Netherlands - Travel Info, USA to Amsterdam

[Woodman]

Travel Tips:

First, get a passport. You can't get out of the US without it.


1.) When booking online, try to book your air & hotel separately. Many “discount” sites that offer air/hotel packages are not the best rates you will find online, and you can often do better if you book them separately.

2.) Lowest rates can be found on weekday flights between tuesdays and thursdays, so try to arrange departure and arrival between those days.

3.) You’ll get better rates if you stay through one weekend (just round it off and stay the week).

4.) Seasonal air rates to Amsterdam tend to drop just after the Thanksgiving Day holidays (that's AFTER the Cannabis Cup. sorry kids!) and remain low until mid February - March. Hotels are also considerably cheaper during this period, offering specials to attract customers during the low season.

5.) Make sure you get standard amenities. Many 2, 3, and even a few 4 star hotels have steep, narrow stairways with no elevator available. The rooms might also lack basic things like A/C and ensuite toilet (so you would have to go out of your room and into the bathroom down the hall to take a shit - This is standard in most hostels). Try to make every effort to be certain the room that you book is equipped with standard amenities.

6.) During your stay, you can ditch Holland altogether and take the train to Belgium for a few days on a side trip. Priceline offers great rates through bid at hotels in Brussels.

7..) Allow for time difference:

Spring - summer = EST + 5 hours

Fall - winter = EST + 6 hours

[Woodman]

ACCOMODATION:


In my search for information about traveling to the Netherlands, I visited several travel forums, and travel/review sites.

This site has a long list of hotel reviews. If you are considering booking a hotel (not just in Holland, but anywhere) and want to check out how it rates with people who actually stayed there, then this is THE site to use:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g1...nd-Hotels.html

There is also a travel forum for each location so you can get advice on what to do and see when you get to your destination.
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I hope that you will find this useful.

[Alfa]

We should start up a cannabis friendly hotel / hostel list.

[Sitbcknchill]

Woodman, actually I was thinking about visiting this year and you might have just given me the push to get it done....thx bro

[Woodman]

sitbcknchill,

Prices for air & accommodation will vary at different times of the year. They seem to start going down after september, then spike over the holidays. They drop again shortly after New Year's Day.

I intentionally selected this time of year (January - March) because it is considered the "low season" when prices are reduced.

I didn't bother to check "high season" rates, but you should certainly give it a try.

At $700 air + $800 lodging in 4 star hotel, that would make a total of $1500 for a TEN DAY visit.

.

[Sitbcknchill]

I was looking at a five day visit in the begining of March.....$1537 for airfare and a stay at the Marriott.... looking to reduce it to around a grand but want a good hotel in the center of amsterdam...so I might be stuck with paying the price....

[Alfa]

Januari is most likely the cheapest month. From there each month on it becomes more expensive reaching it's peak in juli-august. I do not know about priceline, but the Marriot is fucking expensive. € 189 - 450 per night in march.

[daeron]

sitbck id recommend to look around for hotels in west/east adam not in the center, theyll suck you dry for ust 5 or so days. also look around for holiday inn, they can be expencive but if snoop a bit you can find cool discounts around 80 eur per night. im not sure about the current prices though

[Woodman]

€ 80 = $90 + in USD.

Since your visit is still 3 months out, you could put in a bid for that price at a 4-star hotel in city center and see what comes up.

There are reports coming out of some travel forums I visit that Amsterdam Marriott and Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel (both marriott hotels) are accepting bids in the $80 - $95 range (€70 - €80).

Remember, you are not able to select a specific hotel.
You can only select a hotel location and rating (eg: 4-star in Amsterdam city center area), and then offer a bid price (say, $85.00).
You then enter your credit card data, and if a 4-star hotel in that area accepts your bid, you're stuck with it.

If it's a shitty 4-star hotel (eg: french hotel), You're stuck with it. So, when using "name your own price" option on priceline, you should check, here, to see what kind of hotels are currently accepting bids from priceline customers.

http://p070.ezboard.com/fpricelinean...gfrm231?page=1

Use the above site as a tool to see exactly what kind of hotels are being selected for priceline customers, and note the prices of successful bids. Then check the web for reviews of those hotels to see if they're a piece of shit. If they are, then you might not want to place a bid at that time.

If reviews are favorable, then you might want to place a bid at that time as you are more likely to get the samr hotel.

I suggest you start checking this site 4-5 months before your departure date.

.

[Woodman]

Stuff to do outside the coffeeshop.
This is in addition to the more typical stuff like Rhjikesmuseum (http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/index.jsp) & Anne Frank House:

http://www.bottledbeer.co.uk/features/tij/tij.html

http://www.thedungeons.com/index.htm

http://www.amsterdam.info/diamonds/

http://www.affiliate.viator.com/broc...1016&AUID=2672

http://www.heinekenexperience.com/

http://www.amsterdamsebos.nl/amsterd...ish/index.html

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22266



Restaurants:
http://www.garlicqueen.nl/

http://www.sherpa-restaurant.nl/

http://www.pancake.nl/

[torr_aox]

May I suggest a company...
www.amsterdamescape.com
My ex- and I stayed there...They are all converted canal houses (accommodations available for 1-25+ people), and equivilant in quality to a 4 or 5 star hotel. Right in the heart of down town (1 blk from the Red Light District) Plus, they had 3 spliffs waiting for us when we got there, and they're more than willing to show you the best party sites.

[jcdjinn]

Perhaps this is a stupid question that could be answered somewhere else, but why is January the cheapest month? I'm guessing because it's post-Christmas and it's cold? Is the snow usually pretty deep in Amsterdam and is it too cold to use walking as own's main means of transportation in the city?

[Tjaalie]

Snow isn't realy a problem here. The times that it snows its like just enough to ride slege and the shuffling serverices of our gouvernement is very good. And coffieshops are warm from the inside anyway.

[Tjaalie]

Sorry, I can't edit my posts:

If I recall correct (its been a while since I was in amsterdam). The subway, tram (a train that rides on the road) and bus are all there. You can buy a nice card so you can ride unlimited for a day, don't know what it costs but won't be too much.