Amsterdam-advice and reviews!?

BJC

Hey all, going to Amsterdam with the lads this summer, going to be just finished the leaving so a few days of kicking back will be in order. We chose amsterdam because flights and hotels are pretty cheap(not to mention liberal laws in some areas..). So! My questions are:

Have you been, did you enjoy it?
Expensive or Cheap?
Most importantly, where are the best spots, where is the "centre" of Amsterdam nightlife, best clubs, pubs and restaurants?

spinandscribble

the bulldog bar was awful, overpriced and the staff refused to let the guys with us stay if they were only going to buy softdrinks. mushroom gallery is interesting and if you're thinking of partaking you can take them there safely. the trams are dead handy too.

Umbrella Corp

Go to the Grasshopper. The people there are really nice and it is a cool place. The hemp musem is cool too. Lots of crazy peeps in there - plus you get loads of free tokes!! If ur into that sort of thing go and see a sex show in the Red Light District! I know they are meant to be sexy but I swear when the guy came out as Batman I couldn't stop laughing. There is Madam Tusauds and the Diamond Factory. Hope you have a cool time!!

Chong

Try to Hillstreet Blues , my fave cafe in the Red Light. I wouldnt advise not wasting any money on sex shows they are terrible and not worth any the money you pay. Also do not let anyone talk you into going to the Banana Bar its so crap its not even funny, it contains miserable old strippers and when I say old I am talking 50's.

I have to say I love the cafes cause it gives me a chance to experience something I dont get here in Ireland. Nightclub wise most venues are either over priced or have strict door policys. Lots of cracking bars in the city.

Another of my fave cafes is Rookies in Leidseplein.

Also for gods sake stay away from all the hookers!!!

I am from the Nederlands so ask any questions I be happy to answer.

BJC

Willstev wrote: »

Try to Hillstreet Blues , my fave cafe in the Red Light. I wouldnt advise not wasting any money on sex shows they are terrible and not worth any the money you pay. Also do not let anyone talk you into going to the Banana Bar its so crap its not even funny, it contains miserable old strippers and when I say old I am talking 50's.

I have to say I love the cafes cause it gives me a chance to experience something I dont get here in Ireland. Nightclub wise most venues are either over priced or have strict door policys. Lots of cracking bars in the city.

Another of my fave cafes is Rookies in Leidseplein.

Also for gods sake stay away from all the hookers!!!

I am from the Nederlands so ask any questions I be happy to answer.

Thanks for all the tips guys. Hotel we picked is on the Leidseplein, as far as I can tell thats quite central? Is it far from the Dam and the red light district?

Chong

Its the other part of the dam nightlife, its a short bus trip is all or tram ride up to the Red light district. Leidseplein is class, Id say more fun that the Red light area, Red light is drugs, hookers and sex thats it.

ArmaniJeanss

Umbrella Corp wrote: »

I know they are meant to be sexy but I swear when the guy came out as Batman I couldn't stop laughing.

20 minutes later he came out as a doctor for a doctor/nurse scene and my mate at the front yelled 'Hey its Batman'. Brought the house down.

OP, Amsterdam is great.
Not too expensive pub wise. Never actually made it to a nightclub, pubs stay open late anyway and was usually too wrecked come nightclub time to do anything other than crawl to bed.

lost marbles

amsterdam is a good city to have fun in but like all cities you have to be careful .whereas the dutch might be librel on soft drugs they come down hard on the hard stuff so when those nice gentlemen come up to you and confuse you with their mate "charlie" just ignore them
as for the red light area .think of temple bar on stiroids ,over rated over priced but has to be experienced
prices are much the same as dublin food and drink wise
whatever you do dont buy anything in the newsagents kinda shops on damrack the effers make up their own prices
5.90 for a red bull and a small bottle of water #
theres a few big super market shops that beer and spirits are fairly cheap .one beside the magnaplaza shopping mall
have a good time its a good place alright
check out the "ice bar" 10 euro in and you get a big cocktail in a ice room
the bols experience is worth the trip free make your own cocktail
for the d4 lads the "hino home of their favorite beverage is another place worth going to
the casino on leidisplein [not the one on damrack] is a proper casino with all the tables ,slots etc 3 euro in but must bring your passport and you can have a drink aswell over 18 btw hope ive given you some ideas
have fun

