I’m going to be in Amsterdam soon for a conference, and will have a couple of half days free. So, any suggestions about where to go / what to see?

More interested in galleries / exhibitions / buildings / interesting places / hidden corners / nice cafe’s and bars than the usual Amsterdam cliche of sex and drugs 🙂 Oh, and will have a bicycle to get round on, which they give us when we register for the conference – how cool is that! So any info on cycle tours of the city would be good.

(Sorry – wrong forum again! Can someone move this to the Chat Forum please)

I’d be interested in any responses also, at a exhibition early November. No bike for me though 🙁

http://www.indewildeman.nl/index.php?lang=en&page=0 – BEER!
http://www.caferestaurantvankerkwijk.nl/eng/11.html – FOOD!

Ride everywhere. Get lost around the Vondel Park.

http://www.indewildeman.nl/

a great pub.

http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/?lang=EN&gclid=CJX8zeSy1qsCFYUOfAodGnF-OQ

In the middle of a refit, not as much to see as you would think, but when they finish it next year it should be amazing.

http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/cms_pages/index_main.html

Rembrants house looked good, but we didn’t go in. All the museums we found quite expensive to go in.

Lovely city, walked everywhere, everyone was so friendly as well. Found it as expensive as London though.

🙄 Do keep up 🙄

😀

I visited The Van Gogh museum which I was impressed with. Just as I was about to leave there was a huge downpour so I stayed in the cafe for a cake and ended up having a couple of bottles of very strong beer 🙂

Sorry, I got lost in google trying to remember the name of a great restaurant we went to. Anway it was…

Humphrey’s Restaurants

They do a great £30 set course menu, I had the best veal steak ever. Good value for money. Under the Dinercheque tab, it gives you option to look at the menu in English.

Anne Frank’s house was really interesting, quite moving. Rijksmuseum good too, esp for Flemish Primitives.

Red light district horrible, just full of zombies.

I posted this a while back

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/amsterdam-bar-and-restaurant-recommendations

If you like beer (18 different ones to choose from IIRC) then this place was great:

http://www.indewildeman.nl/index.php?lang=en&page=0

Not posh but cheap and friendly and you there’s a good noodle bar just opposite 🙂

the Van Gogh museum is worth a visit and theres a hotel where each suite of rooms is in the style of a particular artist, can’t remember where it is but you could google it , also there is oftern jazz in the parks which is free and lovely .I think a lot of the sex stuff is for the tourist trade anyway .

Baltahzaars Kitchen in the Jordaan is a great restaurant. Cafe Winkl for great apple pie.

Jump on a water bus, or hire a water taxi for a relaxing chug-chug-chug around the canal system. You’ll get to see Amsterdam from a different angle, and it’s less hectic than cycling which can be a bit manic at rush hour. Vondelpark is nice for lounging about, too.

The ship museum is excellent. Holland once rivalled us in world sea trade and exploiting brown people, so it’s crammed with stuff from centuries of seafaring.

+1 for the Rijksmuseum, fantastic place. I could (and have) spend all day there.

Amsterdam’s a great city, but sullied too much by the ‘get stoned/look at prostitutes’ type ‘tourism’. as much as I admire the liberal open-mindedness of the Dutch, I do think they might want to think of their braynd image a teeny bit more tbh. Might make it a little more appealing to more people.

And put some outdoor heaters about the place. It’s bloody freezing there.

I don’t know Sue; I jolly well have not bin there for over eighteen years.

And when I did go, I just got stoned and looked at prostitutes probbly. 😳

College trip, weren’t it?

Assuming you are flying, buy tickets to the Van Gogh museum at the visitor’s information kiosk by the exit of Terminal 2. We saved a HUGE queue. Since you have a bike, just riding around the city is a pleasant way to spend a morning.

For other museums; ARCAM for architecture, the Stedelijk if they’ve finished updating it are both good. If you like jazz, you should visit the new Bimhuis on the quayside near the central station.But for a decent bike ride and quality attraction at the end, you should cycle out to the Museum of Dutch Life here.

Last point – Amsterdam is the bike theft capital of the world. you have been warned…

Amsterdam’s a great city, but sullied too much by the ‘get stoned/look at prostitutes’ type ‘tourism’. as much as I admire the liberal open-mindedness of the Dutch, I do think they might want to think of their braynd image a teeny bit more tbh. Might make it a little more appealing to more people.

This.

I like to think I’m pretty damn broad minded, but having the cover of an explicit donkey sex money-shot mag in the porn shop window opposite the McDonalds advertising kiddies Happy Meals just seems so wrong. And the constant stench of drugs gets tiring.

Old kirk right in the center of red light district,the ceiling is amazing, was taken there by a dutch mate, got to be seen to be believed.

Beware the public toilets in the park near the Rembrandt museum, they have glass doors that frost when you lock them.

I failed to fully turn the lock and couldn’t understand why everyone was staring as I emptied myself.

The museum with all the Rembrandts in

Touristy canal cruise

Anne Frank ( how did they get away with it for so long? )

Vondel Park – much better in summer

Even though you said not find a tardis and travel back to early 90s Ma22o :):):)

Thanks for all the replies! Some good suggestions to follow up.

I agree that Amsterdam isn’t the greatest city to visit, but given that I’m going there for work, I want to get the most out of it whilst I’m there 🙂

It’s a brilliant city to visit – it’s unique – and so much more to it than getting stoned and hookers. You don’t have to have anything to do with that.

Another thing that’s great is the rowdy singing Dutchie bars in the Jordaan area (sort of WNW of the centre)

I’ve had some great beer in Amsterdam.

We came out of the hotel one night and banged into 4 local blokes by accident. They were very apologetic and offered to show us the town. What a laugh those guys were and the beer we were drinking! All ended in ‘inger’ and the chap who owned the bar was the one wh actually made the stuff.

They hated Germans though. Not sure what that was about.

the Germans weren’t very nice to the Dutch during ww2… long memories

Speaking of which, the Resistance Museum is excellent. Well worth a visit.

On the advice of our tour guide the top of the library up by main station has a
cafe on the top floor with great views over the city, think it’s the highest point.
Well worth a look as it’s free!