Amsterdam Vacations, Amsterdam Vacation Reviews, Tourism Guide

Amsterdam Vacation Guide

We all know what runs through the average young mind when it hears the word ‘Amsterdam’. It might be the liberal home of drugs and prostitution, but the Dutch capital is also a beautiful corner of the world; a place where classical music and canals, imposing architecture and artistic museums are as much a part of life as any of the city’s more well-known pastimes.

Tolerance is a virtue, here, and if it is a large joint and numerous herbal head-spinners you’re after, you’re in the right place. There’s also the famous (and slightly cringe-inducing) sex museum, the no-photograph zone that is the red light district to (cough) walk round, and the kind of parties where the typical attendee turns up wearing little more than a few studded pieces of leather and numerous large piercings.

If you’re the softer sort, though, don’t be put off. The more traditional style of café that you’ll find on the canal side is a beautiful way to spend a day. The city has a fixation with tulips as well as trance, and the magnificently picturesque Keukenhof gardens has millions of them, while the Van Gogh Museum hosts a vast array of the artist’s most famous works, as well as a selection of other well-known pieces. In the Rijksmuseum you'll find a magnificent collection of Dutch painters of the Golden Age (such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals).

You can explore literary history, too, eying the tiny space in which Anne Frank hid from the Nazis during World War II, or watch the Magere Brug draw-bridge rise a few times an hour to allow boats to pass up the River Amstel. Escape the sleaze of the red light district with its hearty core, the gothic Oude Kerk church, complete with its own soaring bell tower and houses clinging to its side, before heading for a traditional stamppot meal with the obligatory glass of pils beer in the evening.

Amsterdam is one of Europe’s classic cities, and far surpasses its limited reputation in terms of architecture, cuisine and cosmopolitan atmosphere. Go for the parties, but stay for the impressive sites, picturesque streets and welcoming outlook.