Amsterdam Directions Read online

  Amsterdam

  D I R E C T I O N S

  written and researched by

  Martin Dunford and Phil Lee

  Rough Guides New Media

  New York · London · Delhi

  www.roughguides.com

  Publishing Information

  This 1st edition published August 2004 by Rough Guides Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL.

  345 Hudson St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10014, USA.

  Distributed by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL

  Penguin Group (USA), 375 Hudson Street, NY 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Australia), 487 Maroondah Highway, PO Box 257, Ringwood, Victoria 3134, Australia

  Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 1E4

  Penguin Group (NZ), 182–190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

  The print version of this eBook was Typeset in Bembo and Helvetica to an original design by Henry Iles.

  © Rough Guides, 2004

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.

  A catalogue record for print version of this eBook is available from the British Library

  ISBN 1-84353-306-5

  The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and currency of all the information in Amsterdam DIRECTIONS, however, they can accept no responsibility for any loss, injury, or inconvenience sustained by any traveller as a result of information or advice contained in the guide.

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  Contents

  Introduction

  Ideas

  The big six sights

  Brown Cafés

  Restaurants

  Art galleries

  Coffeeshops

  Hostellers’ Amsterdam

  Green Amsterdam

  Clubbers’ Amsterdam

  Kids’ Amsterdam

  Gay Amsterdam

  Festivals

  Canalside Amsterdam

  Markets

  Special shopping

  Rembrandt

  Designer bars

  Traditional architecture

  Modern architecture

  Churches

  What to eat

  Clothes

  Tearooms

  Hotels

  Museums

  Musical Amsterdam

  Getting around

  Places

  The Old Centre

  The Grachtengordel

  The western canals and the Jordaan

  The Old Jewish Quarter and Eastern Docks

  The Museum Quarter and the Vondelpark

  The Outer Districts

  Day-trips from Amsterdam

  Accommodation

  Hotels

  Hostels

  Essentials

  Arrival

  Red tape and visas

  City transport

  Information and maps

  Banks and exchange

  Communications

  Opening hours

  Public holidays

  Festivals and events

  Entertainment and nightlife

  Drugs

  Directory

  Language

  Small Print

  A Rough Guide to Rough Guides

  Rough Guide Credits

  Help us update

  The authors

  Acknowledgements

  Introduction

  This is as easy and engaging a capital city as you’ll find – a compact, immediately likeable place, small enough to explore easily in a weekend, and with an intriguing combination of the parochial and the international. Just about everyone speaks good-to-fluent English, and more often than not more than a smattering of French and German as well.

  Amsterdam is a thoughtful city too, with a long-standing liberal tradition that has given it a distinctive character, beginning with the obvious – the legalised prostitution and dope-smoking coffeeshops – through to the more subtle, encapsulated by Amsterdammers themselves in the Dutch word gezellig, which roughly corresponds to a combination of "cosy", "lived-in" and "warmly convivial". Nowhere is this more applicable than in the city’s unparalleled selection of gezellig drinking establishments, whether you choose a traditional brown café or one of the newer, designer places. In addition, the city boasts dozens of great restaurants, with its Indonesian cuisine second-to-none, and is at the forefront of contemporary European film, dance, drama and music. Amsterdam has several top-rank jazz venues – the Dutch have long had a soft spot for jazz – and the Concertgebouw concert hall is home to one of the world’s leading orchestras. By comparison, the club scene is restrained by the standard of other big cities, although gay men are well catered for in the many gay bars and clubs, partly justifying Amsterdam’s claim to be the "Gay Capital of Europe".

  * * *

  When to visit

  Amsterdam enjoys a fairly standard temperate climate, with warm, if characteristically mild summers and moderately cold and wet winters. The climate is certainly not severe enough to make very much difference to the city’s routines, which makes Amsterdam an ideal all-year destination. That said, high summer – roughly late June to August – sees the city’s parks packed to the gunnels and parts of the centre almost overwhelmed by tourists, whereas spring and autumn are not too crowded and can be especially beautiful, with mist hanging over the canals and low sunlight beaming through the cloud cover. Indeed, Amsterdam has more than its fair share of cloudy days at any time of the year, but even in January and February, when things can be at their gloomiest, there are compensations – wet cobbles glistening under the street lights and the canals rippled by falling raindrops. In the summer, from around June to August, mosquitoes can be bothersome. At any time of the year, but particularly in summer, try to book your accommodation well ahead of time.

  * * *

  The layout of the city is determined by a web of canals radiating out from an historical core to loop right round the centre in a "Girdle of Canals", the Grachtengordel. This planned, seventeenth-century extension to the medieval town makes for a uniquely elegant urban environment, with tall gabled houses reflected in black-green waters. This is where the city is at its most beguiling, a world away from the traffic and noise of many another European city centre, and it has made Amsterdam one of the continent’s most popular short-haul destinations. These charms are supplemented by a string of first-rate attractions, most notably the Anne Frankhuis, where the young Jewish diarist hid away during the German occupation of World War II, the Rijksmuseum, with its wonderful collection of Dutch paintings, including several of Rembrandt’s finest works, and the peerless Vincent Van Gogh Museum, with the world’s largest collection of the artist’s work.

