Amsterdam long weekend recommendations

Rowby1

Mrs Rowby is going to Amsterdam for her work tomorrow, I’m flying out to join her later in the week for a long weekend. Neither of us have ever visited Amsterdam before so we’re looking for recommendations of what to do and what not to do. 

Any insights much appreciated:)

EricTheWeary

Pick up a tourist map that outlines the red light district so you can avoid/ go into it as you wish. 
I’m not sure I’d bother with a boat trip around the canals, for a cheap thrill wander to the railway station and get one of the free ferries ( and one back again). 
Wrap up warm, it’ll be bloody cold. 
If you want to go to any of the major museums and galleries mostly you can’t buy tickets on the door, you need to book online ( although there is a last minute ticket place by the Van Gogh museum). Several of them are next door to each other so you can do the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum,etc, in one trip. 
Get good at spotting bicycles in your peripheral vision. There are lots of hire places of you fancy a go  although you’d probably want to be a confident cyclist. 
Lot of people seem to like the trams although I just wandered around. It’s a relatively small city centre so you probably won’t need taxis and because there are so many areas that aren’t easily accessible by car probably no point in taking one. 
English is spoken everywhere. It’s not a particularly expensive city centre, just be wary of rip off touristy places. I’ve been twice and whilst it was incredibly busy it seemed pretty safe compared to the experience you might have in other big cities. 

I’m in this picture somewhere...
 
https://i.imgur.com/UhHWSaB.jpg

scrumhalf

Last tme I was there you had to use a Strippencard which was unfathomable to me.

Do they have a simpler system now? I may be going there for a few days next month.

Modellista

scrumhalf said:

Last tme I was there you had to use a Strippencard which was unfathomable to me.

Do they have a simpler system now? I may be going there for a few days next month.

Yes.  Buy an OV-Chipkaart (basically their version of an Oyster).  Top up and use trams without worrying about paying in cash.  Just remember to check in and check out. Totally essential unless you want to walk everywhere.  They're available from the station or certain newsagents.  I would buy one at Schiphol, top it up, and use it immediately for getting to Centraal.  No more difficult than buying a train ticket and you're sorted for travel forever!

That said, a lot of the city can be best seen just by walking (although it's great just to be able to take a tram home with tired legs at the end of the day).

I would personally just wander about taking in the atmosphere for a while.  The red light district is also one of the most historic areas so well worth a visit during the day.  It does get busy at night but I've never felt at all uncomfortable.  It genuinely is one of the most chilled-out cities you could find.

The parks are very cool, particularly Vondelpark.  Maybe in winter it might be a bit bleak but in summer it's a great place to watch the world go by.  The road Overtoom runs parallel to the park and it's quite a cool street with nice bars, restaurants and shops.  The roads off it are also worth an explore.  If you like beer, Craft and Draft is recommended.  

Of course there's loads of museums and art galleries.  I like the Stedelijk, the modern art place.  If you want somewhere free, the Amsterdam City Archives are worth a look, they generally have a little exhibition in the foyer and it's a beautiful building.  In the bloemenmarkt (flower market) area is Foam, a very cool photography gallery.  

If you like guitars and don't mind tramming, Rebel Relic guitars are well worth a visit.  They've got a little showroom with a load of newly-made relics and some vintage stuff.  They don't mind you trying them out.

If it's not too cold I would strongly recommend hiring a bike.  It's such a bike-friendly city, you don't need any special skills, just go with the flow of bikes and you can't go far wrong.  The best way of getting to know Amsterdam.

I'm really jealous now and want to go!  Have fun!

menamestom

Have some truffles, sit outside a bar with a beer and watch the world go by.

blobb

Funnest thing I like to do is take one of those bike taxi things back home after a night out. Not particularly cheap but, if you like bare knuckle rides, most terrifying thing you can do. The Dutch ride bikes like no one else, honestly it's like sitting in the back of a jet fighter as they dice their way through the traffic. esp late on a Saturday night. Oh and Coffeeshop Siberie (Siberia) if you want that sort of thing. Chatting to the locals is my favourite thing to do in Amsterdam, they value opinion and like to discuss stuff.

Rembrandtplein is cool to hang out, then walk up Utretchsesstraat to Concerto records. there's a brilliant cake shop up there as well, then veer off towards De Pijp.

But basically get a map, get out there and walk, a lot.

Dominic

Eat Matjes Herring with raw onion in a roll from a street stall

joneve

The Anne Frank museum/house is worth doing, but get there EARLY as the queues get busy VERY quickly in the day. 

Wandering round the red light district is a good laugh - just don't take any photos, unless you want your phone/camera to end up in the canal. 

It's a great city. 

Bridgehouse

Nobody has said “shmoke and a pancake?” 

I am disappoint.

EricTheWeary

joneve said:

The Anne Frank museum/house is worth doing, but get there EARLY as the queues get busy VERY quickly in the day. 

Wandering round the red light district is a good laugh - just don't take any photos, unless you want your phone/camera to end up in the canal. 

It's a great city. 

Anne Frank museum is another place where tickets are only available online ( so no point any more in getting there early):

Tickets are only available online

The Anne Frank House can only be visited with an online ticket for a specific date and time. This also applies to children (0-9 years) and visitors with a discount card.

80% of the tickets are released exactly two months in advance. The remaining 20% are released on this website on the day itself at 9 AM.

munckee

Train from the airport runs frequently and is a tenth the price of a taxi. Red light district is not as seedy as it sounds if you don't get involved. I've personally found the food fairly average. Good pubs. 

