Amsterdam
The CouchSurfing Wiki, an informal workspace which anyone can edit.
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. There's a lot of GENERAL information about the city on Wikitravel.
Contents |
LOCAL ACTIVITIES & MEET UPS
The Amsterdam Couchsurfing scene is great! There are weekly Couchsurfing Meet Ups. The Amsterdam Team organises the Friday Meet Up in Café Skek (Zeedijk) and the Saturday Meet Up in d'Oude Herbergh (The Ol' Hostel, Handboogstraat). These events are organised EVERY WEEK and guarantee you to meet fellow travellers and a bunch of locals.
You can find the latest meet ups in the events section if you check The Netherlands > Noord-Holland > Amsterdam. Please sign up for a meet up if you wish to come, so the organizers can plan ahead for all the attending people.
Attending the Meet Ups often proves to be a good way to score last-minute accommodation. Dress for success by wearing a huge sign saying 'I need a couch'.
If you like food and meeting people: intimate Meet&Eat! home dinners [1], taking place at individual members' homes. They attract anywhere between 6-20 eaters. Here's where you can really get to know some folks better. Part-takers are mostly locals, expats and exchange students.
Other local activities are also planned in this event agenda.
MAGAZINES & TICKETS
The latest asset on cultural going-out info, is the Amsterdam edition on paper of the renowned Time Out Magazine Amsterdam. From 'opera-buffs' to fetishists, and 'culi-crazies' to shopaholics. Available monthly at kiosks. In English.
Also available as newspaper in many venues, including the Amsterdam UitBureau ticket shop at central going out square Leidseplein (open 12:00-19:30).
The latter also is where the Last Minute Ticket Shop is at. This popular service offers half-price tickets (€1 admin) for all kinds of cultural performances on the same day: live music, performing arts, theatre & comedy (also English, like the fun and entertaining Sunday classig at the ComedyCafe[2] Hole in the Boat improv show[3] or the touristy and expensive but entertaining Boom Chicago[4]), even classical concerts are half-price.
Then there's also the NL20[5], but is only really handy if you're a Dutch speaker.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
The public transport in Amsterdam is organised by the GVB, the Communal Transport Company.
To get around town you need to use the disposable chip card from August 2009. You can buy these new disposable cards at the Ticket Vending Machine at the Central Station, at the metro stations and at various public transport ticket sellers. There are disposable cards available for one or two hours, but also for 24, 48 or 72 hours, see this info. You use them by checking in every time you enter a metro or tram and checking out when you depart. If you do not check out on departure, you card might become unusable.
GVB operates public transport services 24 hours a day. After the regular daytime services have ended, just after midnight, a special network of 12 night buses [6] serves all parts of Amsterdam. For the night buses you'll have to buy a single ticket for the standard price of €3 at the driver. Disposable chip cards are not valid on night buses.
If you need to get from one location to another location with Dutch public transport, try using the English Journeyplanner.
The Nederlandse Spoorwegen is the Dutch Rail Company for all your national train travels. We have by far Europe's most extensive, frequent & reliable train service, but by far also quite expensive. There is a nice map available of all train routes.
Tips
You can find a lot of information about Amsterdam on the Wikitravel and in ordinary travel guides. But... the alternative scene of Amsterdam is hardly mentioned. Because it's worth mentioning, some tips:
Amsterdam has quite a big alternative scene in which groups, random individuals and squatters are active. There are all kinds of activities like (cheap, healthy, tasty, mostly vegan) dinners, parties, film nights, discussion nights, exhibitions, etc.
If you're interested you could check out the following websites:
- TipSpot.com: Complete event calendar that takes your interests into account. With great filters and tips by locals!
- A website with tips from Amsterdam locals - Experience Amsterdam like a local!
- All kinds of parties in Amsterdam
- A variety of activities in the former film academy OT 301
- The only alternative and indie music venue
CouchSurfers
There are a lot of Couchsurfers in Amsterdam. Some of them host people and some of them are available for a coffee or a drink or maybe even to show people around the city. You'll find them by doing a couch search.
In the Groupsyou can easily find groups that cover Amsterdam.
Hosts in Amsterdam get loads of Couchsurfing requests. In summer months they might receive over 50 requests PER DAY. To increase the chance to find a couch and a great host you should have a great fully filled profile and send personal (!) requests. The locals have become quite used to receiving copy-pasted messages and will easily ignore them.
wikitravel:Amsterdam hitch:Amsterdam
Online and offline free guides
If you need an online [7] or an offline version of your tips and tricks [8] this is a possibility, whilst registered you can create your own guidebook to your own demands. Anyone can add and edit the wiki style guidebook.