BJC

All great advice lads, cheers. Didn't know there were casinos there!?:eek: I'm an avid hold'em player...or is it just slots and roulette over there?...I already have images of Las Vegas running through my head..

lost marbles

BJC wrote: »

All great advice lads, cheers. Didn't know there were casinos there!?:eek: I'm an avid hold'em player...or is it just slots and roulette over there?...I already have images of Las Vegas running through my head..

the casino on damrack is only these slot things [AVOID RIP OFF]but the one out on leisplien is the genuine casino roulette , blackjack, etc worth a peek if only to see the piles of 10e and 50e chips being put on numbers btw schipol airport has a casino aswell

xzanti

+1 for the Grasshopper, they serve nice food upstairs too.. I was there for 2 nights in October, very old fashioned place, some parts are quite run down but a huge city.. eating and drinking is cheap enough if you go to the right places... I found the Sex Museum quite entertaining, went into a sex theatre (for the laugh) and got back out of there as quick we could, it was just me and my bf and one guy fapping down the back, quite funny though.. re nightlife, we went to Escape both nights and had a blast, had we been there longer we would have ventured further afield, might go back again in summer time, was quite cold in October... Have you booked accomm?? We stayed at the Ramada CC and had no complaints, clean and modern, more so than a lot of places we viewed while booking.. BF had been there a few months previous with friends and said the BnB he stayed in was a total dive compaired to it, and it's quite reasonable... Anyway, Good Luck..

all the stars

Willstev wrote: »

Try to Hillstreet Blues , my fave cafe in the Red Light.

oh yeah - this place was coooolllllll ........:cool:

TomCruise

***DO NOT GO TO THE GRASHOPPER***

It's for tourists. Crap weed and its seriously expensive compared to other coffe shops like hill street blues. Atmosphere is not great, they just play real spacy music. The dampkring is the best i think. Also pints are 6.20 in the grasshopper. You won't find any locals in there. Use your head!

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

Greenhouse is the best, i know because i have 4 friends working in the main one there. 50 cent, cypress hill snoop dogg etc always buy from that coffee shop when they play concerts there! other good ones are Barneys ( winner of the canibus cup 2007) and damp ring (where oceans 11/12 scene was made)


Watering hole/sugar factory/paradiso/melkweg/cafe de waard are the best places to go to! all near leidsplein. also go to hard rock cafe for something to eat, they do great burgers! i worked there so i know

harpijen

Born in Amsterdam and still missing the city.

first a warning, the Netherlands is said to be liberal, this is only with regardsto softdrugs for personal use. Carrying more gets you in to jail really quickly and take in account that from today, all forms of paddos are illegal!

Also if you use a car, use offical parking spaces, cars do get towed really quick (within 15 minutes) and it can be really expensive up to Euro 1000 to get your car back.

But if you're in Amsterdam for the fun, start in the center. From the Dam to the central station via het Damrak. That is the biggest tourist area, the shopping mile is the next street (nieuwendijk).

From the Dam, you can go to the Leidseplein, Rembrandtplein, where there are so many (and the best) pubs....
Along the Leidsestraat, Bloemengracht, singel, keizersgracht en herengracht, there are many hotels, pubs, restaurants and small theaters, just go there and enter what ever you like. You will have a good time anywhere.

If you want to have fun of another kind, you can visit the "red light" district.
That is on the other side of the Damrak, the zeedijk, oudezijds voorburgwal and the oudezijds achterburgwal.

If you want to know what is going on at the moment you are there, go to the VVV (tourist Information).

In the Netherlands, most people do speak English and they will answer whenever asked.

But never mention "Rotterdam" or "Feyenoord", that gets you in to deep trouble

BJC

The whole thing went to hell during the summer, all jobless and depressed we were forced to postpone.

But now, FINALLY it's all sorted. Booked for december 11 - 14, we've a hotel booked on the Leidesplein. flights and acc. all worked out at just about 250 so we're fairly happy about that.

Going to start doing some research into all the cafes and other place names written in English and Dutch in this thread. Thanks guys!

Oh, and keep the reviews coming!

