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Let's Talk A Little Amsterdam!..
Posted on 8/21/19 at 7:10 am
Posted on 8/21/19 at 7:10 am
Wife and I are thinking about doing a Rhine River cruise next April. Can fly into Amsterdam or Brussels. She wants to go to Bruges (I was there years ago and it's certainly beautiful). We're thinking maybe 4 days prior to the cruise for this.
Never been to Amsterdam other than flying through it. Thoughts on either city as a base? Side trips? Other alternatives? We end up in Basel Switzerland. Spend more time there on the back-end of the trip instead?
Thanks!!
Never been to Amsterdam other than flying through it. Thoughts on either city as a base? Side trips? Other alternatives? We end up in Basel Switzerland. Spend more time there on the back-end of the trip instead?
Thanks!!
This post was edited on 8/21/19 at 7:30 am
9
Posted on 8/21/19 at 8:17 am to Nole Man
Amsterdam is a much bigger hub with many more direct flights to the states. So if you are price shopping and all else is equal, that's likely your better option.
Posted on 8/21/19 at 9:19 am to Nole Man
Basel is cool but but it's 24-36 hours cool, IMO.
Of course it's a little more than an hour from Lucerne and 90ish minutes from Strasbourg by train so you could certainly put together a good back end trip.
I'd probably do Amsterdam on the front end for a couple days and Basel + a day trip on the back end.
Of course it's a little more than an hour from Lucerne and 90ish minutes from Strasbourg by train so you could certainly put together a good back end trip.
I'd probably do Amsterdam on the front end for a couple days and Basel + a day trip on the back end.
Posted on 8/21/19 at 10:02 am to Nole Man
Amsterdam is pretty cool but don't need a lot of time there. The food is kind of bad and stuff is expensive. Having been twice I also kind of get the feeling they get a little fed up with tourists
Posted on 8/21/19 at 10:36 am to Nole Man
quote:
Wife and I are thinking about doing a Rhine River cruise next April. Can fly into Amsterdam or Brussels. She wants to go to Bruges (I was there years ago and it's certainly beautiful). We're thinking maybe 4 days prior to the cruise for this.
Never been to Amsterdam other than flying through it. Thoughts on either city as a base? Side trips? Other alternatives? We end up in Basel Switzerland. Spend more time there on the back-end of the trip instead?
I'm thinking more about pace/timing rather than destinations. Are you the type who will be worn out by a few days of independent travel & then be relaxed by the river cruise? Or will the river cruise be a bit staid & slow paced, so you'll be ready to explore more freely after a week stuck on a boat with a very mature crowd?
Posted on 8/21/19 at 11:13 am to barbapapa
quote:
The food is kind of bad and stuff is expensive.
Dumbest statement ever. Let me guess, you never got out of the Dam/ City center/ canal Zone where all the tourists stay....and I will agree a lot of the food in these areas is bland and over priced....but they are fleecing the tourists. Amsterdam is an inexpensive city compared most other major cities in western europe. The food is really good, especially all the different ethnic food such as Indonesian, Ethiopian, Thai and chinese. And the best is buying herring from a street vendor and snacking on it while walking around then finding a Stroopwafel as desert.
Posted on 8/21/19 at 1:45 pm to Zappas Stache
quote:
The food is really good, especially all the different ethnic food such as Indonesian, Ethiopian, Thai and chinese.
Bruh, come on now. I was with you until you said this. FWIW I'm not a believer in the food in London being great either. I enjoy it, but its not as good as other places. I'm simply not a fan of non local food being part of that countries "foods to visit for". You can get good Italian food anywhere in the world. But if you want to eat italian, go to Italy.
I don't travel to the Netherlands no matter what their colonial history is to eat food from somewhere else. If I wanted Indonesian food I'd go to Indonesia, if I wanted to eat Indian food I'd go to India not England.
Given all of that, people have got to get out of the large city centers of Europe. There is soooo much more to see. That's like someone going to New York and saying that someone Japanese place's food sucked so all American food sucks.
Go to the Netherlands to eat their cheese, local seafood, beer, etc.
This post was edited on 8/21/19 at 1:46 pm
Posted on 8/21/19 at 1:51 pm to Zappas Stache
No I didn't stay only in dam square. I'm sure the ethnic food is ok with the spice trade history etc but I'm talking about dutch food in general.
This post was edited on 8/21/19 at 1:52 pm
Posted on 8/21/19 at 2:43 pm to baldona
quote:
I don't travel to the Netherlands no matter what their colonial history is to eat food from somewhere else.
So you don't eat cajun/creole in Louisiana either? You're missing out.
quote:
I'm sure the ethnic food is ok with the spice trade history etc but I'm talking about dutch food in general.
