The big Amsterdam thread

rock whore

Hi all,
Of to Amsterdam this weekend and looking for more ideas of stuff to do.

Me & the other half are both football fans so the Ajax-Feyenoord derby looks good, if a bit pricey.

I wanna see a gig or two as well. The Drums are playing Melkweg on Friday. Not a big fan of theirs but hey, we’re on holiday….

Anyone got links for a local gig guide? I’ve tried ticketmaster and done some googling but any help would be appreciated.

Marky

IPushButtons

Hi I'm planning a trip to Amsterdam in the new year and I'm looking or some tips , where to stay things to do places to see etc

It's gonna be mega

poisonated

Just to let you know that you would get a better response in the travel forum. I've never been to Amsterdam but would love to go some day.

kincsem

Watch out for dog **** on the footpaths. I'm not joking.

suicide_circus

Ok fine. Dont go to the anne frank house, it's sh1te. Dont go to any of the large kitschy coffeeshops, they're sh1te. Go to some of the parks. Go on a day trip to utrecht.

IPushButtons

suicide_circus wrote: »

Ok fine. Dont go to the anne frank house, it's sh1te. Dont go to any of the large kitschy coffeeshops, they're sh1te. Go to some of the parks. Go on a day trip to utrecht.

Spot on mate :D:D

ScumLord

Do the free walking tour you'll get plenty of insight into the city.

jester77

Hillstreet blues, best coffee in town.
Banana bar, they do really good banana splits.
Heineken Brewery, it actually tastes ok there and not like the piss you get served in most bars
Van Gogh museum... just so you can say you did something cultural
Magic Mushroom gallery.... also cultural

ScumLord

jester77 wrote: »

Van Gogh museum... just so you can say you did something cultural
Magic Mushroom gallery.... also cultural

Reverse these for a unique Van Gogh experience.

Demeyes

Don't fall in the canals!

Paddy Samurai

I was there for 3 nights,we went to....................
Chinese floating restaurant
Sex museum
Torture museum
Van Gogh museum
Anne Franks house
Rijks museum
Red light district
Plus there are tons of bars ,clubs and coffeyshops .......
Great city lots to do and see.

IMO Anne Franks house , the Van Gogh museum and the chinese floating restaurant are must sees.

Dub Ste

Been a while since I was there,but The Doors cafe was my favourite place,it's near centraal station.
Eat pizza slices,drink LOTS of Heineken,smoke LOTS and LOTS of whatever takes your fancy on the menus,take in a live show,and just have a fecking laugh,I love the place,hope to get back there soon...

Korvanica

Get High
Get Drunk
Have Breakfast,
Get more high,
goto a sex museum,
get more high
buy spacecakes,
watch a movie,
have lunch
rent a bike
give up riding it and get more high,

....(insert lost memories here)

dinner
magic mushrooms
wander the streets at night
club

WASH RINSE REPEAT

optional: replace everything with hookers

Amsterdam is aweseme

ElleEm

I love Amsterdam!

If you're a smoker-

*Don't buy too much smoke in one place- buy small amounts of different types of grass/ hash. There is such a good assortment of strains so it's good to try different types for different moods your looking for. Oh, and flavoured skins, mmm.

*When I first went, I spent the first couple of days too stoned to do anything other than "be". My friend then imposed a smoking ban in the morning, so we did the touristy stuff in the morning, and smoked from the afternoon.

*Don't go to Anne Frank House stoned.

*Remember that the "Space" cookies are slow releasing- DON'T overdo them. When you're walking around, make sure you have a bag of cakes in your bag to keep you topped up.

I loved the zoo, the canal cruise and Van Gogh museum.
I didn't think much of Madam Tussaud's. It was very expensive and a bit crap. Don't stick to one place, ramble around to find hidden "locals" coffee shops/ bars.

Enjoy!!

Setun

Dub Ste wrote: »

Been a while since I was there,but The Doors cafe was my favourite place,it's near centraal station.
Eat pizza slices,drink LOTS of Heineken,smoke LOTS and LOTS of whatever takes your fancy on the menus,take in a live show,and just have a fecking laugh,I love the place,hope to get back there soon...

Heh, walked past the Doors cafe yesterday - looks cosy

It totally depends what you're interested in. There's a place called the Pancake Bakery (map here) that's delish. Highly recommended, and it's quite near the Doors cafe too. I would highly recommend you to walk to the right as you leave Centraal station, it's the much prettier side of Amsterdam, although most city-break tourists walk left and head straight for the red light district. If you want to see a bit of art (but not of the old Dutch masters variety), head for the Nederlands Institute voor MediaKunst (NIMk) on Keizersgracht. If you're in amsterdam in early January there'll be an excellent show about art/technology that anybody would find fascinating - it features a column of plasma that reacts to music :cool: Day trip to either Utrecht or Leiden highly recommended also.

mazi

I've been to Amsterdam numerous of times, don't be fooled it's very expensive over there i.e ( €7.50) for a tiny piece of space cake!Stay away from the Grasshopper as it's the first place tourists go, it's just across from the Central Station and it's very expensive.Your best bet for accommodation is rent out an apartment if there's a few of you-www.stayamsterdam.com.

