Visiting Amsterdam from USA

Hi tom. How luxurious do you want to stay? Hotel Kransapolsky is at Dam square, top of the bill. For the rest there are plenty of Golden Tulip hotels, Holiday Inns etc.
Public transport is very good in Amsterdam with the trams and busses, so don't bother to rent a car.

Dont worry about food, Amsterdam is one big restaurant/bar where the action never stops.

I hope you will have good weather, there are hundreds of terraces in Amsterdam, the Leidscheplein is famous, with lots of street artists, Rembrandplein is very nice too. But don't worry you won't starve from hunger or thirst. Lots of terraces have heating and a roof so you can sit outside anytime.

It is a very multicultural city with lots of international restaurants, from Tibetan to French, from Indonesian (try that!) to the real Dutch kitchen (don't try that).
Around the Leidscheplein there are zillions of restaurants and bars, I don't know what the real hot spots are at the moment. In the Korte Leidschedwarsstraat 49/a, one of the streets that connects to the Leidscheplein is my favorite Indian restaurant: Maurya.

I dont know how much taste for art you have, but the Rijksmuseum and the Van Goghmuseum are world famous. If you like car musea, you will have to travel a bit. see: http://www.louwmancollection.nl/

 

Yes, the city is car unfriendly, with tons of speed bumps and other obstacles, like cyclists LOL.
I dont know Ferrari owners theer, maybe they will introduce themselves here.

Really, don't worry about beer, most bars have a wide selction of Dutch and Belgian beers (try the latter ones, really the Belgians are the ones that make real good beers). Just ask for a Kwak or a Duvel, a Verboden Vrucht (frobidden fruits) or a Leffe double or triple and you will enjoy it. Take care of the number of Duvels you take, I have seen one falling off the stool after his sixth one. It is heavy stuff.

Expect to pay 2 euros for a beer, a normal dinner about 30 euros and if you eat in a top star restaurant, about 70-80 euros if you take it easy with the wine.

Oh and fuel prices in Europe are astronomical..... be warned. its 1,50 per litre now..

 

Hi Tom,

Today I'm going to Amsterdam, I'll see if there are any Ferrari's.
In the Apollolaan, there's somebody who ones some nice cars; Bugatti Veyron, Merc SLR McLaren 722, Maybach (but no Ferrari's )
I don't know if there are any Ferrari owners in Amsterdam, but there are many Ferrari's spotted there.
http://spots.autogespot.com/viewcars.php?view=city&city=Amsterdam&date=&spotter=&offset=&type=Ferrari
Good luck!

 

Hi Tom,

I'm a Ferrari-owner just outside of Amsterdam. I wouldn't take my F into the city if I could avoid it (so I never have), but for regular cars it's manageable if you know where you're going (i.e. drive directly to a parking garage in the area where you need to be). If you don't, and don't have an accurate SatNav, well best of luck to you. . The city is very confusing with it's circular canals and one-way streets. Another problem is that the city is basically a collection of little towns whose names won't mean anything to you, so to get to the City Centre you need to know which places to go through.

Prices in restaurants are indeed very high - most people in Holland do not eat out often because they can't afford to. On top of that, prices have increased a lot with the introduction of the Euro (everybody rounded up!) in 2002. However, the exchange rate makes it even more unfavourable. I agree with Lucas you should try an Indonesian restaurant if you have the chance. It's also worth trying our junk food, which is quite unique. Try a "Broodje Kroket" (bun with a deep fried stick of bread-crumbed veal ragout) at Van Dobben (they are in the Korte Reguliersdwarsstraat), they are the best you can buy in the country. Really very tasty.

For going out, I suggest you go to the Leidscheplein as Lucas mentioned. There are plenty of decent bars there. If you like live jazz, check out De Alto which is just off the Leidseplein in de Korte Leidsedwarsstraat. A little bit further up and to the left (on the Korte Leidsekruisstraat) is a bar called Bourbon Street which has great live blues and rock.

Another nice square is Rembrandtplein and my particular favourite is Het Spui which has a great "kroeg" (traditional Dutch pub) the name of which escapes me but it's easy to find. There is a nice little courtyard next to Het Spui (Het Begijnhof) which has the only surviving wooden house in Amsterdam, I think from 1345 or something. Quite old, in any case. A nice "kroeg" close by is De Schutter in de Voetboogsteeg, which is frequented mostly by students. There are also plenty of Irish Bars in Amsterdam, a nice one is on Het Rokin close to the Allard Pierson museum.

As for museums: the Anne Frank museum is worthwhile, the Rijksmuseum is great but undergoing construction so not everything will be open, the house where Rembrandt lived (Rembrandtshuis) usually has a great exhibition and the Vincent Van Gogh museum is great too. If you like modern art, Het Stedelijk Museum is world famous. If you like classical music, see if you can catch a concert in Het Concertgebouw, which has a world-class orchestra and incredible acoustics.

Hope this gives you some ideas. And have fun!


Onno

 

I forgot to mention, If you want to see exotic cars, women with lots (kilos) of makeup and people who just want to show how rich they are: go to the PC Hooftstraat. There are the real excentric people of Holland. I buy my Tommy Hilfiger undies there LOL. Nothing more then that. But the real showoffs are there to be found.