BeTheChange

Yep, that's right. My girlfriend and I get to go to Amsterdam for spring break. What more could a bike commuting college kid want? We will get to spend a whole week in Europe and visit a few friends in Germany and France also. I've never been to Europe so it should be a blast. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do in Amsterdam or what to see (other than the obvious )?

RiPHRaPH

can you pick me up some hash?

Travelinguyrt

6 story hi Bike parking garage to the right of the entrance to the main RR station,1000s and 1000s of bikes
The red lite district
Flower Barges
Must see......VanGogh and Rembrandt museums
The centuries old houses with exterior braces on the walls to keep them from falling down
Ride out into the country............any direction
Look for the fat tire bike tour company, meets infront of the Rembrandt, a fun 4 hour ride around the city and out into the country, I hope u get the Canadian guide

Gordon P

I believe the national museum is closed but I will add the Cobra Gallery (not snakes)to the list above. Rent a bike and explore the harbour amoung other things. Have fun!

hoodlum

I question the wisdom of bringing the GF.

Billy Ray

Quite so. Quite so.



BR

Gomez308

Red light district is fun to look at even with your GF. My wife and I went and it is so weird to window shop.

Anne Frank house is a little more somber, but I would recommend it.

Roadnoob

Don't forget to check out the Heineken Brewery and The Grasshopper.

Lappy

Great city, lots of theft though so keep your belongings close by. Make your transactions quick and precise. Tell them what you want, have billcombinations so you don't need change, and don't act like you've never been there before. Only the Americans stick out.

dominicolom

Give details on your amsterdam trip if you go to the "cafe's". I'm going in October for 2 weeks and one of my first stops are going to be the cafe's....LOL

gcasillo

Royale with cheese...

Guest

Good God. It'll take half a day to get there, half a day to get back, so you're already on 6 days, and you want to hit 3 countries? Focus, man... FOCUS!

Try to get yourself a quality experience. Ie: stick with Amsterdam and party real hard. It'll definitely be cool for you.

Koffee

skookum

Amsterdam is wonderful.

I would advise walking rather than cycling inside the canal belt as there is just too much too see and try and watch the road as well. Bicycle works well for trips to the suburbs or the countryside, but be very careful of theft in Amsterdam.

Take the free ferry across the Ij from behind the train station and cycle to Marken or Broek in Waterland and see some "typical" Dutch countryside, just a few kilometres from Amsterdam.

The bike culture is fascinating, I loved sitting on the Leidseplein sipping a beer and watching the girls pedal their black beater bikes, while wearing mini-skirts and high heeled shoes, talking on their cell phones and negotiating rush hour traffic. Nobody weas a helmet.

The Rijkmuseum is undergoing a renovation, but they have one wing open; the Dutch Golden Age collection, including Rembrandt's Night Watch. Don't miss it.

There is just so much to do, museums, "coffee shops", brown cafes, canal tours, the red light district, clubs, brewery tours etc.

EventServices

Ride out to Haarlem and the North Sea.

Not too far from the Central Station in Amsterdam is the Sex Museum. Check your inhibitions at the door. Europeans are far less sexually constipated.

Ann Frank's House is amazing.

Watch out for the dog poop. I guarantee at some point in your visit, you will take your shoe off and smack it on the ground trying to get the dog poop off it.

Please don't embarrass the USA over there.

alanbikehouston

"Don't embarrass the USA over there..."

Let's see. A city with two primary "attractions" for tourists: it proudly sells dangerous drugs to young folks, and it openly markets its daughters to sexual perverts...in a city with under 400,000 women, an estimated 50,000 females are exploited by the sex industry, many of them young girls, 18 or 19 years old.

One tiny neighborhood currently has more than 8,000 women "on sale" daily. Drug addicts are much less than 1% of the inner city population, but are involved in more than 15% of reported crimes in the "drug selling/buying" neighborhoods (causing the crime wave in Amsterdam that prior posts have warned of).

Just how could any visitor possibly "embarrass" anyone in a city with so little notion of morality, shame or embarrassment?

One visitor's views of the "joy" that legalized drugs and exploitation of women has brought to Amsterdam:

https://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/ctyc...0926/drugs.htm

Raiyn

Dangerous? Guess again.
https://www.thesite.org/travelandfree...terdamdruglaws
As for the selling of daughters https://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml8812.htm
Heck I'd rather go to Vegas for some legal professional action, that is if I wasn't living happilily in sin with my girlfriend

allgoo19

You make it sounds like we don't have any. Truth is both are plentiful, it's just not surfaced. If you look right places you can get just about any kind of drugs, all kinds of willing women and men, no regulation at all to follow. The fact that they are hidden makes it more dangerous.

