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The Insiders Guide To Amsterdam!


Welcome to your helpful “Insider’s Guide To Amsterdam,” otherwise known throughout the “Player Community as, “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Amsterdam – But Didn’t Know Who To Ask!”

First of all, we’re way ahead of you and we already know that priorities #1, #2 and #3 have to do with the sex kittens of the “Red Light District, the combustible culinary culture of the cannabis – “coffeeshop” combo and the bang able brothel babes!

No problem my friend. We already have separate, comprehensively guides to each of those significant priority items. But even the biggest player needs to take a break once in a while and spend some time enjoying some of the “OTHER” awesome wonders to be discovered and experienced in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is the perfect blend of excitement and entertainment mixed with an amazingly relaxed and peaceful environment. So while it may be relatively small, quiet, beautiful and exceptionally easy to get around with very little traffic, it offers up absolutely all the benefits of a major metropolitan area, such as breath taking sights and tourist attractions, great restaurants, every imaginable type of entertainment, excellent transportation and modern conveniences, as well as a wide plethora of culture and history.

The Current: Most outlets are European standard 230 volts accessed by standard European two-pin plugs. Be sure to bring your converter or you can always buy one at Aurora, on the Vijzelstraat at the end of the Flower Market, near the Munt Tower.

The Currency: Amsterdam uses the Euro expressed as EUR or €. The Euro is divided into 100 cents with coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents, as well as 1 and 2 euros. The bills or notes are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros. Several places exchange currency, but the Post Office usually offers the best rate of exchange. Or simply use your ATM card, which works and is accepted along with credit cards throughout most of the city.

A Tip About Tips: By law, all prices in Amsterdam include the tax and tips, so the price that you see is the price that you pay.

A Tip About Trips: Amsterdam has amazingly awesome transportation options, from their many trams, trains and taxis, to the simple pedestrian pleasures of walking as well as bicycling, which is also a fun, popular and very entertaining choice.

Ace’s To See / Places To Be!


Here’s a list of some great sites to see. Many of the following places let you to book your tickets online and print them out, giving you the advantage of being able to avoid long lines and enter directly with no waiting.

Amsterdam Historical Museum: Kalverstraat 92 (Spui); 10:00(weekends 11:00)-17:00; €10.

The Anne Frank House: Prinsengracht 263 (Westerkerk), 09:00-19:00(summers 21:00), €7.50. This is the famous, WWII hiding place of heroic young Jewish girl and her family who, as history reminds us, were eventually discovered and caught by the Nazis, as told in the famous Anne Frank's diaries.

Artis Zoo: Plantage Kerklaan 38-40, 09:00-17:00 (18:00 in Summer), €16. The zoo includes a great Aquarium and planetarium.

Begijnhof, Spui: Very close to the Amsterdam Historical Museum this is one of Amsterdam’s largest and most popular “Hofjes,” or “courtyards,” secretly hidden away from the noise and hustle and bustle of the street. This is a veritable “Garden of Eden” and secret, oasis of relaxation. Enter the doorway in the row of houses on the “Spui” and if the entrance is closed, simply go right around the corner to the portal from the Gedempte Begijnensloot.”

Damrak Canal Trips: Near Central Station, and Rokin by the Spui. You absolutely have to experience Amsterdam from the water with these awesome canal tours. They last about 90 minutes, and take you around the city and through the harbor. Some people even rent bikes to ride along the canal tour routes.

Hortus Horticultural Gardens: Plantage Middenlaan 2a (Waterlooplein), 6259021, 09:00(weekends 10:00)-17:00 (21:00 in July/August); €6. The gardens are somewhat small, but extremely worth the visit.

Heineken Brewery: Stadhouderskade 78; 10:00-18:00 Closed on Mondays €10. This actually used to be a brewery until recently, but now it has been converted into a wonderfully informative and highly entertaining museum and visitor center. Most importantly, FREE BEER, enough said!

Historical Museum Gallery: FREE entrance. Take the Gedempte Begijnensloot exit from the Begijnhof and turn left.

