Am off there this Friday. Any recommendations for what must be done, seen, visited or drunk in a weekend?

Depends on your interests – go to the Van Gogh Museum, the Richard Avedon exhibition at the Fotografiemuseum, walk by the canals in the Jordaan area, buy pottery clogs, smoke a lot of dope, go to prostitutes and fall down drunk.

Mrs North was there visiting friends this w/e.

I’m not sure she did any of the things suggested by DrJ. Or, at least, she’s not telling me if she did.

I adore the ‘Dam. A great city!

My pointers –

Bar – http://www.indewildeman.nl/indexe.html – If you can’t get pleasantly blotto in here, you have no taste. Just look at that beer list, would you?

Transport – Turn left out of Centraal train station (assuming you take the excellent train from ther airport) and go to MacBike. There, you shall hire a singlespeeded, backpedal brake Batavus PersonalBike. This shall be your mode of transport.

Eat – There are two great restaurants on Nes, just off Dam Square. One is called de Brakke Grond, which is lovely, the one closer to Dam Sq (name escapes me!) is even better. The food is superb mix of Dutch East Indian and traditional flatlander food.

Ride up and down the central grachts (Singel, Heren and Prinsen) stopping off now and again for a beer

Rijksmuseum is well worth a visit. The Night Watch is a masterwork.

Red light district is as dull as a dull thing after twenty minutes. There’s only so much of it you could ever want to see, trust me. It gets very, very boring.

If the weather is nice, head down to the Vondel Park and sit in the sun (Yeah right!) drinking wine and watching all the stunning girls riding bikes.

Actually, that last bit was my undoing. All those pretty girls on bikes….very arousing!

Anne Frank Museum? (but only once: we would never go there again as, sadly, she’s been turned into an industry, and it’s hard to get the feel of the place when its so crowded).

Hortus Botannicus is lovely.

Second CFH re Vondel Park.

Check out which parts of the Rijksmuseum are open: it was closed for refurbishment when we were there (and we didn’t have enough time to go to the bit that was open, otherwise we would have done).

Great city!

Well, thank you very much indeed. There’s a good bit there to chase up and explore. The ST massive can always be relied on for excellent inside information from the imbibing flaneurs.

Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.
Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar. Banana Bar.

Dont forget to take a canal tour! and sit in plenty of cafe and bars

Bill,

Too late to lend you our guides – good thing is that the city is very compact so you can comfortably walk to most of the best spots.

Keep out of the windows and enjoy the cake!

here

Fondue in what felt like a WW2 resistance hide out.. book, its brilliant

Entertain yourself and smoke.

Party like Harold and Kumar like it’s 1999 baby!

😈

Take LOTS of money! Spent new year there, 5-6euro a pint & shot + mixer 9euro.

Smoking is harder nowadays as they have thre smoking ban in a lot of places. I viosioted a lot of coffee shops that I’ve ben to over the last few years and found thery have constructed tiny smoking areas boxed in by perspex – difficult to actually find places you can smoke and drink at the same time – they’tre still there just not as prolific as they were, even say 12 months ago.

Red light area is worth spending an evening as theres lots to see and do plus loads of places to call in for a drink / smoke. But after a couple of laps you will have seen all you want to see.

Head down to Leidseplein, lots of bars and restaurants (streets of Italian, Steakhouses etc.) – much less ‘scummy’ than around Dam Sq/Red Light.

Great Steak house in Rembrantplein call the Three Sisters and opposite one of the better coffee shops, Smokeys (it looks very commercial but once inside its a nice place to be)

Coffeeshops to seek out – Smokeys, Abraxas, Greenhouse, Hill Street Blues, The Waterhole and if you’ve never ben before, you’d best call in the Gtrasshopper – everyone whos ever been to the Dam must have losty a few hours in ther at one point.

Def woth hiriong some bikes for a few days and take aride down to the Vondlepark – great fun whilst trying to ride back to your hotel at 3am wasted:)

Ride up and down the central grachts (Singel, Heren and Prinsen) stopping off now and again for a beer
Rijksmuseum is well worth a visit. The Night Watch is a masterwork.
Red light district is as dull as a dull thing after twenty minutes. There’s only so much of it you could ever want to see, trust me. It gets very, very boring.

Ooh er I’m agreeing with CFH. I going to have to lie down.

I’ll second Leidseplein square and the park, spent a day in the park a few years ago, it was fantastic but a lot warmer then. Was an afternoon of football, music, beer,wine and smoke. Good times

andym, sooner or later you’ll realise that I am always right….!

Actually, that last bit was my undoing. All those pretty girls on bikes….very arousing!

Presumably, at that point your view of the red light district changed…?

No, OMITN, but let’s just say that we didn’t spend a lot of time out of the hotel room that following day….

More info than I needed, CFH!

We went there day after NY’s stayed for a few days. Loved it even though its bloody freezing in winter. TBH- remove the sex tourism/crap and it would make the place even better IMO

We went there day after NY’s stayed for a few days. Loved it even though its bloody freezing in winter. TBH- remove the sex tourism/crap and it would make the place even better IMO

whoa there!! YOu don’t have to trawl the Red LIght – but its nice to know its there for a giggle:)

Barneys breakfast bar for an Irish breakfast on Haarlemstraat (sic), embrace the smoking ban by using a Vaporiser for a clean energetic high. Recommend the NYC Diessel as an uplifting Bike Riding high.
The Grey Area to meet Interesting Americans who cant understand Scots and sell unadulterated green.
HomeGrown Fantasy, a Women run coffe shop, light airy and relaxed.
O’Reillys Irish Bar off Dam Square, for when it all gets a bit Dutch.
Avoid the Grasshopper, Bulldog kitsch, and the Bannana Bar 🙂
You must hire a bike and ride it around much safer,quicker and funnier than on foot.
Watch out for groups of pickpockets tailing you, and keep your possessions close on the trams.

If you are in a group let your mates do the talking when you are approached by fast talking people trying to persaude you to go/buy/do something. I prefered to stand back and observe his ‘co-workers’ getting annoyed that they were not going to be able to fleece us all whilst distracted!

Enjoy it’s a fantastic city!

de beiaard – friendly central “local” pub

sugar factory – club for non-mainstream music / poetry

the big art museum (and a few smaller modern art galleries around)

i thought much of the centre (coffee shops / redlight etc) was grotty and couldnt be bothered with it really…

I don’t know if the Supper Club is still there, but me and MrsG had a great night. Excellent food and slightly surreal surroundings. Mixed bog was an eye opener too.

I admit that the Banana Bar is a bit of a Brits-On-The-Piss dump, but I have the image of my mate getting a large sex toy knocked down his throat by a very flexible young lady with a surprisingly good grip (considering how she was holding it) indelibly etched on my mind.

So go there is you want to see a friend choke on a dildo. If you don’t then the modern art museum was quite good.

Drugs?