Amsterdam Travel Guide
November in Amsterdam
By the time November rolls around, Amsterdam is more or less in winter mode, with very mild weather and noticeably smaller crowds. There are a few really good events during the month, though they are several weeks apart and generally appeal to quite different crowds. Since Amsterdam is really more of an indoor city than most, this can actually be an excellent time for a visit. The weather is still bearable, and flights and hotels are definitely more affordable than just a month or two earlier.
November events in Amsterdam
Museum Night in Amsterdam – First Saturday in November
This city has more than its fair share of great museums, and a fun way to see inside some of the ones you’ve otherwise missed is to participate in the annual Museum Night. From 7pm to 2am, about 40 of Amsterdam’s museums and galleries all decorate themselves and throw a theme party of one kind or another. One ticket gets you into all of them, and this event is very popular with locals so it’s best to start early to insure you get into the ones that interest you most. Tickets go on sale in mid October at the usual ticket offices throughout the city. It’s €15 in advance and €17.50 on the day. Museum Night is November 1 in 2008.
Date: August 24th, 2008 |
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October in Amsterdam
As October rolls in, the summer crowds are long gone and a sense of normalcy returns to the Dutch capital. This is a year-round tourist destination, but from June through early September the city center can be so jammed with visitors that you feel like you are trapped in a theme park at times. By October the main sights are easy enough to see in just a couple days, and the mild weather continues to be conducive to spending time walking around, as long as you don’t mind some light rain now and then.
October events in Amsterdam
ING Amsterdam Marathon – Mid October – Since 1975 the city has held a major marathon that has brought in many of the world’s most elite long distance runners. Lately around 25,000 participants have joined in, which hasn’t stopped the Kenyans from dominating the spots on the winners’ podium in the end. Fans of watching a giant and strung-out herd of people running by them might be disappointed to learn that the race mostly avoids the city center. It starts and ends at the Olympic Stadium, which is about 2 kilometers southwest of Leidseplein. The runners do go by the Heineken Experience, Museumplein, and through Vondelpark, so if you want to catch a glimpse head toward those spots. You can get much more information and even register on the official ING Amsterdam Marathon site. The 2008 date is Sunday, October 19.
Date: July 20th, 2008 |
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August in Amsterdam
Since a big chunk of Europe itself takes the entire month of August off from their jobs, you should expect crowds during the month in Amsterdam. Some Dutch locals will flee the city this month, but the influx of visitors will more than make up for them. There are several interesting events in August, though really no one needs an excuse to visit Amsterdam in summer. There are outdoor cafes set up all over the city, and quite a few of the Amsterdam coffee shops even have tables set up out …
Date: May 14th, 2008 |
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June in Amsterdam
To the surprise of absolutely no one, June is the first month of the year when Amsterdam is totally packed with tourists. Many locals begin their beach holidays either at the local shores or on distant patches of sand, but the massive influx of backpackers more than makes up for their absence so you can expect a month of high hotel prices combined with long lines for most all attractions. There are only a couple of notable events in June, but that’s just as well since there is never a shortage of interesting things to do in this city and having more festivals would only make crowds even more unbearable.
June events in Amsterdam
Holland Festival – most of June – The country’s largest arts and culture event takes place every June in venues throughout Amsterdam. Started in 1947, the Holland Festival has long been a showcase for international talent in opera, dance, music, and theater, and starting in 2005 they added a series of events called Fuel. These Fuel events are more contemporary displays of visual arts, concerts, debates and lectures. The 2008 dates are May 31 through June 22, and much more information can be found on the official Holland Festival website, which is all translated into English if you click on the Union Jack on the main page.
Date: April 14th, 2008 |
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May in Amsterdam
Going to Amsterdam in May is your last chance to avoid the massive summer crowds, and the weather is generally quite pleasant most days, but it can always be cool and gray in Amsterdam during any month so you can never come feeling certain of warm sunshine and blue skies. Since Queen’s Day in Amsterdam is a huge national holiday on April 30, May begins with something of a national hangover, but there are several notable events in the city to look forward to this month as well.
May Events in Amsterdam
Dodenherdenking (Remembrance Day) – May 4 – Everyone who lost their lives in World War II is remembered with a solemn ceremony at Dam Square that begins with the flag taken town to half staff at 6pm and really gets going with 2 minutes of silence at 8pm followed by the national anthem and about an hour of speeches. There are similar ceremonies all over the Netherlands, but this is the major one and is often attended by the royal family. The May 4 date is kept even when it falls on a Sunday, as it does in 2008.
Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day) – May 5 – The quiet events the day before are immediately replaced by this national holiday marking the anniversary of the date in 1945 when the Netherlands was liberated from Nazi occupation. Canadian troops were the first allies to arrive, so Canadian flags are part of the decoration. There are concerts and celebrations throughout the country, including quite a few in Amsterdam itself. The most noted events take place in Museum Square in the southern part of the city center, but there are also performances and celebrations in Leidseplein, Vondelpark, the Rokin street area near Centraal Station among other places. There is also a market similar to, but much smaller than, the one on Queen’s Day. There are also gay and lesbian events in different parts of the city, most notably at the Homomonument. Some shops have limited opening hours or remain closed altogether, but most places of interest to tourists will have normal hours on May 5.