If you're going for the weekend on a mad one your gonna need @ least €400. There's a few good museums if your into that sort of thing, ( Anne Franks wasn't that impressive & there's always a huge queue outside! Apart from that the place is great craic but it's easy to end up caked off your face to whole time so try and fit in the tourist stuff first otherwise you'll see nout !

godwin

tips from someone who lived there for 14 years

hookers - yes! €50 for a ride and a blowey , cheaper than any date and you're guaranteed a bit of action.

coffeshops - yes , avoid the ones in the center of the city, average weed/hash and about 25% more expensive than the coffeshops outside the center ring . coffeshops to look for tweede kamer , mellow yellow , the overkant

hard drugs - no ,not as easy as you would think to get hold of. Much like Ireland it depends on who you know. never ever buy off of street dealers you will get ripped of for sure , don't ask people working in coffeshops for hard drugs , it's a bit of a cock move and will get you thrown out.
Try the smart shops they have all the stuff that was banned in Ireland.

tourist crap - no , €30 to walk around the van gough with thousands of other people. Anne frank house rubbish and you will/can wait up to 1 hr to get in.
Heiniken brewery , if that's your thing do it. they stopped the all you can drink in 1hr a few years ago so its not worth it.
Canal cruise , why bother? for the price of the cruise you can rent a bike for a few days and see parts of the city you will never go to either on foot or walking.

Saftey , I feel much safer walking around Amsterdam than Dublin, the worst you will encounter is aggressive beggars , if you do just walk into a bar or cafe and they wont follow you in.

If you want to drink&smoke till late look for an alley way called the 'Nes' its right off of dam square , down there is cafe Nes and it's open to 3am around the corner is cafe the minds and its open till 5am and its full of odd balls , but nice odd balls.

Canis Lupus

I felt Amsterdam was a very pretty city, everyone speaks English and it's so easy to get to and navigate around but it's expensive and once the novelty of smoking weed openly wears off and you get tired of looking at the ladies of negotiable affection then there's very little left to the place.

Viper_JB

I'm actually heading over for new years myself, this will be my third time, it's a great city. If you've never been before check out... the zoo, Madame Tussauds and the amsterdam dungeon, always good after a few smokes

Beruthiel

When you eat the cookie, remember, it takes at least an hour to kick in, so don't go for a second one.

jackiebaron

Well, I live in Amsterdam and what most people say on this thread is pretty much on the money. Whatever you do don't go boozing in Dublin airport and then more boozing on the plane and then a few beers in the Schiphol lounge then a few cans for the 10 minute train ride into the city and then drop off your stuff at the hotel and then go to a coffee shop and smoke up. You'll be fcuking braindead by 9pm just as the city's coming alive...that is if you're over on a thursday/friday night.

Don't buy ANYTHING from the street dealers around the Red Light who say "Charlie, Ecstasy, Charlie, Ecstasy" to you when you're walking around. They are just scammers. If you want weed or hash. Go to the coffee shop. If you want something harder.....I don't know. Don't do it myself. A day trip to Haarlem is cool too. It's only 15-20 minutes on the train.

You might as well do the 1 hour canal boat trip. If you're going to hire the services of a lady of the evening then AVOID the big black mamas around the church in the RLD. They usually pick your pockets.

Bourbon Street is a good bar for live music in the Leidseplein.
One thing that do not exist in Amsterdam are chippers so if you've got the munchies or you need to soak up the booze then it's Kebab or Shoarma gaffs, McDonalds/Burger King and stuff like that...pizza joints too.

I've lived in Amdam for 10 years and never been inside the Anne Frank house. I hear it's a let down. Go to the museums. Rent a bike for a few hours and explore the city that way....then go and get out of your head.
Also cigarettes are 4.80 for 20 here so don't bother bringing any with you if you are a smoker.

prinz

Thought it was a bit of a hole myself. As mentioned earlier the streets were often dirty (only recently been outdone by a trip to Budapest) especially from dogs. Being offered drugs pretty much constantly around some streets in the centre and other sections just plain seedy. On the other hands there were also some really, really nice districts. That said I doubt the OP is interested in sight seeing and appreciating the city itself, like people who go abroad on city trips and spend the entire holiday in the nearest Irish pub.

