Overview to Amsterdam: Travel Guide and Tourist Information
- Amsterdam Information
- Eating & drinking in Amsterdam
- Night life in Amsterdam
- Getting around in Amsterdam
- Things to do in Amsterdam
- Where to stay in Amsterdam
- Amsterdam street map
For so many travelers, Amsterdam is a backpacking mecca. Smoky coffee shops… the wonderfully seedy Red Light District… atmospheric canals… all jostling for space alongside fantastic museums and art galleries. It’s certainly a beguilingly package.
Like Venice, the city is built on a network of canals – 165 of them to be precise. These waterways split up the small, compact urban center and help to add an intimate, district feel to what is one of Western Europe's most exciting and cosmopolitan cities.
The infamous Red Light District runs from the east of Damrak to the south of Central Station; a genuinely unique spectacle. But the narrow streets of the Old Town also lead into the rather more refined Royal Palace in Dam Square, one of the city’s focal points.
To the south of the busy Leidesplein lies the Museum Quarter. The city’s cultural heart, it’s home to the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art, the Van Gogh Museum and the incomparable collection of masterpieces of the Rijksmuseum.
Out to the west of the city lies the Jordaan, which continues to go from strength to strength. Full of quirky little shops and some of the better bars and restaurants that the city has to offer, it’s a perfect place to wander around and escape the tourist masses.
Other excellent central streets for a bit of retail therapy are Leidsestraat, Kalverstraat and Nieuwendijk. Bargain hunters, meanwhile, would be well-advised to rummage through the clothing and secondhand markets scattered near the Opera House and City Hall.
As soon as the sun shines in Amsterdam, the city bursts into vibrant and colorful life. Visitors and locals alike hit the pavement cafés, canals and public spaces, with the Vondlepark (and the beaches of the outskirts) particularly popular during the summer.
Being a small city, most places in central Amsterdam are comfortably within walking distance of one another. An ever better way of getting around, though, is by bicycle, as Amsterdam is equaled only by Oxford or Cambridge in its enthusiasm for this mode of transport.
In addtion to the incredibly warm welcome the city extends to travelers, the Dutch (typically) also speak beautiful English. Bad attempts to converse in Dutch, though, are not so greatly received: even Amsterdam's tolerance, after all, can only stretch so far...
