Amsterdam

[swill]

I am flying to Amsterdam tomorrow to speak at a conference.  Other than the coffee shops (which I am sure I will find time for), what else is recommended to go see/do?

I hear the waffles on the street are pretty epic, so I might have to search out some of those...

[demik]

red light district!

[SpAmRaY]

I spy something green.

[jalaj]

Beer. Beer is as cheap or cheaper than bottled water.
Go tour the Heineken brewery if you can.
Have fantastic apple pie at Winkel (look it up on g0000gles, its the best)
Goto pubs and have excellent bar food.
Rent a bike and bike around the city.
Check out anne frank museum, van gogh museum, sex museum, etc.

[demik]

I spy something green.

he already said coffee shops

[catnipz0098]

sex museum

Why would they have a museum dedicated to that?

[SpAmRaY]

I spy something green.

he already said coffee shops

Oh yeah. "Coffee"

[demik]

exactly

[Asininity]

Bakeries. I love bakeries in Amsterdam. They're so delicious.

I'm probably the only person in this thread who likes eating in England. I love me some of those yum, yums.

[dustinhxc]

Whoa, have fun man! Id love to go there some day!

[oluf]

Amsterdam Botanic Gardens (http://dehortus.nl/en/home)
Van Gogh Museum (http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp)
Rijksmuseum (https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en)

If possible, try to visit the local shops and restaurants outside the center of town.. I like the Jordaan district. Eat pastries. =)

[noisyturtle]

Totally check out the amazing house boats on the river, don't miss the Rijksmuseum if you have an afternoon to spend checking out some really nice art(and I think they recently underwent an expensive renovation,) and try to book a table at De Reiger for dinner. De Reiger is the fondest memory I have of Amsterdam when I went 12 years ago, just an absolutely exquisite meal, one of the best I've had in my life. Also try the hotel weed and bong delivery service some coffee shops provide. A courier delivers to your hotel room and sometimes even bring food, and you get to hold onto the bong and return it to a bong depository the next day.

[infiniti]

Amsterdam Botanic Gardens (http://dehortus.nl/en/home)
Van Gogh Museum (http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp)
Rijksmuseum (https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en)

If possible, try to visit the local shops and restaurants outside the center of town.. I like the Jordaan district. Eat pastries. =)

+1 for the Van Gogh Museum

You can also visit the Anne Frank Museum (http://www.annefrank.org/).

Depending on how much time you have, you may want to take a tour of the Dutch countryside that takes you out to the windmills, cheese factory, and clog factory.

[tp4tissue]

red light district!

+999 

[swill]

Great advice in here so far.  Love it...  This is going to be a fun trip. 

[RabRhee]

Totally check out the amazing house boats on the river, don't miss the Rijksmuseum if you have an afternoon to spend checking out some really nice art(and I think they recently underwent an expensive renovation,) and try to book a table at De Reiger for dinner. De Reiger is the fondest memory I have of Amsterdam when I went 12 years ago, just an absolutely exquisite meal, one of the best I've had in my life. Also try the hotel weed and bong delivery service some coffee shops provide. A courier delivers to your hotel room and sometimes even bring food, and you get to hold onto the bong and return it to a bong depository the next day.

+1 for the Rijkmuseum if you can, go see some Vermeers and Rembrandts, among others

[Malphas]

The red light district is all Amsterdam really has left going for it these days. Prague has been the new Amsterdam for quite some time now. I've heard mixed things about Riga (haven't been yet), but that's meant to be the next big place since Prague has already become too popular and expensive.

[noisyturtle]

The red light district is all Amsterdam really has left going for it these days. Prague has been the new Amsterdam for quite some time now. I've heard mixed things about Riga (haven't been yet), but that's meant to be the next big place since Prague has already become too popular and expensive.

Has Prague really been gentrified that much recently? When I was there you couldn't walk down the streets at night without getting propositioned by a hooker or threatened by a drunk. I saw a woman pushing a stroller full of car stereos stop right in front of an upscale cafe, squat at the curb, and take a poop in broad daylight.

