AMSTERDAM | Essential Travel Guide by Holiday Extras

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• published: 01 Jul 2016
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As y'all know, Amsterdam is famous for its liberalism, the coffee shop vs café enigma and, of course, the Red Light District. We explore all of these in our Top Things To Do video: https://youtu.be/bQRpxb_U96s In this video, however, we're showing you the absolute *essential* things you need to know as a visitor to Amsterdam: how to get around, what things cost, which things are where, etc. etc. As well as our Things To Do video, we also have a video solely dedicated to the Red Light District Walk: https://youtu.be/2JWLJLyKRTI And we give you 10 Top Amsterdam Tips in Under a Minute here: https://youtu.be/RiLYNiJilxM Let us know which of these vids have been useful and whether we've missed out anything super important. We're keen to answer all your pre-holiday questions with these guides and there's nothing better than suggestions right from the horse's mouth! *Naaay* :D Don’t forget to… SUBSCRIBE ► https://goo.gl/mKhPKt Get in touch on Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/holidayextras Follow our travels on Twitter ► https://www.twitter.com/holidayextras Get some sneak-previews on Instagram ► https://instagram.com/holidayextras/ Quench your wanderlust on Pinterest ►https://www.pinterest.com/holidayextras/ And explore our Blog ► https://goo.gl/EgQpsp ………………………… PoweredBy http://www.holidayextras.co.uk/?agent=WJ414 ………………………… Transcript: Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. It’s about a four and a half hours’ journey by Eurostar or it’s just an hour’s flight from London. It’s one of the most popular destinations in Europe. Millions of people are drawn in by the laid-back culture, hundreds of museums and galleries and, of course, the famous Red Light District, home to legalised prostitution and soft drugs. Amsterdam is served by Amsterdam Schiphol, the world’s fifth busiest airport. It’s not far from the city and there are trains, buses or taxis to take you the short journey to the centre. Trains take about 20 minutes to Amsterdam Centraal Station and you can get tickets on Schiphol Plaza outside Arrivals. There are ten train stations in Amsterdam, so make sure you get to the one that’s nearest your hotel. We found the train to be quick, efficient and cheap. It’s definitely our recommended way to get in to the city. You can take the 197 bus from bus stop B9 outside the airport. It takes about 40 minutes to get to the city centre. The bus was crowded and we had to stand the whole way, so we’d only recommend it if you’re staying in the south. You can book a taxi on Schiphol.nl. However, taxis are expensive and will cost you around €50. Amsterdam’s fairly compact, with most sites fairly easy walking distance of each other. You can get from Centraal Station to Van Gogh Museum in the south, for example, in around 40 minutes by foot. However, there are lots of ways to get around the city quickly if you prefer. The tram is usually your best option. The stops are frequent and tickets are cheap. There are maps at every stop but we recommend downloading GVB’s app to help plan your route. When it comes to tickets, we recommend getting an iamsterdam card. It gives you unlimited use of public transport, as well as free entry to many of the city’s hundreds of attractions and museums. Amsterdam is the most bike-friendly capital city in the world and it shows. All roads have dedicated cycle paths and riding round the city was surprisingly easy, even in the rain! The locals can be quite impatient with tourists, so we recommend waiting until you’ve been in Amsterdam for a day or two, just so you can get a feel for how the system works. Remember to treat the cycle lanes as you would a normal road back home. Obey the traffic lights and stop for pedestrians at zebra crossings. You’ll see lots of locals ignoring the rules but you’ll be okay if you stick to them. De Pijp has the widest variety of restaurants and bars. We’d suggest checking out the Albert Cuypmarkt for some Dutch stroopwafels. The Marie Heinekenplein is also here, home to lots of bars and the Heineken brewery. Foodies, De Pijp is for you. De Wallen is home to Amsterdam’s Red Light District, made famous by its coffee shops and legalised prostitution. There are many companies offering tours of the area that’ll show you its many secrets. We recommend AmsterdamRedLightDistrictTour.com. They provided us with a fun and informative tour and were happy to answer all of our many questions. Museumplein in the south is home to the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum. The currency in Holland is the Euro and prices are generally lower than you’ll find in London. Expect to pay about the same in Euros as you would in Pounds but remember that beer is a little bit more expensive. Lots of places in Amsterdam have free wifi, including popular tourist attractions like here, in the Van Gogh Museum. WifiAmsterdam.nl has a list of free wifi spots across Amsterdam.