Anne frank museum and Van Gogh are decent. River trips nice way to see the city. 

duotone

https://www.tours-tickets.com

Have a look here and then book anything you fancy in one of these ticket shops (there are loads dotted around the city) & you get discounts for booking multiple trips.

I really enjoyed:
Marken, Volendam and the Windmills 
The Heineken Experience
Delft, The Hague and Madurodam (5 1/2 hour day trip)

Would also recommend checking out this Windmill Brewery & bar http://www.brouwerijhetij.nl/

Worth a watch of what Anthony Bourdain checked out https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo2kqz

Rowby1

Thanks folks, I shall explore the suggestions. 

Myranda

Weekend in amsterdam and you need more than "drugs and hookers" ?? You sure you're a musician?

57Deluxe

RaymondLin

joneve said:

The Anne Frank museum/house is worth doing, but get there EARLY as the queues get busy VERY quickly in the day. 

Wandering round the red light district is a good laugh - just don't take any photos, unless you want your phone/camera to end up in the canal. 

It's a great city. 

We got there at 9am and had a 3 hour wait!

Book online to skip the queue.

fob

It depends on how much you like visiting museums but, for one weekend, I'd suggest just doing the one and choose between the Van Gogh and the Rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum is certainly the better bang-for -buck but, if you're into art the Van Gogh is more typically Dutch - the Rijksmuseum, excellent though it is, is the sort of museum to be found in any major capital. There is another museum very near the Rijksmuseum which has a Banksy exhibit along with A. Nother artist - it was Dali when we were there and enjoyed that too.

If you've read Anne Frank a visit to the house is essential. We paid extra and got a guaranteed time tour and thank goodness we did - the queues outside could almost be a tourist attraction in themselves.

A boat tour was nice and lasted a good hour but could probably be skipped.

If you're into football a tour of the Ajax stadium gave us a good afternoon. The guide was very funny and really knew his stuff but the stadium is outside of the city so you should factor in 30 mins each way on the train. It's also in a shopping precinct area - their equivalent of JD Sports etc. We had the tour and came straight back.

Before we went I asked someone on some forum for advice and just started looking for what they told me. Lo and behold! after a few failed attempts at finding the forum I realised it was actually this one! @paulk doesn't look like he's active at the moment but I hope he won't mind me copy & pasting his pm to me (mainly about food) :

The main thing to do is stay AWAY from the Leidseplein or Rembrandtplein for food. Those are the main tourist trap areas and littered with poor quality, overpriced restaurants. If you walk a little bit into the canals you can find MUCH better choices.

Some of the places I used to hang out quite bit in are:

Small Talk Eating House, Van Baerlestraat 52

1071BA Amsterdam. Great spot for breakfast, just across from the Stedelijk Museum. 

Cafe Wildschut http://cafewildschut.nl/en/

Morlang http://morlang.nl/

Walem http://www.walem.nl/

Loetje https://loetje.com/ (they have a few locations. The best one is in ‘De Pijp” area.

All of the above are good Dutch cafe-style restaurants, which in my opinion are some of the best ways to eat here. Most of these will have vegetarian options.

There’s a lot of great Indonesian food here as well, Probably the most famous in A’dam is Kantijl & De Tijger. https://www.kantjil.nl/en/

Well worth a visit if you like the cuisine.

What’s also worth doing is wandering into Chinatown as there are some great places there also.

Kibbeling is battered, deep fried pieces of white fish, usually cod or whiting. Don’t expect it to get served with vinegar though It’s eaten with a tartar sauce. You can get it mostly from snack bars. 

A great thing to do is grab some good falafel then hit the Paradiso for a gig

Hope this gives you a start. Let me know if you want any other pointers or if I can help with anything else.
all the best,
Paul

proggy

From my experience, if you go to visit a lady of the night, whatever you do, don't ask her to sit on your face in a phoney Dutch accent......it won't end well.

Chuffola

Just back from a trip. 

Great city but I'd avoid the Damrack area (main tourist / stag hub just facing the station). The red light district is a must see, early evening for the the experience. Loads of couples walking about, so not particularly weird. The canals around there are really nice and some nice little pubs / brown bars around the area.

A canal trip (one hour) is a good way to see the lay of the land. 

The canal ring is great to just walk about an take in the city - Jordaan is hip and beautiful and close to the Anne Frank house (although there are queues always), the Museumplein is nice and you could go to the Van Gogh museum or the Rijksmuseum - not my thing, but supposed to be good. 

De Pijp is a cool area - again lots of nice bars etc. 
Leidseplein is touristy but some nice terrace bars, the original coffee shop (The Bulldog) and a vast array of eateries (although, as above - overpriced and there are much better, but plenty of choice if you're stuck). Bourbon Street is a good live music venue (blues / rock covers mainly) - starts about 11 and closes about 4/5am. 
Rembrandtplein nice to sit in the bars / terraces and watch the world go by.

Indonesian restaurants abound given the Dutch colonies - a ricetable is an experience (loads of small dishes in a set menu). Loads of decent restaurants all over the place.

Vondelpark is wonderful (but maybe not this time of year).

Craft beers are plentiful - loads of IPAs etc. 

And, of course, weed. Which is nice. 

Finally, trams are fantastic and go everywhere once you work out routes. Get a 2-3 day pass which is excellent value and lets you on any tram or bus. Starts when you first use it. 

Have fun!

Iamnobody

If you do go to a ‘cafe’ be aware it’s stronger than what you’d typically get over here. Be careful!

Blaendulais

dont forget the coke and prostitutes cant understand why nobody has mentioned them.  I thought thats why everyone goes there