The Rough Guide to Amsterdam (Travel Guide eBook) , livre ebook

Apa Publications - Rough Guides

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

231 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Discover Amsterdam with this comprehensive, entertaining, 'tell it like it is' Rough Guide, packed with exhaustive practical information and our experts' honest independent recommendations.

Whether you plan to explore the Museum District, visit the moving Anne Frank Huis, hole up in a cosy brown café or cycle the leafy lanes of Vondel park, The Rough Guide to Amsterdam will show you the perfect places to explore, sleep, eat, drink and shop along the way.

Detailed regional coverage: provides in-depth practical information for every step of every kind of trip, from intrepid off-the-beaten-track adventures, to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas. Regions covered include: Old Centre; Red Light District; Grachtengordel; Jordaan; western docklands; old Jewish quarter; Plantage; eastern docklands; Amsterdam Noord; NDSM shipyard; Museum Quarter; DePijp; Amsterdamse Bos.

Honest independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, and recommendations you can truly trust, our writers will help you get the most from your trip to Amsterdam.

Meticulous mapping: always full colour, with clear numbered, colour-coded keys. Navigate the trendy NDSM Wharf neighbourhood, the narrow streets of Jordaan and many more locations without needing to getonline.

Fabulous full-colour photography: features a richness of inspirational colour photography, including postcard-pretty Begijnh of and the colourful Bloemenmarkt.

Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of Amsterdam's best sights and top experiences, including Koninklijk Paleis, the Anne Frank Huis, Joods Historisch Museum, EYE Filmmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum.

Itineraries: carefully planned routes will help you organise your trip, and inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences.

Basics section: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting there, getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more.

Background information: comprehensive Contexts chapter provides fascinating insights into
Amsterdam, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary.

About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides' list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

Sujets

Países Bajos

Travel

Netherlands

Europe

Informations

Publié par	Apa Publications
Date de parution	01 mars 2019
Nombre de lectures	2
EAN13	9781789195262
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	18 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0680€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

iStock
HANDSOME AMSTERDAM HOUSE
Contents
INTRODUCTION
What to see
When to go
Author picks
Things not to miss
BASICS
Getting there
Arrival
City transport
The media
Travel essentials
THE GUIDE
1 The Old Centre
2 The Grachtengordel
3 The Jordaan and western docklands
4 The old Jewish quarter and Plantage
5 The eastern docklands and Amsterdam Noord
6 The Museum Quarter and around
7 The outer districts
8 Day-trips
LISTINGS
9 Accommodation
10 Cafés and restaurants
11 Bars, clubs and live music venues
12 Arts and culture
13 Shops and markets
14 LGBTQ Amsterdam
15 Kids’ Amsterdam
16 Sports and activities
17 Festivals and events
CONTEXTS
History
Dutch art and architecture
Books
Dutch
SMALL PRINT
CITY PLAN
Alamy
Introduction to
Amsterdam
With its olive-green canals and handsome gabled houses, waterfront bars, bustling markets and exquisite art, Amsterdam never fails to charm. But there are plenty of surprises here too: long seen as an anything-goes place for stoners and Red Light District prowlers, Amsterdam is shrugging off its old image, smartening up and looking to the future. Over a billion euros has been invested in cultural projects, with the revamping of showpiece sights in the Museum Quarter and the regeneration of the long-neglected docklands with some cutting-edge architecture. That said, for all its focus on reinvention, Amsterdam’s streets and canals retain a laidback, small-city feel that you just don’t get in any other European capital. It’s a city that’s proud of its character, and the perfect balance it strikes between business and bohemia.
Amsterdam is still far from being as diverse a city as, say, London or Paris; huge numbers of people have migrated from the former colonies in Suriname and Indonesia, as well as from Morocco and Turkey, but almost all live and work outside the centre and can seem almost invisible to the casual visitor. Indeed, there is an ethnic and social homogeneity in the city centre that seems to counter everything you may have heard about Dutch integration. It’s a contradiction that is typical of Amsterdam. The city is world-famous as a place where the possession and sale of cannabis are tolerated – and yet for the most part Amsterdammers themselves don’t really partake in the stuff. And while Amsterdam is renowned for its tolerance towards all styles of behaviour – the locals are more than happy for you to cycle through town in a silver bikini if the mood strikes you – a more conventional big city would be hard to find. In recent years a string of hardline city mayors have had some success in diminishing Amsterdam’s image as a counterculture icon: visitors are welcomed as warmly as ever, and letting your hair down is positively encouraged, but locals are now upfront about wanting tourists to behave as good guests – rowdy, drunken behaviour is frowned upon – and due to new legislation, numbers of the city’s famous coffeeshops are dwindling.

