are also several really nice and interesting restaurants. One I like is the Supper Club (very cool place) http://www.worldsbestbars.com/city/amsterd...b-amsterdam.htm

Be careful of "Hash cake", I had a really bad trip 4 hours after it kicked in.

thanks for all the tips!
any ideas of good central (near to the attractions) regions to stay in?
am looking on hrs.de there's too many!

Last time I was there (with my parents) and we found that there are some nice (cozy) hotels near Leidsplein towards the Rijksmuseum and van Gogh museum. It's far enough away from the red light district that you are not ovewhelmed by it, but close enough to everything (also with good tram connections). Sorry I can't remember the name of any hotels... hope this helps. (not sure if this is quite what you are looking for)

This is a good site for planning your days out Amsterdam Hotspots

and this is good for booking hotels

for everything else try Amsterdamaged

PS Don´t forget to come and look me up...

Can anyone tell me if visiting Amsterdam is best done on a weekend or during the week??
And idealy how many nights would you suggest staying??

Check out this page if you want a laugh,
Click here
It can be viewed in Elmer Fudd, Pig Latin, Redneck, Swedish chef and more..

One of the best decisions we made once we arrived in Amsterdam was to take a bike tour ( I think the name of the company was Mike's Bikes). The guides were very good, and amsterdam is so small and compact, we pretty much covered everywhere within a few hours.

So not only did we get a nice history lesson, we got a perspective of where everthing was in relation to each other.

We also met some cool people on the bike tour- and lost a few calories that day as well.

Just got back from Amsterdam. This was my second time there and I had a great time. Such a beautiful city!

My friend and I did a ton of walking- it is a very walkable city but the tram lines were helpful but shutdown fairly early To be honest I was somewhat disappointed with the Rijksmuseum exhibitions, 10 yoyos and small. Also did the Anne Frank House (7.50 euros). We stayed near Leidseplein by the Leidsegracht bridge which was a great area- fun bars, shopping, restaurants, etc., and I definitely recommend the area.

Checked out the Red Light District at night and learned a lot of things about legal prostitution there. Apparently you can get "serviced" for 60 euros, plus or minus. FYI- 30% of the customers are from the UK.

For the record- Absinthe is bullshit.

Excursion outside of Amsterdam: We took the train about 55 minutes down the coast to the Hague. Pretty town, but there is a combo of old and modern architecture which is interesting. Highlight: seeing the International Court of Justice (gorgeous building). 17 euros return

Train from Airport: 15 minutes 3.60 euros
Tram tickets: zone 1 (all you need!) 1.60 euros

Amsterdam is certainly a touristy city, so don't expect to find lots of bargains on booze and going out to eat. And none of the bars accept EC or credit cards!

From my last visit I can recommend the Van Gogh Museum, a canal cruise (daylight is best so you can actually see stuff), and the Heineken Experience (3 free beers!).

because its the crap stuff there, you need the real stuff from the Czech Republic.

Places to see in Amsterdam: coffee shop, museums, coffee shop, museums, red light district, coffee shop, museums, the canal, coffee shop, museums, coffee shop...

I know the coffee shops and Red Light district are the first things people think of...and maybe it's because I'm not really into smoking/eating/drinking pot, but I find there is so much more to enjoy in Amsterdam as opposed to/in addition to coffeeshops

And I forgot to mention the french frie stands!! YUM.

I can spend hours in the Bloomemarkt (flowermarket) and the Van Gogh museum.

I always eat apple pancake too near Leidensplein, don't know the restaurant but remember the location. Its across the street where I got free drinks for coming in and trying to find a table and the waiter looked at me and I was like drooling (and very drunk already) said- wow, you are the most incredible species of man I have ever seen. (hey it worked)

Pancake Corner?

I also ate a pancake in Leidensplein

Shmoke and a pancake

its a red building on the corner of but sort of triangular... might be the same place.

Same here.

Me too, that was delicious...