[jwaz]

I'm jealous of all the delicious lambic you will have access to.

[iri]

lambic is mostly a belgian thing. just sayin'.

[Findecanor]

I visited this summer. For historical Amsterdam, visit "The Church of our Lady in the Attic" in (what is now) the Red Light District. The Amsterdam Museum is overrated.

Rijksmuseum (https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en)

A comprehensive visit here will take most of a day.
If you go here you should know one thing: It has a weird layout - it is more like two buildings that are interconnected at floor 2 (with the Night Watch), but it is laid out so that each floor (two floors in different buildings!) are one era.
To visit everything (like I did) in chronological order (= floor order) , you will have to spend a lot of time walking up and down stairs, passing the Night Watch five times. The modern art (1950+) was not worth watching.
Oh, they tout their "Van Gogh's Self-portrait"... but if you go to the Van Gogh-museum, you will see half a dozen paintings like it. He made a few.

Bakeries. I love bakeries in Amsterdam. They're so delicious.

I wish I could have got nice pastries when I was there. How do you tell a pastry bakery from something else?
Over here in Sweden, a "Café" is a place that serves coffee and pastries to dunk in the coffee, but in Amsterdam a "Café" is an establishment that serves beer, apparently ...

[Michael]

For those that know the reference...

[phetto]

I recommend grasshopper, barneys and greenhouse

[jwaz]

lambic is mostly a belgian thing. just sayin'.

right. but he will have access to GREAT bottle shops in Amsterdam.

[Candyflip]

Rijks and Van Gogh are a must, I've also been in Madame Tussauds but was high on truffles (which are a must also) so can't tell really. Also go in Heineken experience, it's nice to see the process of the brewing while tasting samples at the same time 

[maxmalkav]

Sorry, but I have to say that the food in Amsterdam is almost "meh!" and quite expensive. I don't say you can't find nice things, but I would not highlight Dutch cuisine (maybe being Spanish make me be quite biased about food ). About food and restaurants, I would try to stay far from the very city centre. If you want to try some cheap typical Dutch food, take a look at Hap-Hmm, not far from Museumplein. Also near there is a nice Indonesian place  called Kartika (Indonesian food is quite typical in the Netherlands, heritage from the colonial era), the rice table allows you to try many different things for a fair price.

About what to visit, Rijksmuseum is a must. Anne Frank museum .. well, this one is about personal preferences, personally I'm not too interested in it. Walking around the centre is quite nice, specially the channel area. A boat trip around the channels can be also a good idea. Amsterdam is a nice place but does not have impressive monuments or places compared with other European cities (maybe I'm biased again, I am from Spain and I also know part of Italy and the cultural, historical and architectonical heritage is huge in these places).

If you are interested in street markets, Waterlooplein is ok, nothing incredible. It can be more interesting Albert Cuypt market, specially if you want some cheap waffles and other Dutch typical things.

The countryside tours are also a nice options. The guides of the clog and cheese factory make it even funny.

About coffee shops .. well, it looks mostly a touristic thing. The most funny thing about this is the confusing legal status of pot in the Netherlands (which is not legal but nor persecuted under certain conditions.

PS: just for clarity, I currently live in Amsterdam

[C5Allroad]

This!

[iri]

Sorry, but I have to say that the food in Amsterdam is almost "meh!" and quite expensive.

bear in mind that the op is canadian, not spanish.

[nubbinator]

I spy something green.

Didn't they ban that for foreigners because they were irresponsible idiots?

[n0rdlad]

$5 for a cinnamon donut in the airport back in '94.. They can keep those.. Smok and a pancake woulda been nice

[bueller]

I spy something green.

Didn't they ban that for foreigners because they were irresponsible idiots?

I have definitely read a lot about that over the last year or so, I'd still go there to check out the Van Gogh collection but I'd be pretty bummed if they banned tourists from partaking in the fun.