For the note, I don't drink, I don't smoke, even though they are legal. Just in case you are thinking I'm defending the idea because I want to smoke pot or use any drugs. I can get them any time if I try, illegal or not.

bkrownd

There's a lot more morality there than you'll find in the majority of the US.

Got to spend 5 days in Amsterdam last February. Very nice town for wandering aimlessly and day-trips on the train.
We were in the Hotel Asterisk, which was a good one. Weather was nice and cool, too. Wish I could go back but
flying there from Hawaii just does not work at all.

becnal

The National Museum isn't closed. Large parts of it are being renovated, but the place is so huge that there is still PLENTY to see.

Take a canal ride! And leave the gf home!

bkrownd

Uh, why????

allgoo19

I think he's suggesting to protect the gf from being exposed to dangerous drugs and other activities.

skookum

Yeah, dangerous drugs.

The Dutch just aren't the hypocrites that we are. They recognize that prostitution and drug use are going to happen anyway, it may as well be legal and regulated. Its a no-no to smoke marijuana on the street, you must do it in a "coffee shop".

The crime wave is mostly property crime, esp stolen bikes. You are much less likely to suffer personal injury than in North America. The Dutch people are friendly and courteous and speak excellent English.

Don't worry about embarrassing yourself. The Dutch are tolerant people , and on the weekend you'll be invisible in the masses of Brits that take advantage of cheap flights, for a drunken weekend in Amsterdam.

bkrownd

Besides day-tripping to Zantvoort, Haarlem, Kampen, Zwolle (the last 3 are nice little towns to wander around) and such, we also took the fast train to Cologne on a day-trip, to see the museums, the Dom, drink some good German wine (for half the price you can get it in the US), and stuff - I'd recommend that. The train tickets were dirt-cheap, and the train is much nicer than those little sardine cans we fly around the US in. It's the top-of-the-line zoom train, though I think it only gets up to about 125MPH on that route.

Also, don't forget to bring home a bottle of korenwijn (sp?) - you can't get it in the US very easily if at all, AFAIK.

I-Like-To-Bike

1. Unbelievable colors of fields of Tulips and the aroma of hyacinths within an hour of Amsterdam:
My wife and I with our 3 children (7, 7, and 10 at the time) rode our bikes for several days in the Lisse area in 1989; best bike trip ever.

https://www.keukenhof.nl/

Spring cycling tour to Keukenhof

Nestled in the Netherlands’ bulb growing region, Noordwijk is one of the country’s most picturesque towns in the spring. It is also the starting point for the 25-kilometre spring cycling tour to the beating - or rather blooming – heart of the region: the Keukenhof garden park in Lisse. Vast, colourful fields of hyacinths, daffodils and tulips line the route to the park, which hosts the world’s most famous bulb flower exhibition as well as alternating flower shows in covered pavilions.

The spring cycling tour departs from the VVV Holland Rijnland Tourist Office in Noordwijk. Before heading out, we will begin with coffee and pastries (and soft drinks for the children) at a cosy cafe along the boulevard. The tour passes along bulb fields and bulb sheds (where bulbs are peeled and dried) and on through Noordwijkerhout on its way to Keukenhof.

Tickets: € 17,50, children aged 4 through 11 € 11,50. The price includes the cycling tour, coffee/pastry and admission to Keukenhof. The spring cycling tour will run daily from 24 March till 20 May 2005. Ticket sales: Monday till Sunday from 10:00 to 13:00 hours at the VVV Holland Rijnland Tourist Office in Noordwijk. Address: de Grent 8. Reservations only necessary for bicycle rentals (not included in ticket price). Tel: + 31 (0) 71- 3619321.

2. Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I visited it every time I was in Amsterdam - superb!

3. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (1½ -2 hours east by car from Amsterdam for lots more Van Gogh, Sereut and others, beautiful large grounds with free bikes to ride around.

HigherGround

The canal tours are pretty cool. I also had a chance to do some riding outside of the city, which was fun. I did a 30 mile ride on a windy, rainy day and I was pretty crispy afterwards! I was really impressed with the people of Holland though. They were very friendly and helpful.