Last time I was there I was at my hotel one night. A bit tired or more lazy because well I am a lazy bastard. Went down stairs to the lobby to get a candy bar and there in the lobby was a vending machine with only Heineken beers. 42 slots of Heineken beer and I dont know, cant be for sure but I think I heard the music of Carmina Burina playing in the baclground. I love that city.

Thinking of the pancakes, waffles (oddly enough from a place called "Australian"), and beer vending machines I am getting hungry and thirsty again

Amsterdam is one of my favorites city. And not cause of pot. There is way better cities than that, and cheaper.

One of the museum nobody things of is the rembrandt house ( http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/cms_pages/index_main.html ). It is amazing.

If you want to go outside the city, you can go to harlem a really cute harbor. Its like amsterdam in small. And it is really close from it.
In Amsterdam, I could suggest the flowermarkt too.

There is more than 200 museums so I am sure you can find something that suits you.

About the housing, it is really expensive. And I don't know a really good place.

Have a good trip,
Koubiak

The Begijnhofe are worth checking out - little oases in the middle of the city. that said, some are well known and can get a bit un-oasis-like. personally, I just love wandering around the little streets. Oh - and the concerts on Sundays in the Vondelpark are a nice way to spend a morning (in the Summer).

Agreed. It is interesting when you do a comparison of the time periods and art movement ie impressionist to this period. You can see the darkness in the rooms and see why paintings where done in this manner. Then go to the Van Gough museum and see the importance on light that was emphasized. Both truly wonderful periods.

Man, the prices vary massively from street to street*. I saw a wicked Pamela Anderson lookalike (presumably) and I reckon she'd have charged more than 60 notes. On the other side of the coin, I was invited in by some wierdo eastern europe bird for a "strip suck and fuck" for 25 yoyos** I obviously said no.***

*Alledgedly

** Sorry, I meant a good friend of mine was invited in

***My good friend had blown all his cash on nepalese temple ball.

whatever happens, steer clear of the muffins ...

Space cakes. Eat two before you board you transit back.

Watch out for those magic shrooms too, and the enormous jugs of beer...the combination of all three is a recipe for disaster.

Why would you want beer with shrooms? Must be not good shrooms

Be wary of the Hawiian shrooms. A friend tried them and we didn't see him until the next day. He likened it to having his brain smashed with a pineapple. The Mexican shrooms are much more pleasant.

Well i dont do drugs so...

Oh they were! It was to take the taste of the shrooms away (always a bit bitter on the way in, I find). Then I had some more beer was while I was waiting for them to kick in...

Luckily I was taken back to the hotel in a space ship that evening. Or at least that's what the shrooms led me to believe.

Alian sex oooh gross (cool!).

Ha ha! No they just gave me a lift, they didn't take me...well, not that I can remember anyway. Mmmmm...

No no no let me have my fantasy. You know some say I resemble Chewbacca.

As a native Dutch, I avoid Amsterdam as much as possible between May and September...I feel like a tourist myself in these months looking at the number of people not knowing where they're going (unless there's somebody holding up an umbrella to lead the group), the number of people loaded with camera's, etc... When you want to visit Amsterdam for a short time, go in April, the weather is mostly nice then and you're just before the huge tourist season.

I'm headed for Amsterdam for the first time at the end of April. We'll be there for the Queens day festival. I've wandered through this thread and checked the one or two hotel recommendations but haven't found a vacancy yet. We want to be somewhere central to the fun, cheap, but clean with en suite bathrooms. No non-smokeing places. Prefer laid back and friendly. Has anyone stayed a great place they can provide a link to?
Thanks in advance!

amsterdam is a lawless shithole that serves smack and other drugs like sweets to a child . if you you speak to a dutch person about amsterdam they just laugh at you and say well thats not holland. get out of the place as soon as you can for a real tatse of holland

I'm asking for Hotel advice, please. The flights are booked. I want to see Amsterdam, drugged children and all.