Private tour guides in Amsterdam

[forshping]

We are booked on the June 4 Stockholm to London cruise. We are interested in booking a private tour guide in Amsterdam. Can any of you recommend someone or a private company? If so, were you able to choose the sites you wanted to visit? Thanks for the advice.

[Mike073]

I have looked up the company we used,

 

http://www.amsterdamcitytours.com/

 

We started with a delightful canal boat ride and then took a walking tour the rest of the day. We spent a little while in the reduced Rijksmuseum where the best of the collection is in a few galleries. We decided to not go through Van Gogh becasue we would not have had time to fully walk the old city.

 

The mistake we made was planning to walk back to the ship at the end. We could see the boat right there, but getting there was quite a hike. It is a lot further than it looked. Here is what we did.

 

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We can arrange a tour you described first a 1-2 hour canal cruise and then a walking tour combined with lunch and a visit to the National Museum (Rijksmuseum).

 

 

Attached are 2 pictures of the Paradis a very nice boat which we could use for the cruise through the canals (max 12 persons).

 

The price of the Paradis is Euro 215,- for the first hour and Euro 175,- for additional hours. There is also the possibility of having lunch onboard menu's are also attached.

 

 

The cost of a private walking tour is Euro 189,- for 3-4 hours. We can pre purchase the museum tickets for you so you don't have to stand in line.

 

 

Admission to the Rijksmuseum is Euro 10,- per person.

 

Bernie Jong

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Hope this helps.

[PurpleCow]

Old Amsterdam is so easy to get around that you can probably do without a tour guide. You can buy a full day tram ticket from the machine at the main station for places it might be too far to walk. If you're planning on visiting the museums, purchase and print your tickets online before you go. The pre-ticketed lines are vastly shorter than the lines for those waiting to purchase tickets. It's an easy walk from the Museumplein to Dam Square and from there, not much of a walk to the Anne Frank House. The canal boat tours leave from just across from the station.

[jjeffjb]

I was on this cruise last year. No need for guide. The city is easy to get around. We found that the Frommer's guide worked well.

[NYLady]

Amsterdam is fabulous.

On our first trip we took the canal cruise that was arranged by our rivercruise. All the boats for regular tours are about the same. The problem is that the windows were not very clear so you couldn't see. If you went to the very tiny area in the back of the boat (about 5 people fit there) where you could see, you couldn't hear the commentary.

 

Our second trip we skipped the (included) rivercruise arranged canal tour and got ourselves a ticket on the Canal Bus. There are several types of tickets you can get...there is a hop on/hop off and you can get museum tickets included. Here is a link so you can check out the possibilities. The boats are wonderful with part covered, part open and there is commentary. It's also a quick way back to the ship! If you check online you will also be able to download their schedules so you can spend time with it before you get there and plot your strategy.

http://www.city-discovery.com/amsterdam/tour.php?id=253

[forshping]

Thanks so much for all the helpful suggestions for Amsterdam.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I agree that you don't really need a guide, although some pre-planning is good. The trams are easy to use, but the city is a bit confusing to navigate, so have a good map and plan our destinations in an order that makes sense to get you back to the ship.

 

Your options are many, but favourites include: Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, red light district, Anne Frank house. Make sure to include a canal boat tour, they really give you the flavour of the old city. Just strolling is also great, along the canals or through various neighbourhoods.

 

The Botanical Gardens are very interesting, as is the Maritime Museum--both are out towards the cruise port, I believe. the municipal museum is good also, and there's the sex museum, which is oddball but quite interesting.

 

Don't bite off too much with just one day. I personally would skip the red light district, and frankly although I saw Ann Frank's house in the 70's, I haven't been back, the lines are just too long.

 

Amsterdam's one of my all-time favourite cities. I've probably spent about a month there in total, over the years. Last time we spent 6 days there, intending to do day trips by train, and we never got outside of the old city.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Thanks, for the info. Forshiping is one of our tour group. Freddie gave me some suggestions yesterday via phone as well.