  Amsterdam at a glance

  Red-Light District

  Once upon a time this area was on the edge of the city. Now it’s perhaps Amsterdam’s most notorious neighbourhood, thronged with tourists and gangs of men here to ogle scantily clad prostitutes sitting in windows. It has to be seen, but it’s worth bearing in mind that this is a business – rather than a tourist – district, with a solid bedrock of sleaze beneath the veneer of good, clean fun.

  De Pijp

  The increasingly gentrified heart of working-class Amsterdam is worth visiting for its vibrant daily market and growing number of cool bars and eateries.

  Grachtengordel

  The ultimate in thoughtful city planning, the Grachtengordel – basically the ring of canals that was dug around the medieval centre in the seventeenth century – tripled the city in size, and made Amsterdam what it is today. When anyone thinks of the city, it
is these elegant waterways, criss-crossed by bridges, and flanked by tall quirkily gabled houses, that they have in mind.

  Old Jewish Quarter

  Amsterdam’s Jewish Quarter is not what it was – most of its inhabitants were deported during the Nazi occupation, and it’s been unsympathetically redeveloped since then. But it holds a few fascinating corners of Jewish and wartime history as well as some key one-off attractions like the Rembrandthuis and the city’s zoo.

  Outside Amsterdam

  Don’t forget that Holland is a small country and that there are plenty of compelling attractions very close at hand – not least the small town of Haarlem, with the great Frans Hals Museum, and the stunning Keukenhof Gardens, among others.

  Museum Quarter

  Unsurprisingly, this area, just south of the city centre proper, is home to the cream of Amsterdam’s museums. It is also one of the city’s plusher neighbourhoods, with leafy streets and apartment blocks and upscale shops and restaurants. There are quite a few moderately priced hotels here too.

  Western Canals and the Jordaan

  In many ways this is the city centre's most appealing and restful area, with some of the most graceful stretches of the main canals, the more ramshackle small waterways of the Jordaan, and the tall warehouses of the former harbour area. All without pesky trams and traffic.

  Ideas

  The big six sights

  Brown Cafés

  Restaurants

  Art galleries

  Coffeeshops

  Hostellers’ Amsterdam

  Green Amsterdam

  Clubbers’ Amsterdam

  Kids’ Amsterdam

  Gay Amsterdam

  Festivals

  Canalside Amsterdam

  Markets

  Special shopping

  Rembrandt

  Designer bars

  Traditional architecture

  Modern architecture

  Churches

  What to eat

  Clothes

  Tearooms

  Hotels

  Museums

  Musical Amsterdam

  Getting around

  The big six sights

  Amsterdam isn’t a city of major sights; its pleasures lie in wandering the streets and taking in things aimlessly rather than targeting specific attractions. However there are a number of things you really shouldn’t leave town without seeing, ranging from the high cultural hit of the Van Gogh Museum to the full-on sleaze of the Red Light District.

  Anne Frankhuis

  The secret annexe in which the famous teenage diarist hid with her family during the Nazi occupation is perhaps the city’s most popular – and most moving – tourist attraction.

  See THE GRACHTENGORDEL

  Oude Kerk

  The city centre’s oldest church, now oddly surrounded by brothels.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Royal Palace

  The supreme architectural example of the Dutch empire at the height of its powers.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Rijksmuseum

  This is closed for a major restoration. But it’s the city’s greatest museum by far, featuring everything from paintings to furniture and applied arts. You can see the best of its paintings in a temporary home in the building’s Philips Wing, as well as at the Nieuwe Kerk, Schiphol Airport and other places around town.

  See THE MUSEUM QUARTER AND THE VONDELPARK

  Red-Light District

  Too steeped in the art of titillation to be truly shocking these days, but Amsterdam’s red-light district is still the real thing – and a big attraction in its own right.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Van Gogh Museum

  With the world’s most comprehensive collection of the artist’s work, this museum is simply unmissable.

  See THE MUSEUM QUARTER AND THE VONDELPARK

  Brown cafés

  Drinking your way around Amsterdam isn’t such a bad way of passing the time, and the traditional Amsterdam bar – or brown café – is an excellent place to do just that. Named for the colour of their walls, stained by years of tobacco smoke, the city’s brown cafés are cosy places to linger over a coffee, nurse a beer and read the paper. There’s one on every corner, they’re open all day, usually until late at night, and the atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming, whether you’re a local or a tourist.