Indonesian food is part of the dutch food culture.
This post was edited on 8/21/19 at 2:45 pm
Posted on 8/21/19 at 2:46 pm to baldona
quote:
FWIW I'm not a believer in the food in London being great either. I enjoy it, but its not as good as other places. I'm simply not a fan of non local food being part of that countries "foods to visit for". You can get good Italian food anywhere in the world. But if you want to eat italian, go to Italy.
This is such a dated view of British food. London has more than 70 Michelin starred restaurants, with 10 2-stars and 3 3-stars. The past 20 years have seen a huge resurgence in the appreciation of UK-native products & traditional cooking styles. Places like St. John, Simpson's, Rules, Roast....seriously delicious food that is every bit as delicious as "Italy-Italian" food.
FWIW, if you stick to city centers overrun by mass tourism anywhere in Europe, you will not be eating well. That goes for Rome, Florence, Amsterdam, Paris, or any other place.
Food is the KEY thing, to me, that rewards a little research and advanced planning. You're not going to "happen upon" a secret, traditional, beloved by the locals affordable spot in the year 2019. The internet is everywhere, and any secret spots quickly become widely known. General review sites like TripAdvisor are usually awful when it comes to food (except for having pics, which can be helpful). Seek out local reviewers and recommendations, look for food quality over decor, location, or history.
Posted on 8/21/19 at 3:01 pm to Nole Man
For a vacation, I'd take Amsterdam over Brussels if it's a city against city comparison.
As a base for a vacation, I'd take Brussels because of its proximity to other places in Europe and the the abundance of train options you have (EuroStar can get you to London, Paris or Amsterdam in a couple hours from Brussels).
As for side trips near Amsterdam, there are numerous, but this is an interesting one: Tulips
Don't laugh, it's actually pretty awesome and your wife would likely love it.
And it will be open in April.
As a base for a vacation, I'd take Brussels because of its proximity to other places in Europe and the the abundance of train options you have (EuroStar can get you to London, Paris or Amsterdam in a couple hours from Brussels).
As for side trips near Amsterdam, there are numerous, but this is an interesting one: Tulips
Don't laugh, it's actually pretty awesome and your wife would likely love it.
And it will be open in April.
Posted on 8/21/19 at 3:26 pm to Zappas Stache
For sure. I enjoyed it but preferred other cities in Europe
Posted on 8/21/19 at 4:11 pm to Nole Man
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This post was edited on 8/30/19 at 12:03 pm
Posted on 8/21/19 at 4:16 pm to kfizzle85
Lol I should probably add that I was 20
Years old and it was 2007. Today I think I would have a greater appreciation for the city outside of its “flowers”
Years old and it was 2007. Today I think I would have a greater appreciation for the city outside of its “flowers”
This post was edited on 8/21/19 at 4:17 pm
Posted on 8/21/19 at 4:52 pm to kfizzle85
quote:
If you are inside the tourist zone/Dam square/RLD it's packed and full of tourist traps. So is Budapest. So is Prague. So is the French Quarter. Walk five minutes in any direction, keep the beautiful, tree lined canals and gain the functional equivalent of a Magazine street every 3 blocks.
I've spent a lot of time in Amsterdam, probably a total of 8 weeks over the last 10 years and I avoid the center as much as I can. The Jordaan (canals) is beautiful but much of it is touristy. But you can find some parts of it that are nice. But we usually stay and eat and drink further out on Overtoom and Kinkerstraat and the Pijp, Zuid and Westergas. We've even gone out to the Muslim projects. It's more interesting to me to see how and where locals live rather than the disneyish areas in the center.
Posted on 8/21/19 at 5:04 pm to Zappas Stache
I had a shitty taxi driver that threatened to bring us to the police station because we smelled like the coffee shop, shite like that probably tainted my experience and I'm sure there is a a lot of great shite to offer besides smoking. I would absolutely go back and after the first day we quickly learned taxis were not necessary
Posted on 8/21/19 at 5:21 pm to barbapapa
quote:
I had a shitty taxi driver that threatened to bring us to the police station because we smelled like the coffee shop,
Crazy.....but...so it wasnt that amsterdam was expensive, its just you were buying a lot of weed and munching down a lot of food.
Posted on 8/21/19 at 5:26 pm to Zappas Stache
LOL pretty much and that I was young and dumb of course
Posted on 8/22/19 at 8:43 am to Zappas Stache
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This post was edited on 8/30/19 at 11:40 am
Posted on 8/22/19 at 10:03 am to Nole Man
Thank you all for some great advice. We are looking into some of the recommendations as we speak. We have kind of gravitated towards looking into spending some time on the backend at either Freiburg Germany or Colmar France.
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