Guest Post: Weekend break in Amsterdam

Posted on 17. May, 2010 by Kirsty in Blog, Cities

We have roped another one of our friends into writing about some of the cities they love. Rachel is a fellow Aston student who has travelled to many different places. So watch this space for a few more of her favourite places.

Rachel

Rachel descibes herself as a wannabe traveller who manages to visit a couple of interesting places a year but would love to travel more. Sadly, funds say otherwise. She’s passionate about exploring Europe, but would also like to see Japan and Tokyo. She prefers to document the trips in writing since she’s notoriously bad with cameras.

Think Amsterdam, think the hedonism capital of Europe. But there’s more to ‘Dam than ‘herbal remedies’ and the red light district. Amsterdam is a city rich in culture and history, with a unique blend of contemporary and 17^th century architecture that gives the city its vibrant yet essentially Dutch feel. Boasting over 1000km of canal, a boat trip is the ideal way to take in the city’s daytime delights, whilst the nightlife speaks for itself.

We took our trip with outgoing.co.uk, who specialise in trips for groups and universities. They offer a packed long-weekend including transport, accommodation and a bar crawl, for the reasonable price of £90. Starting your trip with an all-night coach party and arriving in Amsterdam at around 11am may sound like a great idea, but you might want to consider pausing to sleep at some point during the 12 hour journey, otherwise you may never fully recover…

Where we stayed

The Hans Brinker

If you need a cheap hotel in Amsterdam you can try Easytobook.com. They have a large selection of good Amsterdam hotel deals for any budget. The Hans Brinker calls itself a ‘budget hotel’…it is, in fact, one of Amsterdam’s most legendary hostels, located neatly in the city centre. If, like me, the word ‘hostel’ fills your mind with disturbing images straight out of a Tarantino film, don’t be put off. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find the place friendly, if basic, and with a 6 bed en-suite dorm costing around only £23 a night including breakfast, you can’t go wrong. Sadly, I can’t tell you what the breakfast is like, since we never made it up in time, but what I can say is that the restaurant in the ‘chill out’ area serves delicious food that will clear up the hangover you’ve gained from drinking at the hostel bar the night before (at reasonable prices that you may not experience in some of ‘Dam’s classier bars and clubs). The rooms are basic (think military edition bunks and lockers) but clean and secure.

Daytime Delights.

Boat ride
When we first arrived in Amsterdam, the first thing we did was take a canal boat trip around the city’s waterways. This was mainly because we were exhausted and were willing to pay for any attraction which involved sitting down, but it’s also a great way to orientate yourself with the city and take in some of its culture and history. All the tours offered will be in English and Dutch, so just sit back, listen, and take in the city from water-level.

The Sex Museum
If you’re expecting the erotic experience of a lifetime, don’t bother with the Amsterdam Sex Museum. The best you can expect is to leave feeling vaguely aroused but mainly just confused and disturbed. The giant penises are just one of the unexplained wonders of the museum, along with a bizarre photo gallery and several outdated mechanical waxwork displays. That said, if you don’t take it too seriously the whole thing is quite a laugh, and when you’re only paying a couple of Euros for entry it seems the museum doesn’t take itself too seriously either.

The Sex museum

Anne Frank House
The Anne Frank House is a must-visit attraction. If you’ve ever studied Anne’s story or read her diary, you’ll have attempted to imagine the cramped conditions that her family and the rest of the inhabitants existed in, just metres above leafy Prinsengracht street. The experience is both fascinating and moving, and as you enter the tiny hidden annex where eight people lived for over two years, it’s haunting to consider the events and history that was written between those walls. Definitely worth taking time out of your fun-filled weekend for a solemn pause to appreciate this unique experience.

The museum has been constructed in a modern and engaging style, with videos and sound bites throughout (naturally in English) which tell both the story of the Franks and the wider plight of the Jewish people under Nazism. Expect to queue a little when you’ve finally tracked down Prinsengracht from the city centre, and to pay €8,50 for entry.

Getting Around
Stumbling around Amsterdam in our bemused and slightly intoxicated state, we quickly became wary of the perils of the streets. The city is famous for its abundance of bicycles, and their riders have little time for of the rules of the road or pedestrians. Trams, too, criss-cross the streets, sneaking up on unsuspecting wanderers. At first glance the map of the tram system may seem very confusing, but it’s actually easily navigable and a great way to get around. We hopped on and repeated the name of the street we were going to several times and were rewarded with tickets. Later, we also discovered that if you’re planning several journeys by tram its cheaper to buy a strip card that charges by zone, which can be bought in shops showing the GVB logo.

Spreekt u Engels?
Without wanting to sound like a true Brit, there really is no need to know any Dutch when visiting Amsterdam. The Dutch are well-known for their impeccable English, and being a global tourist destination, locals seem only to be puzzled by any attempts at using the native language.

Around 8 cars fall into the canals in Amsterdam weekly...

Nightlife

Dansen Bij Jansen
Recommended to us as student bar close to the Hans Brinker. From the street this place looks unassuming, with only a small doorway in an alley, and this theme continues inside. Narrow but long, on three floors with treacherous stairs, Dansen Bij Jansen doesn’t even hint at glamour, but goes head-on at a dirty indie bar feel, with similarly appropriate music. It’s not even that cheap, but as we quickly discovered, none of the bars in Amsterdam are cheap. Generally a good place to neck some house wine at the beginning of the night before moving swiftly on.

Escape
Amsterdam’s largest club is Escape, which we visited on ‘Chemistry’ Saturday night. The layout inside is exciting, with several different areas and a main room attempting a pyramid feel. From the dance floor, the room slopes up with stairs and larger steps intended for sitting on, to the bar. The music was good, if not entirely memorable; Chemistry night supposedly attracts big European DJs. Expect very expensive drinks, and when you do break the seal, remember that in venues like this you’ll even be charged for the toilets. Escape was the main night of our trip and is definitely a big night out. Queuing is standard and entry is around € 15 depending on the night.

The Red Light District
Only at nighttime can you take in the full effect of the neon-wonder that is the red light district. Think rows of brightly light shop-fronts with plate glass windows of gyrating women (and others), with the odd peep-show thrown in. Amsterdam’s red light district has the exciting, theatrical feel of a circus rather than the apologetic, seedy environment you might anticipate. It celebrates the fact that it’s an attraction in itself; in fact, when lost and looking for the district in question at 12am, we approached some police officers who cheerfully pointed us in the right direction.

For this reason alone (let alone any other motives you might have) the red light district is worth a night time visit. Winding through the side streets you’ll find shop-front fast food vendors selling pizza etc, ideal if you’ve been for a few drinks beforehand. Naturally, be cautious, but generally expect the same friendly atmosphere that Amsterdam is known and loved for.

Tags: Guest Post