Far, far more beautiful cities elsewhere in the Netherlands IMO.

jackiebaron

Beruthiel wrote: »

When you eat the cookie, remember, it takes at least an hour to kick in, so don't go for a second one.

Words of wisdom. I've seen people eat one...wait twenty minute ....nothing then eat another 2. Half an hour later they're in their own private horror movie.

jackiebaron

prinz wrote: »

Thought it was a bit of a hole myself. As mentioned earlier the streets were often dirty (only recently been outdone by a trip to Budapest) especially from dogs. Being offered drugs pretty much constantly around some streets in the centre and other sections just plain seedy. On the other hands there were also some really, really nice districts. That said I doubt the OP is interested in sight seeing and appreciating the city itself, like people who go abroad on city trips and spend the entire holiday in the nearest Irish pub.

Far, far more beautiful cities elsewhere in the Netherlands IMO.

It all depends on where you go and at what time of year. In spring and summer pretty much all of amsterdam is quite charming. Of course at night on the weekends it does get a bit messy. But neighbourhoods like the Jordaan with their cool little poser bars and curiosity shop is always great to just watch the world go by.

ElleEm

jackiebaron wrote: »

Rent a bike for a few hours and explore the city that way.

Oh, another thing- walk on the footpaths!!
The streets are paved like Grafton Street, and because of the lack of cars, you may think that it's just one big walkway. It is not!! You may get run over by a cyclist. The locals get fairly annoyed when you're in their way.

NothingMan

Been there 4 times and had very different experiences every time. So here's the highlights.

Best place I've stayed was St. Christophers at the Winston. A very nice clean hostel and really good smoking room that does excellent food that is very cheap if you're staying there. It's right in the red light district so there's always plenty happening aorund you.

Avoid coffee shops that play heavy dance/beat music if made me paranoid and freak out . Hill Street Blues do great milkshakes.

If the weather is good, rent a bike and head to the ferrry, just behind the train station. It's free to cross and once across you're basically in the country side. It's all flat so the going is easy. Cycle through the park and try and find some windmills to gawk at. It's frowned upon to smoke weed in public so be discreet and you'll be fine. Try and find that pub we found and get a toasty cheesy (that's all the info I got on that place).

Van Gogh Museum is good if you're into that, Anne Frank's is well worth a look, it's not particularly interesting but the history of the place is humbling. Try not to make inappropriate jokes too loudly .

Heineken Experience is worth a look.

The main erotic theatre the Cassa Rossa get's rediculously busy on weekend evenings and we had to queue in the cold for a half hour so maybe get their early. It's a strange experience but not as pervy or sleaxy as you'd think and can be quite funny. Expensive at 35e (45 with drinks) but something that should be done once.

It's an excellent city and you'll have a great time, just try not to waste it with too much 'relaxing'.

saywhatyousee

i will be over from the 14-17 of january if any boardies are over and want to meet for a smoke;)
a couple of tips for people
anyday coffeeshop does the cheapest weed in the centrum 5g cost between 30-40 for 5 grams depending on strain
go to the banana bar if you have never been before(not sure if i would go back):Dits cost 50 euro and you can drink as much as you want for the hour
roll yourself a couple of joints and just wander around the jodaan area
lovely district
if your on a budget and want a couple of drinks go to the supermarket and buy a few beers and then go to the pub drink can be expensive in the centrum
smokes are cheap it was a fiver even for 20 b and h
if your a cannabis connoiseur make a trip to the grey area coffeeshop
(it is expensive and the owners can be a bit snotty)but there cannabis is top quailty

dudara

jackiebaron wrote: »

One thing that do not exist in Amsterdam are chippers so if you've got the munchies or you need to soak up the booze then it's Kebab or Shoarma gaffs, McDonalds/Burger King and stuff like that...pizza joints too.

You do have chippers - look for "vlaames friet" - there's a decent one located off Leidsestraat as you walk from Leidseplein. There are also a few off Kalverstraat.

If you want to go to the Anne Frank house, booking online is a necessity. It will allow to walk straight up to a side door and gain access by rining a bell, thus skipping all the tourist queues.

henryporter

dudara wrote: »

You do have chippers - look for "vlaames friet" - there's a decent one located off Leidsestraat as you walk from Leidseplein. There are also a few off Kalverstraat.

If you want to go to the Anne Frank house, booking online is a necessity. It will allow to walk straight up to a side door and gain access by rining a bell, thus skipping all the tourist queues.

Who needs chippers when there's felafel everywhere!

dMaN24

Wee.. I just booked my planetickets yesterday. I will be staying in the Quentin Hotel from 2-7th of march.

Hopefully the Amsterdam-boardsies won't say its a dump.
5daysoff, here i come.