Rough Guides Directions Amsterdam

211 Pages·2004·7.05 MB·English

by  Phil Lee

Amsterdam
DIRECTIONS
WRITTEN AND RESEARCHED BY
Martin Dunford and Phil Lee
WITH ADDITIONAL RESEARCH BY
Karoline Densley
NEW YORK • LONDON • DELHI
www.roughguides.com
2
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Contents
Introduction 4 The Museum Quarter and the
Vondelpark..................................................................128 CO
The Outer Districts................................................136 N
Day-trips from Amsterdam............145 T
Ideas 11 EN
T
The big six sights......................................................12 Accommodation 151 S
Brown Cafes....................................................................14
Restaurants......................................................................16 Hotels....................................................................................153
Art galleries......................................................................18 Hostels................................................................................161
Coffeeshops......................................................................20
Hostellers’ Amsterdam........................................22
Green Amsterdam......................................................24 Essentials 163
Clubbers’ Amsterdam..........................................26
Kids’ Amsterdam........................................................28 Arrival....................................................................................165
Gay Amsterdam............................................................30 Red tape and visas..............................................165
Festivals................................................................................32 City transport..............................................................166
Canalside Amsterdam..........................................34 Information and maps......................................168
Markets..................................................................................36 Banks and exchange..........................................169
Special shopping........................................................38 Communications......................................................169
Rembrandt..........................................................................40 Opening hours............................................................170
Designer bars................................................................42 Public holidays..........................................................171
Traditional architecture......................................44 Festivals and events..........................................171
Modern architecture..............................................46 Entertainment and nightlife......................174
Churches..............................................................................48 Drugs....................................................................................177
What to eat........................................................................50 Directory............................................................................177
Clothes....................................................................................52
Tearooms..............................................................................54
Hotels........................................................................................56 Language 179
Museums............................................................................58
Musical Amsterdam................................................60
Getting around..............................................................62
Index 185
Places 65
The Old Centre..............................................................67 Colour Maps
The Grachtengordel................................................87
The western canals and the Amsterdam
Jordaan..........................................................................103 Amsterdam City Centre
The Old Jewish Quarter and Eastern Old Centre
Docks................................................................................115 Amsterdam Trams,Buses & the Metro
4
Introduction to
Amsterdam
N
O
I
T
C
U
D
O This is as easy and engaging a capital city as
R
T you’ll find – a compact,immediately likeable place,
N
I
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 thought-
ful city too,with a long-
standing liberal tradition
that has given it a
distinctive character,
beginning with the
obvious – the legalised
prostitution and dope-
(cid:1)
H
e
re
n
g
ra
c
h
t
Contents Introduction
5
I
N
T
R
O
D
U
C
T
I
O
N
(cid:1)Leidseplein
smoking coffeeshops – more applicable than in
through to the more sub- the city’s unparalleled
tle,encapsulated by selection of gezellig
Amsterdammers them- drinking establishments,
selves in the Dutch word whether you choose a
gezellig,which roughly traditional brown café or
corresponds to a combi- one of the newer,
nation of “cosy”,“lived- designer places.In
in”and “warmly con- addition,the city boasts
vivial”.Nowhere is this dozens of great
Contents Introduction
6
porary European
film,dance,drama
and music.
N
O Amsterdam has
TI several top-rank
C
U jazz venues – the
D
O Dutch have long
R had a soft spot for
T
N jazz – and the
I
Concertgebouw
concert hall is
home to one of
the world’s leading
orchestras.By
comparison,the
club scene is
restrained by the
(cid:1) standard of other
He big cities,although
re
ng gay men are well
rac catered for in the
h
t
many gay bars and
restaurants,with its clubs,partly justifying
Indonesian cuisine sec- Amsterdam’s claim to be
ond-to-none,and is at the “Gay Capital of
the forefront of contem- Europe”.
When to visit
Amsterdam enjoys a fairly standard temperate climate,with warm,if char-
acteristically 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 espe-
cially beautiful,with mist hanging over the canals and low sunlight beam-
ing 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 particular-
ly in summer, try to book your accommodation well
ahead of time.
Contents Introduction
7
I
N
T
R
O
D
U
C
T
I
O
N
The layout of the city is environment,with tall
determined by a web of gabled houses reflected in
canals radiating out from black-green waters.This is
an historical core to loop where the city is at its
right round the centre in most beguiling,a world
a “Girdle of Canals”,the away from the traffic and
Grachtengordel.This noise of many another
planned,seventeenth-cen- European city centre,and
tury extension to the it has made Amsterdam
medieval town makes for one of the continent’s
a uniquely elegant urban most popular short-haul
Contents Introduction
8
destinations.These charms Rijksmuseum,with its
are supplemented by a wonderful collection of
string of first-rate attrac- Dutch paintings,including
N
O tions,most notably the several of Rembrandt’s
TI Anne Frankhuis,where finest works,and the
C
U the young Jewish diarist peerless Vincent Van Gogh
D
O hid away during the Museum,with the world’s
R German occupation of largest collection of the
T
N World War II,the artist’s work.
I
(cid:1)
M
a
rke
t sta
lls, A
m
ste
rd
a
m
Contents Introduction