Openshaw Gene - Rick Steves Amsterdam & the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM & THE NETHERLANDS

Rick Steves & Gene Openshaw

AMSTERDAM & THE NETHERLANDS

Rattling your bike over cobbles, past a line of gabled houses reflected in a mirror-smooth canal...its just like you imagined it.

This book presents the best of Amsterdam and the Netherlandsits great cities, small towns, fine food, rich history, and sensuous art. Youll experience both the quaintness of the countryside as well as the modern scene in the Netherlands forward-thinking urban centers.

The following chapters cover the predictable biggies while mixing in a healthy dose of Back Door intimacy. In Amsterdam you can see Vincent van Goghs Sunflowers...and climb through Captain Vincents tiny houseboat museum. Besides the citys many historic sights, youll explore everyday neighborhoods, with their chiming carillons, cannabis coffeeshops, and one-of-a-kind fashion boutiques. Beyond Amsterdam, youll discover the hidden charms of Haarlem, where a market bustles around an historic church. The Hague has Vermeer paintings in its top-notch museums, while placid Delft is a Vermeer painting come to life.

Because transportation is a snap, much of the country is an easy day-trip from anywhere. Theres no end of cozy townsEdam, Alkmaar, Hoorn, and on and onas well as open-air folk museums. Along the way, youll meet intriguing people who will show you how to swallow a pickled herring, paddle a canoe through polder waterways, or slice off a hunk of cheese from a giant wheel. Its as if the tourist clichs of the regionwhirring windmills, Dutch Masters, dike hikes, and tulipsall come to life in the Netherlands.

Along with sightseeing, this book gives you tips on how to save money, plan your time, ride public transportation, and avoid lines at the busiest sights. Youll also get recommendations on hotels, restaurants, and entertainment.

This book is selective, including only the top sights. The best is, of course, only my opinion. But after spending much of my life exploring and researching Europe, Ive developed a sixth sense for what travelers enjoy.

Use this legend to help you navigate the maps in this book.

Amsterdam and the Netherlands are ready for you. Sample a little, then a little more.

Rick Steves Amsterdam & the Netherlands is a personal tour guide in your pocket. Better yet, its actually two tour guides in your pocket: The co-author of this book is Gene Openshaw. Since our first Europe through the gutter trip together as high-school buddies in the 1970s, Gene and I have been exploring the wonders of the Old World. An inquisitive historian and lover of European culture, Gene wrote most of this books self-guided museum tours and neighborhood walks. Together, Gene and I keep this book up to date and accurate (though for simplicity, from this point we will shed our respective egos and become I).

This book is organized by destinations. Each is a mini-vacation on its own, filled with exciting sights, strollable neighborhoods, affordable places to stay, and memorable places to eat.

The first half of this book focuses on Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Delft, and contains the following chapters:

The Netherlands offers an introduction to this fascinating land, including its long fight against the sea.

Orientation to Amsterdam has specifics on public transportation, helpful hints, local tour options, easy-to-read maps, and tourist information. The Planning Your Time section suggests a schedule for how to best use your limited time.

Sights in Amsterdam describes the top attractions and includes their cost and hours.

Self-Guided Walks and Tours take you through characteristic neighborhoods and interesting museums. In Amsterdam, these include walks through the city center, Red Light District, and Jordaan neighborhood, plus tours of the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, and more. In nearby Haarlem, tour the Grote Kerk and Frans Hals Museum. In Delft and Rotterdam, take the informative city walks.

Key to This Book

Updates

This book is updated regularlybut things change. For the latest, visit www.ricksteves.com/update.

Abbreviations and Times

I use the following symbols and abbreviations in this book:

Sights are rated:

Tourist information offices are abbreviated as TI, and bathrooms are WCs. Accommodations are categorized with a Sleep Code (described on ). To indicate discounts for my readers, I include RS% in the listings.

Like Europe, this book uses the 24-hour clock. Its the same through 12:00 noon, then keeps going: 13:00, 14:00, and so on. For anything over 12, subtract 12 and add p.m. (14:00 is 2:00 p.m.).

When giving opening times, I include both peak season and off-season hours if they differ. So, if a museum is listed as May-Oct daily 9:00-16:00, it should be open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. from the first day of May until the last day of October (but expect exceptions).

A symbol in a sight listing means that sight is described in greater detail elsewhereeither with its own self-guided tour, or as part of a self-guided walk.

For transit or tour departures,