hows it going all... im going to queens day for the first time this april. lucky for me its my birthday that weekend. what are your guys opinions on the best parts of town to go visit/party/stay? also im assuming this is a dumb question, but when do festivities get going? sunrise? anyways thanks for the help. D
Welcome to the Forum blackout. The first question is way subjective to personal tastes, but for me I really dig the Jordaan area and shops and also Leidseplein for live music. When you're out to party the RLD/Niuewmarkt is hard to beat though. IMO, get out and see as many different parts of town as you can and make your own opinions. Queensday Festivities begin on the Friday preceeding Queensday. BIG party that ends up winding down in the early morning hours, also known as Queens Night and then Queensday gets goin' late morning the following day. Actually early morning if you count all the garage sale stuff goin' down. What a birthday party you're in for! Don't forget to look up your fellow Hipsters at the De Kuil 420 Cafe Meet on Friday at 4:20 and of course the Queensday Rock N' Roll Canal Cruise. http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138998 Hope to see ya there.
this late in the game your not going to have TOO many options. Try to stay near main areas that have trams like the leidseplein, damsquare, central station, etc. the jordaan is very quaint, a bit west from the hardcore action of the redlight as lctricity pointed out, but a nicer neighborhood. just be carefull when looking at hotels and apartments that say "near the jordaan, near damsquare, near central station". Sometimes they will be quite far on the west end of the jordaan or way west of damsquare, or north of central station..... get exact street addresses including the number and use a map service on the internet to judge where the lodging facility truly is. also click on the signature of a hipforum member and Amsterdam board regular named "Nemesis" to open a great map of amsterdams coffeeshops. A good rule of thumb is that the areas where the coffeeshops are most concentrated tend to be the areas that are the most exciting. The Red Light District is a bit dodgy and the hotels / apartments there are as well. The Leidseplein is much cleaner and friendlier square with plenty of activities. I personally like staying btw central station and the dam square DEAD CENTER from east to west when possible. Also the Haarlamerstraat area west of central station is very nice! The southern areas are very far from the city center. The Leidseplein is a solid 30 minute walk to damsquare and damsquare is about 20 minutes to central station. Use these time estimates while looking at the map and you will know how close you want to be to the action! good luck! P.S. Hope you can join us for our annual meetup at coffeeshop De Kuil on Friday April 28th around 4:20pm!
Yeah, I hear where you're comin' from koppa. Life is too short... maybe your legs too. LOL!! (Sorry dude, I couldn't resist.) I'm 6'4", but even at a leisurely pace it has never taken me 20 mintues to walk from Centraal Station to Dam Square. Perhaps 20 minutes if you're coming from the East exit of Centraal. Agreed that the walk from Dam Square to Leidseplein is roughly 20 minutes at a leisurely pace though. See Ya's In April Amigos
My legs definately factor into that equation!!!!!! But I'm telling you MY window shopping pace usually includes window shopping, strolling around stoned, going into stores, checking out shops down side streets off of the destination route, etc......
may I suggest something warm (about 98.6 degrees) to watch over you, never mind how long it takes to get to where ever. Where ever will always be there.
Great suggestion, although I never have and hope I never do, need "something warm to watch over" me. It's always a bonus though! LOL If there's something to see and you've got time to kill then cool. It takes 30-90 minutes to get to Dam Square from Centraal Station. I'm all up for stopping at De Kuil too. If you've gotta meet some fellow HIPsters in Dam Square at a given time and you want to know how long it takes to walk straight from Point A to Point B then it's 10-15 minutes tops. Hello, Hello?!! Where at a place called Vertigo...
Am i just a fast walker or are you extremely slow? I walk from damsquare to CS in less than 10 min. and to the Leidseplein in about 15.
Or hop on the back of my bike and make it in 2. It is great fun riding down the damrak and ringing my bell at all the tourist's just out of Centraal that don't know the bike rules yet, lol. That way they have a good story to tell when they get home.
myrtje, let me take a moment to thank you for being a resident dutch nonsmoker on this board. You really are an outlet for dutch culture and information and I appreciate having your input here
wow thanks haha, i dont even post that much really cause its usually about coffeeshops on here and frankly i know absolutely nothing about em.