BJC

Bumpity-bump

kraggy

TomCruise wrote: »

***DO NOT GO TO THE GRASHOPPER***

It's for tourists. Crap weed and its seriously expensive compared to other coffe shops like hill street blues. Atmosphere is not great, they just play real spacy music. The dampkring is the best i think. Also pints are 6.20 in the grasshopper. You won't find any locals in there. Use your head!

+1

Grasshopper is tourist magnet.

Hill Street Blues is a lovely bar. The staff are sound and the music is good.

fm

have to agree the grasshopper is overpriced and for tourists. its the first place you come to after coming off the train.go to hill street blues or the green house acrross the street.

BJC

Yeah, I've heard a lot of good things about hilllstreet blues. What are prices like over there...booze...food...and dare I say weed, shrooms etc. I'm curious to compare a regulated system to an illegal one, price-wise.

dietcola

hay hay, ah back in dam man... been a number of times now and yea its a good laugh but boi are you gonna spend some doe... obviously it depends on what your wanting to do whilst there but anywhere you go in Zentrum (centre) charges a primium for the smoke, beer or what ever....

If you looking for quiet, cheaper places to chill and smoke, head outa the red light district towards the south east side of the city, generally dam gets cheaper the further away from the red light district you go.

However the red light district is a must... head for skiny alley... brill... women on each side, they'll cost you 50euro if u wanna buy one for the hour... some youll find it hard to resisit...

hmmm drinking is expensive, clubs are few n far between, find a bar called smokies off the river amstel there is a great club round there, u cant miss the queue!

i found that your always spending money in dam... to the point where i think it runs you at least 60 - 70 euro a day! just on booze, food and gear (not neccesarily in that order) n then theres the sight seeing ontop... the trams are cheap tho... and rent a push bike thats great, best way to get about... perhaps a river cruise is on the cards... dont go for the tourists boats near the train station tho, expensive n crappy, if you ask in some of the coffee shops there are more private tours but the canals are fab...

anyhow enough, yuoll experience it all soon enough!

try learing some of the language.. i used rosetta stone to learn flemish and it goes down well with people over there...

dank koo

BJC

Thanks for that dietcola, I want cold hard digits though! Is a pint about the same 4-5 euro and how much would 3 or 4 grams cost over there?

dietcola

hmmm, well it does depend on how far outa the red light district your prepared to go... if you went to the outskirts of the city (say Zeeburg) then a 3g baggy will set you back about 20euro, in the red light you'll get 2.2-2.8 for that price... pending on what quality you go for...

beer is about the 4euro mark... for a pint like, most euopeans dont drink pints tho, they'll have just a bit bigger than a half (330cl) be prepared to pay 3.50 euro for it...

amsterdam aint cheap, its one of europes biggest "fashion- orientated" cities... its a cool place and so they'll charge you a premium...

its not quite like paris... i.e where you sit in the bars (like outside or inside at a table = more expensive) at the bar is normally the cheapest, but i dont think that applies in dam... basically ive always been off my head when there... cant remember exact prices...

youll have a great time, n dont be afraid to spend that doe mate... we work all year for trips like these... fill ya boots mate n enjoy that bad boi... slap it on the credit card!

BJC

6 days to go now, I can't wait!
I've got a little list I've of places that are good and tourist traps aswell.
Definitley going to do the Heineken museum and maybe a canal ride aswell.
In the words of the Amstel add - This is gonna be great!

Holsten

Bring money... lots of it.

The city is insanely expensive.

And there isn't many good places to eat either.

BJC

Hah, yeah I've heard the food isn't great.
Money shouldn't be a problem, I've got a fair bit put aside and I'll bring the card. Heard a lot of people get passports and such robbed over there, is it a dangerous city?

The_B_Man

Man, I was there in November for a long weekend! Best weekend ever! 6 of us went over. Got the flight over for 125 euro, then got the train to amsterdam, walked up to rembrandtplein (think we were in the remblantplein hotel) and went for the first bar at 10am!
continued on liek that for the whole weekend. Spent every day walking around the pubs/cafes, then ever evening/night in the red light district, just walking around and going into a few sex shows. Then after, we'd head to a different bar and back to the hotel bar. They ran out of beer one of the nights tho!

