Maps and excursions

[mommak<3]

Looking for recommendations for city walking maps for Amsterdam, we are staying in Dam Square, and Dublin. Is it possible to do an excursion to Ring of Kerry from Cork? 

[FreestyleNovice]

Regarding Amsterdam, a few options are:

 

1) Free maps are available around Amsterdam at all tourist spots, you probably won't have to make any effort to gain multiple maps. Downside is less detail and more commercial.

 

2) Downloadable and DIY prints can be found online, depending on which parts of the city you want to visit.

 

3) And some less good folks even compose packages for mail order sale of some of the (free?) maps: https://www.amsterdamoldtown.com/information-pack-amsterdam. 10 Euro and excluding very high postal costs...

 

4) The last and probably best option is to buy a Falkplan map, like "Falk citymap & more 04 - Amsterdam,
1:12.500 scale., at bookstores in Amsterdam or pre-stay via hopefully Amazon or similar sites? Base price is around 4 Euro.

 

 

[gnome12]

53 minutes ago, FreestyleNovice said:

Regarding Amsterdam, a few options are:

 

4) The last and probably best option is to buy a Falkplan map, like "Falk citymap & more 04 - Amsterdam,
1:12.500 scale., at bookstores in Amsterdam or pre-stay via hopefully Amazon or similar sites? Base price is around 4 Euro.

Unfortunately, my experience searching for maps on Amazon  (either Canada or US) is that they are very limited, especially the local maps. It isn't really worth their while to bring them over here. You see generally the big companies like Michelin and Lonely Planet etc.

Edited March 21, 2019 by gnome12

[FreestyleNovice]

27 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Unfortunately, my experience searching for maps on Amazon  (either Canada or US) is that they are very limited, especially the local maps. It isn't really worth their while to bring them over here. You see generally the big companies like Michelin and Lonely Planet etc.

 

Too bad as the Falkplan maps are quite common over here, I even bet you can buy the Amsterdam ones at the airport bookstores but as you said; there's almost no market.. There are two, three online shops that do ship from here to the US but at a hefty price, 25-30 Euro shipping (eq. 28-34 USD).  No benefit of pre-purchasing heh..

 

Falkplan maps are for sale at local tourist offices, called "VVV Information", petrol stations (although probably more the road type maps?), ANWB shops (Dutch AAA) and bookstores so it's pretty easy to buy one fast when one will arrive in our  small but beautiful country. 🙂

[gnome12]

15 minutes ago, FreestyleNovice said:

 

Too bad as the Falkplan maps are quite common over here, I even bet you can buy the Amsterdam ones at the airport bookstores but as you said; there's almost no market.. There are two, three online shops that do ship from here to the US but at a hefty price, 25-30 Euro shipping (eq. 28-34 USD).  No benefit of pre-purchasing heh..

 

Falkplan maps are for sale at local tourist offices, called "VVV Information", petrol stations (although probably more the road type maps?), ANWB shops (Dutch AAA) and bookstores so it's pretty easy to buy one fast when one will arrive in our  small but beautiful country. 🙂

I love to have my maps in advance, but sometimes it is definitely worth waiting. To be honest, today with off-line Google maps and other choices, you really don't need a map as soon as you land and can pick up the best one when you arrive.

[VMax1700]

3 hours ago, mommak<3 said:

Is it possible to do an excursion to Ring of Kerry from Cork? 

Yes, but it is a 9 to 10 hour trip.  How long are you in port?

[FreestyleNovice]

20 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I love to have my maps in advance, but sometimes it is definitely worth waiting. To be honest, today with off-line Google maps and other choices, you really don't need a map as soon as you land and can pick up the best one when you arrive.

 

Agreed. We like the (paid) app Citymaps2Go for travel!

[GlennaRoseGoes]

Have you looked at the Streetwise Maps? I used the Rome and Venice ones to navigate all those crazy winding alleys! They are laminated, so I marked all the things I wanted to see with color-coded Sharpies, then hit the pavement. Supplemented with Google maps on my phone from time to time, but overall very reliable. I bought them on Amazon. 

[XMommaKx]

Thank you. We will be in Cork from 7am-5pm. We would really like to see nature park and seaside cliffs. What do you recommend. I don’t want to rent a car,

.

[VMax1700]

15 hours ago, XMommaKx said:

Thank you. We will be in Cork from 7am-5pm. We would really like to see nature park and seaside cliffs. What do you recommend. I don’t want to rent a car,

.

 

When are you sailing?

Reason I ask is that we are about to fly out to FLA to cruise Caribbean for 11 days and then a transatlantic back to Europe.  If your question can wait, then I will respond in depth, when we return! 

[mommak<3]

VMax1700 thank you! Enjoy your adventure.

[Host Bonjour]

On 3/21/2019 at 1:03 PM, GlennaRoseGoes said:

Have you looked at the Streetwise Maps? I used the Rome and Venice ones to navigate all those crazy winding alleys! They are laminated, so I marked all the things I wanted to see with color-coded Sharpies, then hit the pavement. Supplemented with Google maps on my phone from time to time, but overall very reliable. I bought them on Amazon. 

 

Streetwise maps have been incredible for me too because they're laminated (waterproof!) and foldable, dual sided with micro-views of whatever (varies by location/what they can fit) I used them pre-Google maps but would now too as a backup, just in case. But....so many places have maps posted on the street, or tube or metro (or sights like museums) one tends not to have to go looking at a map.

 

It only kind of didn't help much in Venice....you don't really need a map for the main areas and if you get back into the quiet areas, just wander. You can't get lost anyway. 

 

But if you want to purchase something, I'd go for Streetwise. Excellent every time. 

 

 

[TiogaCruiser]

I believe Rick Steves has a walk.

 

For a map, how about this?

[Ine]

On 3/21/2019 at 6:36 AM, mommak<3 said:

Looking for recommendations for city walking maps for Amsterdam, we are staying in Dam Square, and Dublin. Is it possible to do an excursion to Ring of Kerry from Cork? 

I donot know when you sail but just remembered information from a friend which he made this  a few years ago. https://web.archive.org/web/20130828100055/http://*****.com/amsterdam.html

[geoherb]

I uploaded maps of the cities we visited on our two cruises around Europe on my phone for offline viewing. It worked very well.

[BarbinMich]

In Amsterdam, we've done canal boat tours (like HOHO busses).  While Amsterdam is quite walkable, the HOHO boat will save you some time and get you to the further reaches of the historic area (five ring canals), especially if this is your first visit.  We've been there multiple times and the last time I did the HOHO boat to quickly get to the Rijksmuseum [Dutch art] so I could spend as much time there as possible.  It had been closed for years to get rid of all its asbestos.  If you're not into art, there are lots of other things to see.  But if you like art, there's also a Van Gogh museum, not far from Rijksmuseum.  Finally, there's a tourist desk right inside the cruise museum.