So I am going to Amsterdam, NL

[surferguy]

Anybody know a good budget place to stay? Trying to book accommodation online but cannot decide. Looking for first hand information and reviews from CP'ers.

[Frank the Tank]

I only did the hostel thing and that was about 13 years ago.....so......I'm afraid I won't be of much help. Have fun though, its a fantastic city.

[COGENT]

I'm assuming your looking for a hostel?

I stayed at Bob's and it was decent.
http://www.bobsyouthhostel.nl/

I had some friends that stayed at the Flying Pig and they loved it.
http://www.flyingpig.nl/

[Cowperson]

Not sure if it qualifies as "budget," but I stayed at Hotel Fita in October. A block and a half from the Van Gogh Museum and a few blocks from Leidesplein . . . . . pretty easy walking around the city from there.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...d_Holland.html

Cowperson

[mykalberta]

Make sure to send a colorful postcard back to your Parents and Grandparents. Its an Amsterdam tradition

The only hostel I stayed at was this one outside of Amsterdam. Not sure what it was called, all I remember is that is was very large, and it had a huge chess set outside. My memories of that place arent very fond as we almost got arrested there, ah to be a group of young men (15y) and each own 4 butterfly knives, good times good times.

[valo403]

Flying pig is supposed to be great.

I stayed in some guys attic near the red light district, I don't recommend you do that.

[The Ditch]

I'll tell you where not to stay, don't stay at the Hans Brinker....Oh man, were they ever terrible..brings back memories!

[Agamemnon]

I guess it depends on the type of trip you want.

I stayed at "Heart of Amsterdam" which is _very_ much directly in the middle of the Red Light District. Step out the door and into hedonism. Mostly dorm style accomodation, but it's expensive to stay out there, and it worked for me. Maybe $30-$40/night, pretty secure, free internet in the lobby.

[CrusaderPi]

Amsterdam, Newfoundland and Labrador?

[LChoy]

I was on exchange in the Netherlands for a year.
While I can't tell you where to stay (I had a student housing in another city), Amsterdam is a really fun place to visit

Sites:
- Anne Frank's house - Very highly recommended. Very emotionally charged site
- The Museums - Van Goh, Modern Art museum.
- Canal and bus tour - Pretty cheap 2 hour tour by boat and bus
- The Sex Museum - It's pretty neat and touristy, the one on the main strip
- Recommend you get the Amsterdam pass, sort of like an attraction's pass to gain admission into a bunch of sites

Food:
- Kantjil & De Tijger - The Netherlands are renown for it's Indonesian cuisine. This place is one of the best. Get your self the 13 course meal
- After a night of drinking (Drink Amstel, Grolsch, or specialty brew), find another place for a traditional Fries with Dutch Mayo. Bonus if you go to the unique fast food vending sites

[getbak]

Originally Posted by valo403

I stayed in some guys attic near the red light district, I don't recommend you do that.

Were you hiding from the Nazis?

[Locke]

Amsterdam is a blast. Dont do Bob's youth hostel unless you want to play hide the sausage with Bob.

[wooohooo]

Speak of the devil, I'm going there in 3 days... haha I'll be looking at this thread closely!

Maybe on a side note as not to open another thread... but which would you guys rate as the top attractions?

[4X4]

Originally Posted by valo403

Flying pig is supposed to be great.

I stayed in some guys attic near the red light district, I don't recommend you do that.

Yes. I stayed at the Flying Pig Downtown. Perfect location and a great atmosphere - if you're looking for a party hostel. And the price was pretty competitive as well, IIRC. I very highly recommend Flying Pig. One of the best hostels I stayed at in Europe.

clean - check
great location - check
bar inside the hostel - check
heineken vending machine - check
pot smoking lounges (if you're into that) - check
good security - check
pool table - check
tvs - check
and since travelers come and go, I can't comment on the demographic, but when I was there, it was all 20somethings and there were tons of hot women.

If this sounds like the place for you, let me clarify that there are at least two or maybe even three Flying Pig hostels in Amsterdam. One of the is called either downtown or centraale (centraale as in just a couple blocks away from their central train station). This is the one I stayed at and can verify it's awesomeness. And FTR, unlike other euro cities, the sketchiness is not around the train station, it's definitely in the RLD after sunset. Weeeird place at night.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

Maybe on a side note as not to open another thread... but which would you guys rate as the top attractions?

I think this might be one of the first times where "Hookers and Blow" is an actual appropriate response to a question.


