AMSTERDAM FALL & WINTER GUIDE 2011 – 2012 The best places to eat, sleep and play in Amsterdam this fall and winter With more than 50 million reviews and opinions, TripAdvisor makes travel planning a snap for the 50 million travelers visiting our site each month. Think before you print. And if you do print, print double-sided. INTRODUCTION TripAdvisor, the most trusted source for where to eat, sleep and play in thousands of destinations around the world, has collected the best insider tips from its 50 million monthly visitors to produce a unique series of travel guides. In addition to the best hotels, restaurants and attractions for every type of traveler, you’ll get great advice about what to pack, how to get around and where to find the best views. Be sure to check out the guides at www.tripadvisor.com. Inside You’ll find reviews for more than 520,000 hotels, 125,000 vacation rentals, AMSTERDAM 155,000 attractions and 715,000 restaurants on TripAdvisor.com. Learn from other travelers what to expect before you make your plans. Amsterdam is one of those places with a slap-yourself-on- the-forehead name: “Amsteldamme” was born from a village where the Amstel River was dammed in the late 13th-century. With all that water… but of course! Today, Amsterdam is home to some 750,000 people (many of them on bicycles) and countless tourists (many of them jumping out of the way of PACKING TIPS bicycles). The center is divided into neighborhoods—the new 1. The weather is unpredictable so “bring and old sides of the old town, surrounded by a ring of canals, clothes for two seasons.”—TripAdvisor Member and then mainly residential areas like Jordaan, considered by many to be the best place in town. Winters are typically frosty 2. “Watch for pickpockets, try and fit in, don’t stare at your map on the street or while summers are warm and temperate, but the weather is carry your camera out where everyone can see. Bring good shoes—you will always unpredictable and rain is possible at any time of the year. need them. You’re in for sore legs at the Keep that umbrella handy! end of the day.”—TripAdvisor Member 3. “A tip for all those who want to go to In this city, you’ll find captivating views from nearly every The Van Gogh Museum. If you just turn up on the day, the queues are usually bridge, world-class art in a nearly incomprehensible number long. To get around this, you can buy of museums and friendly locals. While cafes serving marijuana (and print) your tickets via their web site, then just walk past the queues at the and the Red Light District are a part of Amsterdam, you’ll find museum. Tickets bought online are open, they are but footnotes to an overall experience of culture and you are not required to specify a day or time in advance.”—TripAdvisor Member (G-rated) fun. tripadvisor.com 2 Top VIEWS AMSTERDAM’S BEST VIEWS “Join a canal cruise for a photo opportunity of The choice for a drink with a view is “The climb to the top of Westerkerk this gorgeous scene. You can only see the seven “unquestionably Twenty Third Bar on (West Church) is well worth it! They only bridges that cross the Reguliersgracht from a the 23rd floor of the Okura Hotel. It has a take 4-6 people at a time, so you may have boat.”—TripAdvisor Member, Amsterdam fantastic cocktail bar and the best view of the to wait. But once you are up there on a St. Nicolaas Boat Club, Boom Chicago, city!”—TripAdvisor Member, Amsterdam clear day you can see all of Amsterdam.”— Leidslplein Twenty Third Bar, Hotel Okura, Ferdinand TripAdvisor Member, St. Louis, Mo. Bolstraat 333, 020 678 7111 Westerkerk, Prinsengracht 281, 020 624 7766 Where to PLAY TOP 10 Attractions . 1 Anne Frank House (Anne Frankhuis), Prinsengracht 267, 020 556 7105 6. Van Gogh Museum, Paulus Potterstraat 7, 020 570 5200 2. The Resistance Museum (Amsterdams Verzetsmuseum), Plantage 7. Museum of Bags and Purses (Tassenmuseum Hendrikje), Herengracht Kerklaan 61a, 020 620 2535 573, 020 524 6452 3. Reypenaer Cheese Tasting Rooms, Singel 182-Huis, 020 320 6333 8. House of Bols Cocktail & Genever Experience, Paulus Potterstraat 14, 4. Concertgebouw, Concertgebouwplein 2-6, Museum Quarter, 120 570 8575 020 671 8345 9. Tropenmuseum, Linnaeusstraat 2, 020 568 8200 5. The Jordaan, west of Central Amsterdam 10. Heineken Experience, Stadhouderskade 78, 020 523 9222 FAMILIES NEMO is “perfect for children. Fantastic “The Botanical Garden was by far the best For “a little slice of Holland” about 30 minutes workshops—we loved the science lab, the attraction we visited. It’s small, but at about north of the city, Zaanse Schans “is very police workshop with your photo taken, 7 euro, it’s excellent value.” Be sure the relaxing and shows you the real way of life etc. We ran out of time because we thought kids don’t miss the Butterfly Garden. “It’s away from the faster pace of Amsterdam. The three hours would be enough. We should an oasis in the sometimes overwhelming cheese-making shop is worth a visit, and the have spent more than four or five.”