Tourism in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a very popular place among tourists. It is the tourism hotspot of Holland.The funny part is that Amsterdam is better known than Holland itself. Some people even confuse the city with the country and believe Amsterdam is a country. I can ensure you as one of its inhabitants that it is a city and a really nice one.

I have seen many great cities in Europe, but you can't compare one of them with Amsterdam. For us dutchies it is the biggest city we have but most country's will not be impressed with not even 1 million inhabitants. My personal opinion is that there are enough people living here.

As a proud inhabitant of Amsterdam i want to tell you about some really nice places to go. Most tourists just go to the museums like the Van Gogh, Rembrand or the Rijksmuseum. These are all nice museums, but they are the same as all those other big museums. One beautifull museum you should visit when you are in Amsterdam is the Houseboat museum. Amsterdam is famous for building floating houses on the water and this is an excellent opportunity to visit one. Inside you will see how people were living 30 years ago, There are video's playing how the boats are moved for reparation or moving to other spots to dock. The owner is also a very nice guy who is happily to tell you everything you want to know. The Houseboatmuseum is near the Leidseplein at the Elandsgracht.

When you are done with your visit you could eat a hamburger at Burger King or McDonald's. I personally never ate one hamburger that was eatable at both places. If you want to eat great hamburgers in Amsterdam, you should go to Burgermeester. This is what a burger is meant to be. Not a wet old hamburger, but a fresh juicy one.

After the hamburger we should visit some places. Most tourists never leave the main shopping street when they want to shop. But in that street you will find the exact same shops you have in every other city. We have two famous area's where you can find boutiques, cafe's and cool small shops. You will find some small jewellery shops, some antique book stores and some really cool clothing stores. The places where to shop in Amsterdam are the Jordaan or/and Negen straatjes (Nine streets). If you are at the houseboat-museum, just follow the crowd to the small streets and keep on going left (in direction of the big blue church).

If the sun is shining one of it's 9 days a year, Amsterdam has some excellent places to take a beer on a terras. Again, don't go to Leidseplein (leidsesquare) but skip it and walk through the nine streets. You will notice that every single person has stopped doing what he was doing and starts enjoying the sun. Cause of the few sunny days we have, we only need one sunshine to take our shorts and bikini's out of the closet.

You probably don't need many tips for a terras cause there are plenty. But after all those drinks, we need something to eat. You can get your tourist menu at the Rembrand or Leidseplein, you could also try out some totally different. if you want to eat cheap, Cafe Maarten (near Spui) has some excellent dishes for only a few euro's. The entire street has some cheap but really good restaurants.

If you want something more expensive i advise you to go to the Jordaan. It is filled with small restaurants serving all kinds of food. The Westerstraat is one big street filled with restaurants and also some cool cafe's by the way. You can't go wrong here.

Ok we walked, shopped and ate, now it is time for some eaving leisure. I won't advise you to go to the red light district, anyone can find that one, no help needed there. If you are a fan of strong beers you should definitely go to a cafe called De Zotte. It is near Leidseplein but better ask for directions. They have 500 kinds of different beer. There is probably something there you would like. After that we move on to cafe Weber. It is next to the leidseplein (marnixstraat). This place is filled with students who want beer and.... This is not a place to go dancing, it is talking only (cause of the space). When time is ticking away we could move on to some different cafe's in the neighbourhood. we could go to a jazz cafe called Bourbon Street. You can dance here and it is open till late. We could also go to a cafe called The Last waterhole. Filled with tourists but always a nice place to visit. After that it will be 5 a.m. and time to grab some food before we go to our nice and warm bed. Again move away from the burgers, grab some Falafel (Veggies) or Shoarma (meateaters). You will not regret it, just take it easy with the red sauce.

Ok, now it is probably bedtime. If you follow the above route for tourists in Amsterdam i am 100% certain you will have a nice visit here. I will write some other suggestions in the near future. If you have some questions about Amsterdam Tourism, i am happy to answer any of them.