Date: April 7th, 2008 |
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Nude beaches near Amsterdam
The idea of a “nude beach” always sounds fascinating to people who don’t normally frequent them. Men in particular like to imagine that a visit to a nude beach will be like walking on to a cheerleader training camp, with each nude girl being more gorgeous than the next. The reality tends to be very different, with the group of nudists who prefer that lifestyle often being an unusual mix of regular folks, many of whom you’d probably rather they stay clothed.
Nude beaches are different from topless beaches
This might need to be clarified a bit, especially for Americans. Most beaches in most of Europe tolerate women being topless, and it’s considered very normal. There are actually several small artificial beaches (waterfront areas where authorities have dumped enough sand to create a beach) in the city of Amsterdam, and being topless at those and all the others in the Netherlands is acceptable unless there is a sign prohibiting it. Often at resorts where many families go they do restrict main portions of beaches from women going topless, but those are the exceptions.
Date: August 10th, 2008 |
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September in Amsterdam
September is a favorite month in Amsterdam for many hardcore fans of the city. The summer weather rarely gets blazing hot, so it’s not a matter of avoiding the steamy days like in the south of Europe. It’s more a matter of far fewer first-time tourists visiting than in August, particularly starting just after Labor Day in the United States (which is always the first Monday in September). So you get the combination of smaller crowds, pleasant weather, and cheaper flights as well. There aren’t any blockbuster festivals like there are in Amsterdam in August, but there are a few worthwhile events you might consider checking out if you’ll be coming anyway.
September events in Amsterdam
Open Monumentendag (Open Monument Day)/Heritage Days – This national event takes place on the second weekend in September and provides citizens and visitors a chance to see inside historic monuments and buildings to promote understanding of earlier generations. The movement was started in 1987 and now around 50 countries participate in their own versions. Many buildings in Amsterdam will participate, and the best way to get more information is get a free magazine from the VVV tourist office any time after mid August. Or you can see what’s up on the official Open Monumentendag site. The 2008 dates are September 13 and 14.
Date: June 29th, 2008 |
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July in Amsterdam
July continues to be the height of the tourist season in Amsterdam. In Italy and some other southern countries, the cities half empty during July and August as all the locals head to beaches and elsewhere, but in Amsterdam you never really get that feeling. Many locals do take the entire month of August off, but most of the big office blocks are outside the city center anyway, so the city still seems jammed with tourists and those serving them. There are virtually no July events in Amsterdam, but that’s probably just as well with the massive crowds you’ll likely encounter without anything special going on.
July events in Amsterdam
Sadly, there are no major worthwhile events to report for this month. In the past there has been a hippie festival called Landjuweel that takes place in the village of Ruigoord about 10km outside of the city, but it’s in August during 2008 and quite possibly in future years as well.
But fret not, because there will be no shortage of things to do during July. The lines at the major museums like the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Anne Frank House will be long this month, so buying advance tickets online or going early in the day is recommended unless you want to spend 2 hours waiting out front for each place. If things stay on schedule the Heineken Experience should reopen sometime in June of 2008 after yet another refurbishment.
Date: April 23rd, 2008 |
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Amsterdamlogue now has maps
After a certain amount of foot-dragging on my part I’ve finally started adding maps to Amsterdamlogue. Many of the individual attractions posts have maps at the bottom now, and soon they all will, but the best place to start is probably the main Amsterdam map page that is linked in the main menu so it’s one click away from every page.
This main city map is just a Google Maps satellite view that I’ve put location pins in for most of the attractions and key neighborhoods you’ll want to familiarize yourself with. I’ve labeled the top map on the page so you can instantly see what each of the blue pins is pointing to, but as a bonus just below you’ll find the actual interactive Google map. You can click on each of the blue pins to find out a bit more information about the place, and also move the map around and zoom in and whatnot.
Date: April 8th, 2008 |
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Vondelpark - Amsterdam’s central park
By far Amsterdam’s largest and most famous park, Vondelpark is often compared to New York City’s Central Park. The size and shape are very similar between the two, but Vondelpark isn’t particularly central, although the location is still quite handy for most visitors.
Just as with NYC’s Central Park, Vondelpark has a loop road that zigzags just inside the exterior borders, so it’s ideal for both runners and those who want to pedal their bikes around in a pleasant area without dodging much traffic. The interior is filled with open green areas, forested areas, lakes, many playgrounds, as well as the individual things listed below.
The name
The park was originally opened in 1865 and called New Park, but thanks to a statue of 17th Century Dutch writer Joost van den Vondel placed near the entrance two years later, the public began calling it Vondelpark and later the name was officially changed to match.
Date: March 24th, 2008 |
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