— hustle and bustle of the city.”—TripAdvisor goats and other animals will give you some TripAdvisor Member, Catalonia, Spain Member laughter. Or get your picture taken in one newMetropolis Science and Technology Botanical Garden (Hortus Botanicus), of the large clogs outside the clog factory.”— Center (NEMO), Oosterdok 2, 020 531 3233 Plantage Middenlaan 2a, 120 625 9021 TripAdvisor Member, Belfast, Northern Ireland Zaanse Schans, Schandsend 7, Zandaam, 075 616 2862 ROMANCE “The Tuschinski is one of the most well- “Vondelpark is wicked! I have visited ‘The “This little club off the Leidesplain is a known cinemas in Europe. Its interior is ‘Dam’ quite a few times and can honestly diamond in the rough. The best jazz masters a beautiful mixture of art nouveau and say that Vondelpark is the nicest place to in Europe regularly cruise through and display art deco decoration and had a major go. If you are there with a loved one, just their talents. Alto Jazz is a site you shouldn’t restoration a few years ago. It’s well worth a lie on the grass and chill out. You could be a miss.”—TripAdvisor Member, Columbus, Ga. visit, even if you aren’t going to see a film, as million miles from anywhere. Fantastic!”— Alto Jazz Café, Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 115, they also do guided tours of the building.”— TripAdvisor Member, Birmingham, England 020 626 3249 TripAdvisor Member, London, England Vondelpark, City center Tuschinski Theater, 26–34 “You could be a million Reguliersbreestraat, 020 428 1060 miles from anywhere.” Call an Expedia Travel Specialist now 877 633 3716 tripadvisor.com 3 Where to PLAY BUDGET “If you’re looking for a quirky way to get “Stepping into the Begijnhof from the busy “On Saturday morning, take your kids into some of the lesser known canal street of the Nieuwendijk was like going to the small biological market on the districts, St. Nicolaas Boat Club is a great through a time machine: from the hustle Noordermarkt. A nice playground on option. You sign up in advance for a ride, and bustle of modern life into an oasis the middle of the market with lots of small meet outside Boom Chicago and go. At of prayerful calm from an earlier age.”— children running around.” Locals “have the end of the ride, you can give a donation TripAdvisor Member, Mumbai, India their coffee and hot chocolate with Dutch which helps to maintain the boats.”— Begijnhof, Gedempte Begijnensloot, ‘appeltaart’ (apple pie) in the small cafés TripAdvisor Member, Amsterdam Begijnhof 30, 020 622 1918 around the market square.”—TripAdvisor St. Nicolaas Boat Club, Leidseplein 12 Member, Amsterdam Noordermarkt, Jordaan ADVENTURE Feel like a true Amsterdammer and go for “While canoeing through protected wetlands, Ride horseback “through the a spin along the Amstel River. “The staff at surrounded by birds and the famous Dutch Amsterdamse Bos on the border Mike’s Bikes can be really funny. When they’re clouds, I got a real sense of how people between Amsterdam and Amstelveen. not too busy, they’ll take time out for a longer must have lived a thousand years ago. There are multiple horse tracks for both chat. They have always treated me great and Wetlands Safari was a beautiful canoe recreation and semi-professional horse given me fantastic tips on where to go.”— trip!”—TripAdvisor Member, Amsterdam riding. Have a safe ride!”—TripAdvisor TripAdvisor Member, Copenhagen, Denmark Wetlands Safari, 020 686 3445 Member, Amsterdam Mike’s Bikes, 134 Kerkstraat, 020 622 7970 Amsterdamse Bos, Amstelveenseweg EDUCATIONAL/HISTORICAL “The Van Gogh Museum follows his life “I would absolutely recommend a trip to the “I found Anne Frank House (Anne from beginning to end, and the sense of Rembrandt House. It really feels like a Frankhuis) very informative, and a very struggle with a window to hope is evident mini-museum. You not only get to see the chilling and moving experience: emotions in his work. Unaware of Van Gogh’s life, I type of house that Rembrandt owned (and shared in varying degrees by virtually all was soon enveloped by the life of a man then lost), but there is a significant amount of the many nationalities of all ages touring so tragic and so beautiful. I was weeping of artwork from Rembrandt and the other the building.”—TripAdvisor Member, by his final piece and moved for the rest of Dutch Masters.