BtW, that banana bar was classic! The women were late in their late twentys/30'a. Not ~50 like the other guy was saying. I think downstars they were bad, but upstairs was OK. We were tellin them we were on a stag do, and it was another mates birthday so we were gettin up to all sorts of stuff. I still have a post card written by one of the strippers with a black marker up her gee! Funnily enough, the "hand"writing was actually neater than my handwriting! It just said "To Eoin, from my pussy xxx" but i was still impressed!! She then picked up a 50 euro note off me nose....but not with her hands!! Though i did have to supply the 50note meself. I couldnt breath tho, which was kinda a downer...I had to give her a raspberry on the inner thigh to get her to get off me!

the sex shows are a bit of fun too. Them little stalls that u put 2 euro in for a minutes viewing are gas. We all went in them and we could see each other vaguely through the glass. We spent more time slagging each other and using hand gestures than looking at ur one in the middle!

Vim Fuego

Another fan of Hill Street Blues here (foosball ). I also like Abraxas (sweet cushioned seating upstairs) and had a great burger in Barneys on Harlemmerstraat (something like that).

In De Wildemaan off spuisstraat is a nice pub, great selection of beer. There was another bar called something like 'Il Effe' but that one is lost in the mists of time. If anyone knows it, please post the street name; small, wooden interior, nice jazz and lit by candles.

Be prepared for when some random nutcake offers to stab you for ignoring them. I swear, I can't seem to go to Amsterdam without this happening! Still love the city despite this!

cartman

hilll street blues all the way man... best coffee shop there.. also the one near the train station that opens at 6am.. stay away from all big bars grasshopper/bulldog go to the smaller ones.. much better imo

dietcola

Good lad! i hope you enjoy it dood! hit the heiniken museum defo and a sex show!!!!!!!! could try turning some o ya spending money into more, beening obsessed with bingo atm! hoot!

have a ball man! dont get tooo messed up tho! in the words of the streets... amsterdam aint a nice place of ya face...

peace:cool:

Pace2008

La Canna was definitely my favourite coffeeshop overall, though it doesn't seem to get the best reviews from what I've seen. I'd also recommend Barney's for its Cannabis-Cup-winning Weed

dont get tooo messed up tho! in the words of the streets... amsterdam aint a nice place of ya face...

This can't be emphasised enough. Amsterdam is great fun, and beautiful in its own way, but it's quite seedy and you do need your wits about you at times. If you're a young, white, foreign male you'll be offered coke and pills every thirty seconds or so. This can be convenient at times, but gets irritating all too quickly. Since the dealers can get quite pushy at times - sometimes following you down the road for a while - I'd recommend that you don't stray out on your own too much.

Also, does anyone know if the street dealers are selling mushrooms since the ban on the 1st?

dietcola

Also, does anyone know if the street dealers are selling mushrooms since the ban on the 1st?[/quote]


yea man mhussies are avail from the steet doods! id still ask in the coffee shop tho, they'll give you numbers for peopl who deliver n the likes... theyll come to coffee shop your in or to ya hotel... tis a good way to spend lots o money!

peace:eek:

mumhaabu

I think it goes without saying don't try to import any of the narcotics back to Ireland as you will get caught. CUSTOMS on RTÉ caught several pot heads bringing in spliffs from the Dam this summer.

BJC

mumhaabu wrote: »

I think it goes without saying don't try to import any of the narcotics back to Ireland as you will get caught. CUSTOMS on RTÉ caught several pot heads bringing in spliffs from the Dam this summer.

That's easy though, post it on with no return address.
They can't charge the recipient, who's name is on the package, he did nothing wrong.

dietcola

been there, done it, got the tshirt... the only way forward is to post it.... just try n find a post office in dam... like rocking horse s**t...

peace yall:cool:

omgiluvxmas

good city, i enjoyed it in the summber but not for the reasons most people my age do. weather is a bit like irelands isn't it? was when i was there in the summer.

BJC

WELL!!

What can I say....we went....we saw... and we conquered!
Trip of a lifetime with more seedy debauchary than can be found in a brothel in a month of sundays! Lots of drugs and trips to the moon and back along with some sight seeing and typical touristy stuff.

THANKYOU to all you guys for the advice, it wouldn't have been even half as good without all your tips and advice.

mumhaabu

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself and got back safe and sound. Why not write a review and list your do's and don'ts in the review forum.