Overview:
Lively, lascivious Amsterdam has a unique atmosphere that belies
the caricature of the dour Dutch.
Radiating out from the Dam Square, the historic centre of the
city is ringed by quaint canals and cobbled streets, thronged with
bicycles, tourists, house-boats, students, and street performers.
The city wears two faces: on one it smiles and beckons hedonistic
youth with it's notorious Red Light District and liberal view of
marijuana use, while on the other it offers some of Europe's finest
museums and art galleries.
For the tourist the joy of Amsterdam is its compactness. The old
part of town is a pleasure to explore on foot, strolling across
ancient bridges and down narrow lanes past gabled houses, dropping
in to browse in inviting souvenir boutiques crammed with blue and
white Delft china and wooden clogs. Pavement cafes and cosy bars
offer rest and refreshment. An alternative is to take a circular
canal-boat cruise and see the city from the water, peering in on
the lives of the locals who live on house-boats lining the
waterways.
At night even the most conservative visitor is drawn by the
lively atmosphere of the infamous Red Light District, known as De
Wallen, which is bounded by the Oudezijds Voorburgwal and
Oudeziujds Achterburgwal canals near the Dam Square. Here
prostitutes display their charms in brightly lit shop windows and
touts encourage passers-by to view raunchy floor-shows. The best
nightclubs, bars, and the theatres and cinemas are mainly to be
found in the bustling Leidesplein and Rembrandtplein.
Getting Around:
The central area of Amsterdam is fairly compact and easy to get
around on foot. When going further afield, there is a good,
inexpensive network of trams, buses and metro lines that all
converge at Centraal Station, as well as canal boats and a free
ferry service across the IJ Canal. The GVB public transport office
at Centraal Station has route maps and a guide to the ticketing
system, which is based on zones with the same ticket valid on
buses, metros and trams. The most widely used type of travel pass
is the
Strippenkart; a strip gets stamped every time one boards and
remains valid for unlimited transfers within an hour (eight-strip
card: €6.40; 15-strip card: €6.40; 45-strip card:
€18.90). After midnight there are night buses that run from
Centraal Station to most parts of the city. Taxis are among the
most expensive in Europe and renting a car or driving one's own to
Amsterdam is not recommended; it is better to park it outside the
city and use public transport to get into the centre and around. An
ideal way to get around is the Dutch way - by bicycle. There are
several rental agencies around town (about €7 daily or
€30 weekly), but be aware that theft is common and make
sure that both the frame and a wheel is locked to something fixed
and solid.
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