Hotels in Amsterdam | Amsterdam Hotels | Cheap Hotels In Amsterdam

Archive for the ‘How to’ Category

Amsterdam has reputation of being the city of antiques, books, diamonds, and curiosities. Most of the shops remain open throughout the month except on Sundays. However, some popular shops yet remain open in the city center Kalverstraat, Damrak and Leidsestraat. One interesting thing about shopping in Amsterdam is that at its center it is closed for   cars so it makes experience of shopping a pleasurable one for one and all. More adding to the shopping experience in the city, there are several shopping corridors in the city and there each has their own charm and specialties.

•    Markets in Amsterdam: In Amsterdam you can have many lively and different markets as some of them are for food and general goods, where other are  specialized in other kind of things like interested in starting from biological food and antiques. All the major market is Amsterdam are situated around the walking distance from the centre of the city.  Amsterdam markets for a day of the week remain open for hour and a location. The first place to worth visiting in the centre is: Nieuwedijk-Kalverstraat that is about a one Km long pedestrian stretch full of shops. This particular pedestrian area remain full a good number of shoppers prominently consisting tourists, student, scholars, excursionists and locals. The Nieuwedijk is quite close to Central Station and is devoted to clothing, sportswear, music and gift shops with that special Amsterdam vibe. This street straight goes to Dam Square at this square you can found out the Royal Palace, the Nieuwe Kerk and Madame Tussaud’s.

There on the next side of the square is located  Kalverstraat that is more famous for  shoes, clothing, bags, gift shops, cards, perfume, and the occasional coffee shop, fast food restaurant and ice cream salon. There you will get all primary brand names having one or more store on this road. Parallel to the Nieuwedijk-Kalverstraat is a Damrak and Rokin which is a normal road and is filled with restaurants, hotels and exchange offices.

•    Art Galleries: Amsterdam is one of the most modern and experimental art centers in North of Europe that has a good number of remarkable art galleries in Amsterdam. De Stedelijk, (The Municipal museum) after the year of rebuilding finally opened on 2010. Amsterdam art galleries present artists from all over the world and is focused on abstract and experimental art as well as photography. In the museum there are held many realistic paintings as from New Dutch Realism movement, as well as realistic paintings from Italy, Spain, UK and the US are always on offer.

•    Shopping streets in Amsterdam: If we look at shops in Amsterdam it is observed that entire city is divided into different quarters and each of quarter there has a special character and public. Shopping streets in Amsterdam do also vary, depending on their situation malls and shops are located in the city. As city is not as big and huge one can walk through the shopping streets of the city in just one or two days.

•    Duty free shopping at Airport: The international airport at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is nice place for shopping. For purpose of shopping a commercial and communication center called as Schiphol Plaza close to airport  sells goods and items like luggage, consumer electronics, bookshops and fashion shops that interests other persons a lot.  Due to its location and having type of merchandise in it. There at the Departure lounge of airport one can have a good number of duty free shops and many other brands and goods.

•    Bookshops: Amsterdam too is town for book lovers that have unique book collection at its store from entire world. Most of the bookstores in Amsterdam are situated around in closeness to Spuiplein and many other book stores are located on the Leliegracht. The biggest bookshop in Amsterdam is Scheltema that has four big floors full of books and having majority of books in English language.

•    Department stores and Malls: There a good number of shopping Malls and departmental stores are situated in Amsterdam as they offer unique choice of products as imported from Asia, Latin America and Africa. The best of the malls is De Bijenkorf (The Bee Hive) that is situated at Dam square.  There you can compare actual choice and prices within the hours. Shopping in Amsterdam does save persons time and effort. The shopping malls in Amsterdam are Magna Plaza on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal or the Kalvertoren.

•    Antique Shopping in Amsterdam: Apart from shops for cloths and fashion items Amsterdam is too rich in antique shops in city that are primarily situated around Spiegelgracht and Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, that is a small street going towards the center of the old city from the Rijksmuseum. There are around 70 antique shops and fine art galleries are situated along this street or its direct neighborhood known to Spiegelkwartier (Mirror Quarter). The market also has many non collectable items which even can fascinate to a person who himself is not a collector. One can have Old Dutch Master Paintings which are well represented around. More you can see Delftware, ceramics, oriental and African Art as well as shop with old clocks, pewter, instrument and furniture.

Amsterdam is a city that started out as a small fishing village in the latter years of the 12th century. During its golden age its arts, trade and science received the highest accolades world over which led it to becoming an important port for business a state it has maintained up to date. During the 17th century, it was a leader in finance and diamonds. Its name was derived from the dam that had been created on the river Amsteel. During its second golden age in the 19th century, canals were dug to give it a direct connection to the Rhine River, the longest and most important river in Europe and to the North Sea increasing its importance as a port of trade and commerce.

Amsterdam is located to the west of the Netherlands and is its capital city. It borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the South and the center of government is The Hague. It is a major part of the Kingdom of Netherlands, a country in Western Europe. Here is where the King is crowned as per the country’s constitution. The city had a population of 1.36 million as of January 2008. It encompasses several major suburbs many of which were built after World War 2 to provide good and affordable housing to the working class community. They have wide roads for easy accessibility and green areas for beautification purposes.

The country is low lying and in the capital itself, it is only 2 meters above sea level. Most of the land has been reclaimed from the sea by the use of dikes. These are artificial walls that are made parallel to the waters edge to regulate the water levels in and around the city. Amsterdam also has a man made forest in it. Some streets and squares within the city have been created by filling in a number of the numerous canals. The climate in this city is maritime climate. This is the type of climate that is found in middle latitude countries around the globe. Winter temperatures rarely go below zero degrees. As a cultural, financial, and business capital, the city has many world class companies located within it. Examples are Phillips, Tom Tom, KPMG, Heineken International, and ABN AMRO. Amsterdam receives 3.66 Million tourists a year as of 2009 and certain years are themed to attract more visitors. It has a designated area for legalized prostitution.