I was there a few weeks back.
The queues for Ann Frank's house were pretty long, even on a cold March morning, so try to get there early. I think it is a "must" and found it very moving.
The other top places for me were the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, both close to each other south of the city centre. The former has a vast collection and the latter is a beautiful modern building which houses the world No 1 collection of the artist's works.
Being a classical music freak, I would have gone to a concert in one of Europe's major venues, the Concertgebouw, but there was nothing on.
As for the Red Light district, it's definitely worth a visit, in the evening preferably, if only to do a spot of people-watching. It's entirely unthreatening, though you'd be well advised to keep your wallet out of reach of pickpockets if you mingle with the crowds. We watched a "flat" being raided by the police, which apparently was the outcome of a "customer" making a nuisance of himself in some way. (Don't try to photo any of the girls/"girls"* in their windows - apparently someone may well then snatch your camera/phone and check if it floats in the nearest canal.)
We ate a couple of times at the ridiculously cheap Wok To Walk (tinyurl.com/3hff5e9) - tasty, real food from fresh ingredients cooked in front of you. There are a couple of branches, but the biggest is just north-east of the Leidseplein, up Leidsestraat on the left - look for the orange and white sign. There are very many restaurants of all styles near the Leidseplein, but Amsterdam generally is pretty well provided for anyway.
Overall, it's a lovely, relaxed city where you can take life at whatever pace suits you. You can walk pretty well everywhere you need to go, but the trams are efficient and cheap - get a season ticket, sold for various periods of time at hotels and shops.
*Some of you will know what this means.
Last edited by: ChrisPeugeot on Wed 1 Jun 11 at 13:24
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Amsterdam new
Amsterdam new