Maritime Museum: Kattenburgerplein 1. Sadly, this museum is currently closed for renovations until the end of 2010. However, they still have the full-size replica of an old ship, including actors on board acting out the sea life, open to the public at “Nemo,” which is the big green building that looks like a ship just east of Central Station.

Rembrandt's House: Jodenbreestraat 4 (Waterlooplein), 10:00-17:00, €8. This is the 17th century house where Rembrandt lived and worked, now perfectly restored to its former state. One of the fascinating features of this tourist attraction is the ability to buy etches made from copies of Rembrandt's original plates, at quite some very reasonable prices (about €35).

Rijksmuseum Museum: Jan Luijkenstraat 1, 9:00-18:00 (Fridays to 20:30); €11 (Under 19 free). This is a very large museum, containing paintings by some of the Netherlands’ greatest and most popular 17th century painters, from Rembrandt to Vermeer and let’s not forgets our good buddy Van Hals. The prize possession if Rembrandt’s “The Nightwatch.” The museum also displays numerous historical artifacts.

Stedelijk Museum: Unfortunately under renovation and closed until December 2009.

Van Gogh Museum: Paulus Potterstraat 7, 10:00-18:00 (Friday 22:00); €12.50, 13-17 €2.50, under 13 free. A large, spacious, museum dedicated to the master as well as several of his local contemporaries.

Seasonal Happenings:


January: The Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Journey) ice-skating marathon takes place on Friesland's frozen rivers with a start and finish at Leeuwarden.

February: Amsterdam’s famous and elaborate celebration of the Chinese New Year with all the dancing, colors, music, food, dragons and fireworks you could ever imagine occurring in Europe.

April: National Museum Weekend is celebrated every second weekend of the month and has free entry to many museums as a standard part of the celebratory gifts. Queen's Day is celebrated on April 30 is a hugely popular date with street events, club nights and parties. Queen's Night on April 29 is the night to party.

May: In early may, come celebrate Oosterparkfestival, a holiday season that officially kicks off with the free live music and street stalls. Also the KunstRAI modern art fair is held at the RAI conference centre in the first week of the month. The 2nd Saturday of May is National Windmill Day, when many windmills are open to the public for FREE!

June: The Holland Festival serves up live music, dance and drama over the entire month. The 3rd week of June is the Amsterdam Roots Festival, which involves an entire week of music and film including a free concert in Oosterpark and performances from the Concertgebouw, Mekweg and Tropentheatre. Late June offers up the International Theatre School Festival.

July: July is that special time of the year when the more intense parties kicks into full swing. Enjoy the free theatre, dance and music at Vondelpark Open Air Theatre over the summer. Meanwhile, at the Over Het IJ Festival, the NDSM Wharf Modern theatre and dance is showcased in the first 2 weeks of July. Then the final half of the month brings you the Kwakoe Festival which is over near the Amsterdam Arena. Beach blanket bop parties are “all the rave,” along with lots of great live music occurring during the Beachhop Festival always held on the last Sundays in June, July and August.

August: The 1st Saturday of the month is Amsterdam Pride Day which includes numerous street parties and a big parade. The same weekend also includes the International Modern Dance Festival, just north of Haarlem. The first 2 weeks of August also include numerous traveling fairs and parades. Then in late August it’s time for Gratchenfestival of classical music, where virtually every culture group in the city turns out to the Ultmarkt on the Museumplein over the last few days of the month.

September: The late seasonal holidays in Amsterdam get a big boost from the Bloemencorso Flower Pageant, followed by the Chinatown Festival which is always held on the second weekend and the Jordaan Festival with its huge fair and scores of street parties.

November: The Saint Nicolaas Parade has “Holly Jolly Santa” himself handing out free sweets and treats and then taking off from Centraal Station on a white horse. Of course Santa Claus is extremely important, but the ultimate climax of the month of November involves The Cannabis Cup, sponsored by our good friends at “High Times” magazine, "kicking off and toking up" at the very end of the month for a five day festival.

December: Dance Valley brings you an awesome winter party featuring International DJs near Eindhoven and of course, the year’s ends and the New Year begins with the New Year's Eve Street Party, which includes fireworks, food, music and lots of serious celebrating.



© 2009 Amsterdam.org
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