Dutch_Travelgirl

Tips aren’t expected in Amsterdam, but if you want to tip anyway, paying extra when you buy a ticket is not the way to go. And why would you even want to tip someone before they provided you the service? They might do a terrible job. Each canal cruise boat has a tip jar. The only way to tip and the only way to ensure that the money will end up with the captain and staff of your particular boat is to put money in the tip jar.

Canal cruises in Amsterdam are much of a muchness. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to book a canal cruise in advance. Just wait until you get here, walk up to where the canal cruises dock, near Central Train Station or near the Rijksmuseum, pick the one you like, pay, board and off you go!

I also think that your use of the outdated term Chunnel is what’s causing the confusion here. This term seems to be very popular in the US, but it isn’t used here. First of all, only trains go in the tunnel. There are two different types of trains. 1) Trains called Eurostar; these trains leave from London St. Pancras station. These are highspeed trains with seats, just like a regular train. You walk on, take your seat and off you go. 2) Trains for vehicles, called Eurotunnel Trains. These trains leave from the train terminal in Folkestone. You drive your vehicle on the train and remain seated in your vehicle for the entire duration of the journey through the tunnel. There are no seats on the train for passengers without a vehicle. So if you don’t have a car, your only option to go thru the tunnel is to take the Eurostar train that departs from London St Pancras station and arrives at Gare du Nord in Paris.

No, you won’t be going thru any locks. You will however be able to see the Maeslantkering. This huge storm surge barrier is part of the Delta Works. https://www.holland.com/global/tourism/destinations/provinces/south-holland/the-maeslantkering-storm-surge-barrier.htm

@Fairwinds789; these are good recommendations. However both the Amsterdam Museum and the Binnenhof in The Hague are closed indefinitely for major renovations. No opening date has been set yet for either of them, but it won’t be in the next couple of years. The Amstelkring museum is better known under its official name Ons lieve heer op solder or Our lord in the attic https://opsolder.nl/en/

@Iamthesea it doesn’t matter if it’s Amsterdam to Brussels or Antwerp to Amsterdam, if you want to book tickets for the highspeed Thalys train you can do so up to 4 months in advance. So for what date are you trying to book a ticket? Is it more than 4 months out??

Viator is a 3rd party tour reseller. They don’t actually operate any of the tours they offer, they only act as an intermediary between you and the company that runs the tour. Do you know who will actually operate the shuttle?

For what date are you trying to book a ticket? And for what departure time? The fastest option to get from Amsterdam to Brussels by train is with Thalys. Tickets for Thalys can be bought up to 4 months in advance, so today (Jan 17) you can buy Thalys tickets for departures up to May 17. Tomorrow tickets for May 18 will go on sale etc etc etc.

I’m not sure what you mean by “something new in the works”. The highspeed train Thalys is running for many many years already. The Thalys train starts at Amsterdam Centraal and stops at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (NL), Rotterdam (NL), Antwerp (B), Brussels South/Midi/Zuid (B) before reaching it’s final destination Paris (F). Another option to travel between Amsterdam and Brussels is the regular Intercity train. This train travels at a lower speed and stops at more intermediate stations compared to Thalys. In Brussels it will stop at Brussels Airport, Brussels North , Brussels Central as well as Brussels South.

You don’t need a tour to visit the Keukenhof. Just buy your transport/entry combi ticket from the official website and you’re good to go.

Tulip bulbs are seasonal products. The tulips in the flower fields bloom in the second half of April. In the first week of May, the flowers are cut off. This is done to ensure that the tulip plant uses all its energy to produce a strong bulb, instead of using it to maintain the flower. The bulbs are harvested in July/August. They will then need to be sorted, cleaned, dried, packaged etc etc and send to shops. That’s why fresh this year’s tulip bulbs won’t arrive in the shops until September/October. They will need to be put in the ground in October or November, mid-December at the very latest. This is why reputable shops won’t have any tulip bulbs for sale from mid-December until mid September/early October. https://dutchreview.com/news/nearly-all-tulip-bulbs-are-duds-at-the-amsterdam-flower-market/

I too would pick the hotel Prins Hendrik. It seems to have good reviews and is in a good location. You state you want to be close to the tulip museum and the flower market. Please be aware that these, along with the cheese museum, are considered to be the biggest tourist traps in Amsterdam. The tulip museum isn’t a museum, it’s a tourist shop disguised as a museum selling yesteryears flower bulbs that won’t come out. The same goes for the flower market, which in addition to mouldy flower bulbs also sells tacky souvenirs and overpriced flowers. On the other hand, entrance to both is free so a visit can’t do any real harm I guess. As long as you don’t buy any flower bulbs!