Also...Anne Frank's House, The Van Gogh Museum. The Heineken brewery is kind of goofy fun (with beer).

[4X4]

Rent a bike and ride around for a day. Maybe have a hoot while doing that. The Heineken brewery is kind of neat. Nothing to write home about. But the 10 or 12 euro that it costs for admission is at least somewhat compensated at the end when you get three free beers.

Beware that in Amsterdam, the cheapest thing to drink is actually Heineken. No joke. A bottle of water or juice is 3+ euros and a can of beer is 2 euro.

[Frank the Tank]

The Reijksmuseum is amazing as well. Has a bunch of Rembrandt's work like "The Night Watch". Beautiful stuff.

[Flash Walken]

I stayed at the downtown flying pig.

Close proximity to the train station, shopping and attractions. Also close to the park, anne frank house, which was definitely worth it, and the red light district.

The only memory I have of the red light district is etched into my skin in the form of a bite mark, but otherwise, Gregory was a dream.

[Hack&Lube]

So we showed up on long weekend training it in from Brussels thinking we could just find a random hotel or hostel to stay at - book like 5 people into one room to save money. No go. Everything was full. It was like Joseph and Mary on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem... but in Amsterdam with prostitutes and cannibis everywhere. I mean you can find a bed in the red light district for 50 Euros but they don't let you stay all night. Only 20 minutes

To make matters worse, it started raining and we didn't have proper clothing and there was no where to go. So we stayed in Coffee Shops all day until 3AM and eventually slept in bar after paying the barman 5 Euros. Best sleep I've ever had. The guy even brought out blankets and pillows and tucked us in. Bar booths are comfortable but personally, I would recommend the pool table. A few American girls had the pool table and it looked comfy.

The place was super clean, comfortable, and safe. I would have hated to have had to stay in a hostel intead of that bar. The hostel was like 45 Euros itself and in the morning, two American teenagers we met and who ended up staying at the hostel told us their laptops were stolen there. If I ever visit Amsterdam again, I'm going to that bar for 5 Euros everytime!

This is pretty much the only epic story I have to tell in my life so far. That's a bit sad. But hey, it's pretty awesome to be in Europe wandering a cool city and knowing you have no preparations nothing to fall back on, and nowhere to go at night. Such an adventure!

[FurnaceFace]

H&L's story reminded me of our Amsterdam experience. We also were coming in by train from Antwerp though and through all the train switches we started talking to a local couple. They suggested we be careful today because Rottendam was playing Amsterdam and depending on the outcome of the game there could be trouble.

So, with that heightened awareness on top of the already awareness one has just because of the reputation, we arrived in the train station. In the train station you have many people coming up to you offering rooms. We ignored them as best we could. We then came out of the main doors of the station and in front of us a couple were having a big yelling match. The girl said something and them SMACK they guy slapped her hard right across the face. That was our "welcome to Amsterdam" moment.

From behind us we then heard a woman say to us "If you want to get away from guys who slap their girlfriend, I know a place." This stopped us. She then saw the Canadian flag on my daypack and said she was from Thunder Bay. Her and her American boyfriend had a business where they rented out flats for the locals who were on vacation or had extra space. We said we were just going to the hostel and she told us she'd take us by this one place where the guy just had a group of Aussies and would probably really appreciate a few days of just a couple in his extra flat. If we didn't like it she'd take us to the hostel.

So, off we go with her. She warns us there is a block we have to go through which is "a bit sketchy". Sure enough, you could tell we were in that block. As we're walking three guys are coming the other way and we realize we're going to need to walk right through them. The guy on my left brushes his hand over my daypack to see if he can grab anything and the guy on my right, looking straight ahead just says "crack, coke, heroin." I guess that was his form of advertising.

So we get to Waheed's place, which was awesome. We had a full kitchen at our disposal. Really great place. The Thunder Bay chic gave us some tips on where to go and where not to go. The biggest tip I remember is she said the main street from the train station is the logical place for tourists to walk however it leads right into the Damplatz which after 6pm is not the place to be as all the bad guys hang out there. The streets on either side are all shops and they close up pulling their gates down so there is nowhere safe for a tourist to go to. This was 15 years ago so perhaps things have changed, but it was an important tip then.

I would say the biggest problem we had in Amsterdam was we had a hard time relaxing. The reputation of the city plus the events we had within our first hour got our guard up really high. We'd be walking down the sidewalk, a guy coming the other way, and I'd be evaluating how big of a threat he was. He was just a regular dude, but we were wary about everyone. There is a happy medium somewhere.