Amsterdam Favorite Tips by OlafS

Language Dutch Language Review

Favorite thing: Lost? Confused? Why not ask someone for help. A little bit of English can do wonders as most people will speak it. Yes, most (not all, that's a myth) Dutch people speak English and are more than happy to help you. But that may not be enough. I recently experienced that this is a two-way thing. I met a guy, I think he was Portuguese, who asked me where the Bangkokmuseum was. The WHAT? I thought. Never heard of a museum about the city of Bangkok, but you never know. In the end it turned out he meant the Van Goghmuseum, only pronounced Van Gogh as Bangkok. Better show the word instead of trying to say something you can't pronounce anyway. Don't be embarrassed, you are a tourist.

City layout Streetmaps / Cityguides Review

Favorite thing: Most tourists will spend most, if not all, of their time in the old part of the city. This part consists of a series of concentric canals in between which are islands. A map of this part of the city shows a remarkable similarity with that of hell as described by Dante in his Comedia. You may want to get a map of this area if you don't want to get lost; you're not going to see much difference between the canals! Getting lost may be fun in another city, in Amsterdam's canals district it's just a bore. A simple map with just the names of the various canals should already be a big help, and you will usually find the name of the canal where you are at houses standing at corners.