I know they still have the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum, Heineken factory and bikes but surely Amsterdam and a bit of weed is like visting Cuba with no cigar or Tokyo with no sushi!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17865151

Or Dublin without the stag parties?

i wouldn’t bother going there now….

much rather go to Copenhagen and spend an afternoon in Chritiania…

amsterdam was a let down when i went ….

much preferred den haag

Marvellous news. Anything to get rid of all the frighteningly dull “Whoa, dope’s legal dooood” set that abound in an otherwise lovely city.

lol!

**** – when’s that coming in? Got a work trip passing though in a few weeks…

Marvellous news. Anything to get rid of all the frighteningly dull “Whoa, dope’s legal dooood” set that abound in an otherwise lovely city.

You do know there are many other parts to the city as well as the ‘interesting’ areas, don’t you?

Was there a few weekends ago – top place, nice chilled atmosphere.
Took me about a week to regain my vision properly 😀

You do know there are many other parts to the city as well as the ‘interesting’ areas, don’t you?

Flash has only every visited on trip advisor!

im glad I went there last year. Had an awesome time, loved every minute and it’s a real shame about the change. It’s not the only reason to visit but it did make it a very different experience and thats without hanging around the places Flash has read about

Depends- a lot of some tourists don’t see much more than the inside of a few coffee shops, bars and ‘shows’.

Fine, if it’s incidental to the trip, in the same way as smoking a pipe in the Middle East might be, but there’s an awful lot of lost weekends take place in Amsterdam.

I thought this was a very well reasoned argument

“It is going to cost me 90% of my turnover,” he told the BBC World Service. “That is a very good reason for anyone to oppose any plan.

Marvellous news. Anything to get rid of all the frighteningly dull “Whoa, dope’s legal dooood” set that abound in an otherwise lovely city.

They only abound in the immediate vicinity of coffee shops and the Red Light Zone (which has no shortage of Grolsch-fueled ****, in any case). Stay away from them and the city (and the whole rest of Holland, for that matter) is yours.

Of course, close down the coffee shops and the trade will disperse and be less easily-controlled…

I really liked Amsterdam. We didn’t go into any weed places either.

……… and they’ve only just realised that there are tourists who visit just for the weed………. they must be wasted …

This wont make any difference at all, instead of coffee shops you will be offered it in the streets.

As a side note Utrecht is nice!

This wont make any difference at all, instead of coffee shops you will be offered it in the streets.

…which will actually be a huge downer to the non-drug tourists and residents, business people etc.

If you walk round the streets in the evening you get offered a whole lot more than just ‘weed’,lots of Class A drugs of dubious origin.

It is a interesting place to visit and not just for the obvious stuff, architecture and the mass of bikes at the station.

much rather go to Copenhagen and spend an afternoon in Chritiania…

+1 but they’ve had their own problems recently, last I heard it was closed to tourists after a shoot out 😡

I hear weed is readily available and “tolerated” in Prague, and some parts of Germany now too.

Far nicer towns to visit in the Netherlands like Maastricht but thats off limits to tourists nowadays as well ffs!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but does anyone know the current situation RE going into coffee shops for a schmoke and a pancake?
Any other recommendations for hamsterdam?

The belgian beer bar De Zotte, Raamstraat 29, 1016 XL Amsterdam.
Los Pilones for mexican food and cocktails; Kerkstraat 63, 1017 GC Amsterdam.

Hire bikes and do a wee ride too, from Black Bikes Amsterdam
Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 146, 1012 SJ Binnenstad, Amsterdam.

The Resistance museum is excellent if you like your history.
Just watch out for the toilets.
Always occupied.

Thanks chaps. Anyone know about the coffee shops?

wrecker – Member
Thanks chaps. Anyone know about the coffee shops?

ID scheme prohibiting anyone other than Ansterdam locals from purchasing draw set for introduction in Jan 2013 according to the below…

http://www.amsterdam.info/coffee-shop-news/

Well found thanks bh8er. Everything I found was contradictory. Cheers.

No problem, planning one last lost weekend in Amsterdam before the new laws come into force!

Last time that I went, about 2/3 yrs ago the smoking ban ( tobacco ) had just come in. Cigarettes had to be used descrectly but pure was fine 😉
As above the street sellers at night offer far worse and uncontrolled

Get a tandem. Eat cakes and drink coffee/beer whatever. Avoid weed and the window flesh. Lovely city.

Typical conservative knee jerk reactionary polices especially considering the drop in tourism over the past few years but there will most likely be a way round it soon by buying/borrowing a fake dutch id or a fake weed pass for xx amount when it is more heavily policed, an old school friend is the manager of one of the more popular coffee shop over there and is one of the signatories that’s bringing the case to the european court of human rights if the law goes against them – i doubt it will stick though as the majority of dutch users have refused to accept the weed pass when it was trialled in the three southern provinces earlier this year, last time i spoke to my mate he said that there is a massive opposition to signing up for the pass and it will be pretty much unenforceable unless they police every coffee shop.

Certainly hope so, i do like my bubble.