Amsterdam on the water
Amsterdam is defined by water , and its buildings complement their surroundings everywhere you look, whether it’s in the classic canal views of the seventeenth-century city or the contemporary developments in the former docklands. If you want to make the most of the city’s unique watery environment, start with a canalboat tour or rent a canal bike . Then explore the artificial islands of the Oosterdok district , east of Centraal Station, which offers one of the most authentic insights into Amsterdam’s seafaring past, whether you’re inspecting the replica of an eighteenth-century East Indiaman or strolling past the quays and warehouses of the Entrepotdok.
You could also take a ferry from behind Centraal Station to the NDSM shipyard – one of the city’s coolest cultural hangouts – to have breakfast in a converted shipping container at Pllek and explore artists’ studios. Other watery wonders include the EYE Filmmuseum , with its splendid riverside location, bar-restaurant and film-focused library, the Woonbootmuseum , or Houseboat Museum – which provides a glimpse of what it’s really like to live on Amsterdam’s waterways – and Marken , a timewarp ex-island that’s just a bus ride away.

iStock
However, some things haven’t changed, and it’s hard not to be drawn in by Amsterdam’s fun summer festivals, the cheery intimacy of its cafés, its first-rate art galleries and its air of upbeat positivity. Amsterdammers themselves make much of their city and its attractions being gezellig , a rather overused Dutch word roughly corresponding to a combination of “cosy”, “lived-in” and “warmly convivial”. Nowhere is this more applicable than in the city’s unparalleled variety of watering holes – whether it’s a timeworn “brown café” or one of a raft of newer, more stylish bars. An increasingly creative restaurant scene and lively nightlife are further draws, and the city’s compactness means that it’s an easy hop from a candlelit canalside dinner in the centre to the cool bars of the regenerated NDSM shipyard over the River IJ, for example. In fact, thanks to its manageable size and its prevailing atmosphere of friendly inclusiveness, you can really get under the skin of Amsterdam in a stay of just a few days; there can be few capital cities that have such immediate, accessible appeal.
< Back to Introduction
What to see
The city’s layout is determined by a web of canals radiating out from a historical core to loop right round Amsterdam’s compact centre; it takes about forty minutes to walk from one end of the centre to the other. Butting up to the River IJ, the Old Centre spreads south from Centraal Station, bisected by Damrak and its continuation, Rokin, the city’s main drag; en route is the Dam , the main square. The Old Centre remains Amsterdam’s commercial heart, as well as the hub of its bustling street life, holding myriad shops, bars and restaurants. The area is also home to the Red Light District , which contains dozens of fine old buildings, most memorably the Oude Kerk and the Koninklijk Paleis .
The Old Centre is bordered by the first of the major canals, the Singel, whose curve is mirrored by those of the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht – collectively known as the Grachtengordel , or “Girdle of Canals”. This is Amsterdam’s most delightful area, full of handsome seventeenth- and eighteenth-century canal houses with decorative gables, and narrow, dreamy canals. Here you’ll also find perhaps the city’s most celebrated attraction, the Anne Frank Huis , the house in which the young Jewish diarist hid away during the German occupation of World War II, now a poignant reminder of the Holocaust.
Immediately to the west of the Grachtengordel lies the Jordaan , one-time industrial slum and now almost entirely gentrified. The same applies to the adjacent western docklands , dredged out of the river to create extra wharves and shipbuilding space during the seventeenth century; only in the past few decades has the shipping industry moved out.
On the other side of the centre is the old Jewish quarter , home to a thriving Jewish community until the German occupation of World War II, with a number of absorbing sights, including the Esnoga (Portuguese Synagogue) and the Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum). The adjacent Plantage is greener and more suburban, holding the excellent Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) and Artis Royal Zoo . Just north, the eastern docklands is another formerly industrial area that has undergone rapid renewal; attractions here include NEMO , a science and technology museum, and the Scheepvaartmuseum (Maritime Museum). The regeneration continues across the River IJ in Amsterdam Noord , with the futuristic EYE Filmmuseum and, further north still, the NDSM shipyard , a hub of cutting-edge culture. Amsterdam’s Museum Quarter , southwest of the centre, contains the city’s premier art museums, principally the Rijksmuseum with its wonderful collection of Dutch paintings, including several of Rembrandt’s finest works; the excellent Van Gogh Museum , which holds the world’s largest collection of the artist’s paintings; and the Stedelijk Museum , dedicated to contemporary art. All lie just a stone’s throw from the city’s finest park, the Vondelpark , while east of the museums is cosmopolitan De Pijp , the city’s first real suburb.

Alamy
NEGEN STRAATJES (NINE LITTLE STREETS)
Beyond the centre, the outer districts are relatively short of attractions – notable exceptions being the wooded parkland of the Amsterdamse Bos and the fascinating ethnographic exhibits of the Tropenmuseum , south and east of the centre respectively.
Talk to Amsterdammers about visiting other parts of their country and you may well be met with looks of amazement, but don’t be put off. The Netherlands is a small nation with an outstanding public transport system that makes a large slice of the country easily reachable. The choice of possible day-trips is extensive: the town of Haarlem , the old Zuider Zee ports of Marken , Volendam and Enkhuizen , and the pretty town of Edam are all worth a visit – not to mention the much-touted Keukenhof Gardens , which are at their best during the spring and early summer.
< Back to