What to do and Where to visit in Amsterdam
Amsterdam is a compact city with 60 museums, so unless you choose wisely you’ll miss out on other attractions. This city is flat as a pancake and riding or walking is not at all stressful. A word of caution: Never walk in a cycling lane and when crossing a road, look not just for cars but also bicycles.
If you plan to visit more than a few museums, it will be more economical to invest in an I Amsterdam Card.
The city is also well served by trams, buses, canal taxis (boats) and bicycles. For trams and buses you can buy disposable OV-chipkaart tickets or the refillable ones. Bikes can be rented from MacBike.
Interesting fact: ‘Coffee shops’ in Amsterdam serve hashish and marijuana; for coffee, you have to go to a café.
When visiting Van Gough Museum or Anne Frank’s House or any popular tourist site, buy tickets online; most museums have long serpentine queues throughout the year.
If you are visiting for just a few days, take a free walking tour for orientation. The tour starts from the Old Church (Oude Kirk) in the heart of the Red Light District. The tour duration is 2.5 to 3 hours. Don’t forget to tip the guide at the end. There are different kinds of canal tours too; a private canal tour in a small boat will cost about 20 Euros an hour.
Carry an umbrella and a light jacket even if visiting in summer, as it rains all year round.
Most houses look very attractive from the outside but they were built ages ago and have very narrow and steep stairs. So if you book a room on an upper floor, it could prove difficult to lug your luggage up to your room.
Rijksmuseum houses paintings by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer and many other Dutch masters.
The Tulip Museum is located in the basement of a tulip shop and tells the crazy history of tulips in Holland.
Oost, east of the city, has an amazing park, a zoo and many Middle Eastern eateries and very few tourists.
Red Light District is not much different from the rest of the city during the day. At night however, the place gets crowded with drunken tourists gawking at the girls.
Jewish Historical Museum is a better choice than the very crowded Anne Frank’s House. It tells about Jewish history and their prominence in Amsterdam. The museum highlights Dutch complacency and guilt over the Holocaust.
The Rembrandt House Museum: Visit it if you’re a Rembrandt enthusiast. There are daily demonstrations of how he lived and worked and a recreation of the house as it was decorated in his lifetime.
That summer can be very beautiful in Amsterdam is known to all. So book early to avoid disappointment and get the best deals. For travel expenses visit www.buyforex.com for the best exchange rates and get EbixCash World Money Multi-currency forex card. With its pin and chip security and 24 x 7 support, it’s accepted worldwide and can be used at ATMs as well to withdraw cash.