You will understand when you get here, but the location of the Ambassade Hotel is not in a quieter area of the city. The hotel is located on the Herengracht right in the middle of the very popular and therefore very busy 9 Streets area. The Herengracht also is not a small canal, it’s in fact one of the larger ones. In the 17th century the Herengracht was considered to be the most prestigious canal. At that time, everyone who was something or pretended to be something, wanted to have a house on that canal, particularly in the specific stretch called “The Golden Bend”. The merchants of that time built sprawling homes along the Herengracht, which is why in present times every canal cruise sails thru the Herengracht. Again, nothing wrong with the Ambassade Hotel, but if you’re looking for a quiet area this is not the place to be. If you do want stay in a more quiet area with a more local feel, you can look into an area called Oud-Zuid (Old South). This is the area around the Vondelpark and south of the Concertgebouw. For instance in the Conservatorium Hotel or the Bilderberg Garden Hotel.

The Ambassade Hotel is a great hotel and I would definitely recommend you to stay there. But you should know that it’s located very much right inside the main city and definitely not outside the main drag. Please understand that I’m not discouraging you to stay there, but since you mentioned you wanted to stay outside the main city and the main drag, I just wanted to let you know that this hotel is right in the heart of Amsterdam. It’s located on one of the main canals of Amsterdam in the very popular “9 streets area”.

If you look at a map of Amsterdam, you will see an area shaped like a horseshoe or letter U. That’s the Canal Zone and that’s where the main sights and museums are located. So if you want to stay near the hustle and bustle of the city, you should pick a hotel in that area or directly south of it, near the Vondelpark or Museumplein.

Very few, if any, hotels in Amsterdam offer a shuttle. This is probably because there is no real need for hotel shuttles as the public transport system is excellent and easy to use. Hotel prices in Amsterdam are very much date depended. A hotel that costs €200 per night on a weekday in November, can easily cost €400 or even more during the weekend at the peak of the tulip blooming time in April. So any hotel advice where a budget is involved is meaningless without knowing when exactly you want to stay in Amsterdam.

I agree with Globaliser; the link in the first post is an UNOFFICIAL website. Don’t rely on it for accurate information and certainly don’t apply for anything on it. @klfrodoplease consider removing the link to the unofficial website. The ETIAS scheme is not yet implemented. There haven’t even announced the date when it will start. There is absolutely no point in worrying about it now. We simply don’t have the details about how it will work in practice.

Why do you want to be close to Dam Square? It’s just a square, and not a very beautiful one at all. Also as Ine stated, May 4 is Remembrance Day and the official remembrance ceremony takes place at Dam Square that evening. So it will be packed with people. As other posters have mentioned before, Amsterdam is a small and compact city and easy to walk around in. If you look at a map of Amsterdam you see a area filled with waterways and shaped like a horseshoe. Just to the south of that area is the Museum Square where you will find the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk museum. As long as you stay in or near the Canal Zone or the Museum Zone, you’re good to go. Be aware though that early May is absolute peak season for Amsterdam. Book your hotel ASAP. Prices will only go up.

It’s most definitely too soon to book a hotel room for August 2023. The one hotel you contacted (which one?) may be booked because of a conference, but the majority of hotels haven’t yet released their dates for next year’s summer yet.

The fact that one has luggage doesn’t mean one can’t take the train. I’ve taken the train to and from Schiphol carrying 2 suitcases, a hand luggage sized trolley and a backpack just by myself. I managed to get all this on and off the train without problems. I can understand this is not for everyone, but having luggage doesn’t mean you can’t take the train.

I’m sorry, but this is too much of a generalization. I live quite close to the train station and the train is my preferred option to go to the airport. I’ve done this journey without issues when I only hand luggage only, but also several times when I had 2 large suitcases, plus a hand luggage sized trolley plus a backpack. That may not worked for everyone, but it definitely worked for me.

The tourist office of Bruges offers a map on their website that’s free to download and contains lots of information https://www.visitbruges.be/stadsplan

There are not many complaints from transfer passengers, so I wouldn’t worry. The main issues impact those who are departing from Schiphol and have to stand in huge lines for check in and/or bag drop and security.

I’m sorry, but I don’t think that the CEO resigning is a quick fix for the problems at Schiphol. The search for a new CEO will take time and energy away from solving the current issues. In reaction to the news about his resignation I heard someone say on the news “hij had moeten optreden in plaats van aftreden”. This sentence loses some of its power when translated but it means that he should have acted (to solve the issues) instead of resigning. Another commentator said that his resignation is only helpful in the short term, if he now applies for a job in bagage handling or security. My newspaper wrote about this resignation under the heading “another vacancy to fill at Schiphol”. So I’m afraid the issues at Schiphol won’t disappear overnight. There will be good days with enough staff to handle all flights, but there will also still be days on which passengers really need to arrive at the airport 4 hours before departure.

Just wanted to confirm what Ine wrote. NS (=name of the national railway company) and the unions reached an agreement and all strikes are cancelled. The official train planner of NS is showing plenty of trains from Schiphol Airport to Rotterdam. NS is also the only source to buy your tickets from. You can buy them at Schiphol Airport from ticket machines with English language option and credit card payment option, or at the ticket counter from a person. You can also buy them online on the NS website.