  Hoppe

  One of Amsterdam’s longest established city-centre watering-holes.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  De Reiger

  Typical, buzzy, locals’ bar in the Jordaan.

  See THE WESTERN CANALS AND THE JORDAAN

  Hegeraad

  Perfectly preserved cosy brown café.

  See THE GRACHTENGORDEL

  Wynand Fockink

  The city’s best example of an old-fashioned proeflokaal or "tasting-house".

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Restaurants

  Amsterdam is definitely not a gourmet city. However there have always been great places to eat here, and the quality and number of establishments has risen over recent years. Whether it’s hearty Dutch food, great fish or Indonesian specialities, you can eat superbly well nowadays if you know where to go.

  Albatros

  Something of an institution, and one of the city’s best fish restaurants.

  See THE WESTERN CANALS AND THE JORDAAN

  Claes Claesz

  A good place to sample proper Dutch food at moderate prices.

  See THE WESTERN CANALS AND THE JORDAAN

  De Silveren Spiegel

  Arguably the best Dutch restaurant in the city, great for fish.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Hoi Tin

  Authentic Chinese restaurant in the heart of Amsterdam’s rather dodgy Chinatown.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Keyser

  Fin-de-siècle restaurant and café next door to the Concertgebouw.

  See THE MUSEUM QUARTER AND THE VONDELPARK

  Art galleries

  The Dutch do art galleries better than most, and Amsterdam’s house the prodigious output of the city’s seventeenth-century Golden Age – Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Vermeer – as well as the work of Van Gogh and the modern movement. They’re one of the highlights of the city, though sadly its greatest gallery – the Rijksmuseum – is closed for a long-term restoration.

  Frans Hals Museum

  It’s not far to Haarlem to see the paintings of Frans Hals in the almshouses where he lived out his days.

  See DAY-TRIPS FROM AMSTERDAM

  Van Gogh Museum

  Not only the greatest collection of prints and paintings by Van Gogh, but also the nineteenth-century paintings and Japanese prints that influenced him.

  See THE MUSEUM QUARTER AND THE VONDELPARK

  Rijksmuseum

  Only partly open for the moment, this is the place to see the best of the city’s collection of Rembrandts.

  See THE MUSEUM QUARTER AND THE VONDELPARK

  CoBrA Museum

  Cool modern museum hosting the art of the international CoBrA movement – made up of artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.

  See THE OUTER DISTRICTS

  Coffeeshops

  Art, architecture and canals aside, many visitors to Amsterdam come for just one thing: drugs. Amsterdam remains one of the few cities in the world where you can smoke a joint in public. The places that you can do this – Amsterdam’s euphemistically titled "coffeeshops" – are strictly controlled places that sell a wide variety of hash and grass in neat cellophane packets; they also sell spacecake (though aren’t supposed to) as well as an array of soft drinks. The purchase and consumption of up to 5g of cannabis, and possession of up to 30g (the legal limit) are tolerated rather than legal – though it’s unlikely that anything bad will happen to you if you step outside these limits.

  Kadinsky

  Chocolate chip cookies, good jazz and dope – what more could you want?

  See THE WESTERN CANALS AND THE JORDAAN


  Dampkring

  Loud and friendly city-centre hangout.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Greenhouse

  Way out of the centre, but known for the quality of its offerings.

  See THE OUTER DISTRICTS

  Rusland

  Coffeshop is something of a misnomer for a place that’s as well known for its tea as its dope.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Siberië

  Very relaxed and informal coffeeshop, slightly off the beaten tourist path.

  See THE WESTERN CANALS AND THE JORDAAN

  Hostellers’ Amsterdam

  For those on a tight budget, Amsterdam’s array of places offering dormitory accommodation is second to none – from official HI establishments to unofficial private hostels and even Christian hostels. Most will provide clean linen for a few euros extra or you should bring your own sleeping bag. Many also lock their guests out during the day, and there is sometimes a nightly curfew, though these are often late enough as to make no difference.

  Hans Brinker

  Very well-established and well-run hostel.

  See THE GRACHTENGORDEL

  Stay Okay Vondelpark

  The best of the city’s official hostels.

  See THE MUSEUM QUARTER AND THE VONDELPARK

  Flying Pig Palace

  Well-maintained private hostel near the Vondelpark.

  See THE MUSEUM QUARTER AND THE VONDELPARK

  Meeting Point

  Cosy central hostel.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  Bulldog

  Part of the coffeeshop chain, with everything from dorm beds to luxury apartments.

  See THE OLD CENTRE

  International Budget

  Small budget hotel situated on a quiet canal in the city centre.

  See THE GRACHTENGORDEL

  Green Amsterdam

  Perhaps because it is laced by canals, Amsterdam isn’t an especially green city, but it does have one great city-centre green space in the Vondelpark, and any number of other verdant attractions on its limits or just outside.

  Keukenhof Gardens

  The largest flower garden in the world – bar none.