city trip to amsterdam, netherlands

from may 16th until may 19th i was on a three day city trip to  amsterdam - the capital city of the  netherlands. even if de government is situated in "den haag" amsterdam is a nice and charming city and has a population of about 750'000 in the city and about 1'500'000 with the agglomeration. amsterdam is situated in the region called "noord-holland" (northern netherlands) and the estuary mouth of the rivers "amstel" and "ij". there are a lot of canals (called "grachten") through the city - almost like venezia in italy. the old town is very big and visited by tourists every day. i went to amsterdam with the same guys i'm going on a city trip once a year: urs schell, patrick weber, patrick kirchhofer and marco zweifel.

 click here to go to my photo gallery. then choose the album "2008_amsterdam" to take a look at all pictures from this city trip.

day 1. may 16th 2008.

the journey started at about 8pm in the airport zurich, when our flight with swiss international airlines went to amsterdam. after a one hour flight, we arrived at the airport "schiphol" in amsterdam. from there a direct train connection brought us to the main station of amsterdam. then it was just a short walk to our hotel, we have booked in advance. the nwe went out - we had to celebrate my birthday. of course we went to a coffee shop - that's just a must-do.

day 2. may 17th 2008.

after sleeping a long time, we had a short breakfast. then we started doing sightseeing on our own and decided to go on a  canal cruise. this took as about one hour and was very interesting and a good way to see the town from another point of view. in the evening we went out again.

day 3. may 18th 2008.

another sleepy morning and breakfast later, we decided to go on one of the guided cycle sightseeing tours, which was the best we have done there. we booked our tour with " yellow bikes". the tour was about 4 hours long with a half hour break. the price was 20 eur (per person), including guide and bike rental. the other part of the day we went shopping.

day 4. may 19th 2008.

this was the last day and everybody seemed to be very tired. so we went to the " rijksmuseum". we wanted to visit the "anne frank museum", but the queue before the museum was always too big. plan at least 30 to 60 minutes waiting time to get in there. however, the other part of the day we were walking around and were chilling in street cafés. around 5 pm we took the train to the airport and flew back to switzerland.

amsterdam on the map

view amsterdam in the geo point browser (interactive map)

things to see & do

there is a lot you can see and do in amsterdam. a lot more than in most other cities. however, here you can find some proposals.

• visit the " rijksmuseum"
• doing a  canal cruise through the "grachten"
• visit the " anne frank museum"
• visiting one of the famous  coffee shops
• walk through the world famous red light district
• doing a guided cycle sightseeing tour
• shopping in the famous old town
• drink beers or enjoy a coffee in one of the many street cafés
• sightseeing on your own

interesting links

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam, information about amsterdam on wikipedia.org.

 http://www.visitamsterdam.nl, official tourism site from amsterdam.

 http://www.iamsterdam.com, another official visitor portal for english speaking people.

 http://www.amsterdamtourist.nl, an amsterdam tourist portal.

 http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/netherlands/amsterdam/, info on lonely planet website - the worlds most famous backpacker guide.

getting there & away

it is always best to book as early as you can. early bookings are cheaper - especially if you book with low cost airlines. there is a good connection to amsterdam from almost every european airport. check out the following airlines for cheap fares:

•  ryanair.com
•  easyjet.com
•  airberlin.com

to visit amsterdam you fly to the airport "schiphol". from there you need to take the train for about 4 eur to the mainstation, which is an about 20 minute ride. to travel inside amsterdam city you can use the tramways.

weather in amsterdam

direct access url for this journey report:  http://amsterdam.voegeli.li