The Rough Guide to Amsterdam (Rough Guide Amsterdam)

477 Pages·2010·8.63 MB·English

by  Phil Lee

Publishing information
This tenth edition first published January 2010 by Rough Guides Ltd, 80
Strand, London WC2R 0RL
14 Local Shopping Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110017, India
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) 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Penguin Group (Canada) 195 Harry Walker Parkway N, Newmarket, ON, L3Y
7B3 Canada Penguin Group (NZ) 67 Apollo Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland
1310, New Zealand Cover concept by Peter Dyer.
© Martin Dunford, Phil Lee and Karoline Thomas
ISBN: 978-1-84836-515-5
Maps © Rough Guides
No part of this e-book may be reproduced in any form without permission from
the publisher except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.
This Digital Edition published 2010. ISBN: 9781405382663
The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and
currency of all the information in The Rough Guide to Amsterdam, 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.
Introduction
Introduction to Amsterdam
Where to go
When to go
20 things not to miss
Introduction to Amsterdam
Amsterdam gables
Oudeschans canal
Amsterdam has grown up in the past decade or so. It is a slicker, more
cosmopolitan place than it once was, more business-minded, less eccentric,
and overall more integrated into the European mainstream. Yet it still
enjoys a reputation as one of Europe’s most relaxed cities – and with some
justification. There’s a laid-back feel to the streets and canals (and its
people) that you just don’t get in any other European city. Of course, it
remains a place for Sixties throwbacks who just want to get stoned, and for
well-oiled gangs of blokes on the prowl in the still notorious Red Light
District. But it also has a small-city feel: it doesn’t take long to get from
place to place, and – thanks to its canals – many parts of the centre are
uncongested and peaceful.
Amsterdam’s welcoming attitude towards visitors has been shaped by the liberal
counterculture of the last four decades, but it’s emphatically no longer the hippy
haven it once was. In fact, in the last few years the city has been more or less
absorbed into the rest of Europe, with not only high-end bars and clubs muscling
in on its more traditional haunts, but also with the emergence of crime and drug
problems that for decades seemed to have passed Amsterdam by. However, some
things haven’t changed, and it’s hard not to feel drawn by its vibrant, open-air
summer events, by the cheery intimacy of its cafés, and by the Dutch facility
with languages; just about everyone you meet in Amsterdam will be able to
speak good-to-fluent English, and often more than a smattering of French and
German too.
Amsterdam is still far from being as diverse a city as, say, London or Paris;
despite the huge numbers of immigrants from the former colonies in Surinam
and Indonesia, as well as from Morocco and Turkey, to name but a few, almost
all live and work outside the centre and can seem almost invisible to the casual
visitor. Indeed, there is an ethnic and social homogeneity in the city centre that
seems to counter everything you may have heard about Dutch integration. It’s a
contradiction that is typical of Amsterdam. The city is world-famous as a place
where the possession and sale of cannabis are effectively legal – or at least
decriminalized – and yet for the most part Amsterdammers themselves don’t
really partake in the stuff. And while Amsterdam is renowned for its tolerance
towards all styles of behaviour, a primmer, more conventional big city, with a
more mainstream dress sense, would be hard to find. Indeed, these days the city
is trying to reinvent itself, geared towards a more up-market kind of tourist who
is a little less fixated on smoking and drinking. In recent years, a string of
hardline city mayors have had some success in diminishing Amsterdam’s image
as a counterculture icon, instead touting it as a centre for business and
international high finance. Almost all of the inner-city squats, which once
defined local people-power, are gone or legalized; many coffeeshops, especially
those in the Red Light District, are closing; and the Red Light District itself – for
years the beacon of the city’s laissez-faire attitude – is being cleaned up, and
many of its sleaziest establishments closed down. The cityscape, too, continues
to evolve, with large-scale urban development on the outskirts and regeneration
within.
Canal house on Prinsengracht
Nevertheless, Amsterdam remains a casual and intimate place, and
Amsterdammers themselves make much of their city and its attractions being
gezellig, a rather overused Dutch word roughly corresponding to a combination
of “cosy”, “lived-in” and “warmly convivial”. Nowhere is this more applicable
than in the city’s unparalleled selection of drinking places, whether you choose
a traditional brown café or one of a raft of newer, more stylish bars. The city
boasts dozens of excellent restaurants too, with great Indonesian options and a
host of increasingly adventurous Dutch establishments. As for cultural
attractions, the city holds its own in contemporary European film, dance, drama
and music; it harbours several top-notch jazz venues, as well as the
Concertgebouw, home to one of the world’s leading orchestras, and the state-of-
the-art Muziekgebouw, the city’s prestigious venue for opera and orchestral
music. The club scene is relatively restrained, although a wealth of gay bars and
clubs partly justifies Amsterdam’s claim to be the “Gay Capital of Europe”.
Amsterdam bicycle
Introduction to Amsterdam |
So much to see, so little time…
Amsterdam is perfect for short breaks: it’s small, so you can amble about
almost everywhere and see pretty much everything; there are very few must-see
sights, so you don’t have to spend half your time feeling guilty about the
cultural icons you should be visiting; and there are literally hundreds of
enticing bars, cafés and restaurants where you can take the weight off your feet
between attractions. The itineraries below give an idea of how to plan your
time. Mostly designed around key sights, they cover everything from a flying
visit to a full week in the city, and can be used as rigidly, or as flexibly, as you
like.
Two days
Dam Square • Anne Frank Huis • Red Light District • Oude Kerk •
Rijksmuseum • Van Gogh Museum • Leidseplein • Grachtengordel South •
Museum Van Loon/Museum Willet-Holthuysen • Rembrandtplein
Three days
As above, plus:
Westerkerk • Koninklijk Paleis • Brouwersgracht • Western docklands
Five days
As above, plus:
Rembrandthuis • Waterlooplein • Verzetsmuseum • Artis Zoo • Tropenmuseum
• Heineken Experience • De Pijp • Vondelpark • Museumtramlijn •
Amsterdamse Bos • Amsterdam ArenA
Seven days
As above, plus:
Stedelijk Museum • Esnoga • Joods Historisch Museum • Eastern docklands •
Amsterdam Noord • Haarlem • Keukenhof Gardens
Where to go
The city’s layout is determined by a web of canals radiating out from a historical
core to loop right round Amsterdam’s compact centre, which takes about forty
minutes to stroll from one end to the other. Butting up to the River IJ, the Old
Centre spreads south from Centraal Station bisected by the Damrak and its
continuation, the Rokin, the city’s main drag; en route is the Dam, the main
square. The Old Centre remains Amsterdam’s commercial heart, as well as the
hub of its bustling street life, and also holds myriad shops, bars and restaurants.
The area is also home to the Red Light District, just to the east of the Damrak,
and contains dozens of fine old buildings, most memorably the Oude Kerk, the
Amstelkring and the Koninklijk Paleis.
The Old Centre is bordered by the first of the major canals, the Singel, whose
curve is mirrored by those of the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht –
collectively known as the Grachtengordel, or “Girdle of Canals”. These
waterways were part of a major seventeenth-century urban extension and, with
the interconnecting radial streets, form the city’s distinctive web shape. This is
Amsterdam’s most delightful area, full of the handsome seventeenth-and
eighteenth-century canal houses, with their decorative gables, and narrow,
dreamy canals, that most people associate with the city; a well-worn image,
perhaps, but one that is still entirely authentic. Here you’ll also find perhaps the
city’s most celebrated attraction, the Anne Frank Huis, the house in which the
young Jewish diarist hid away during the German occupation of World War II,
now a poignant reminder of the Holocaust.