aradiasraven wrote:Rotterdam, defo not a tourist town about an hour or so by train/bus.Good coffee shops,bulidings, nature,musems and really good music scenes.
never understood this. went once in may 2005 and it seemed nice enough. everyone i came in contact seemed nice. granted i was there only a few hrs though.
i want to do a day trip to zandvoort my next trip. looks like a cool beach town.
educating myself and waiting for the next trip.
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aradiasraven wrote:Rotterdam, defo not a tourist town about an hour or so by train/bus.Good coffee shops,bulidings, nature,musems and really good music scenes.
never understood this. went once in may 2005 and it seemed nice enough. everyone i came in contact seemed nice. granted i was there only a few hrs though.
i want to do a day trip to zandvoort my next trip. looks like a cool beach town.
I may try rotterdam for a day as ive heard its a decent place,Not as much glamour as say amsterdam but it still has stuff to offer.
aradiasraven wrote:Rotterdam, defo not a tourist town about an hour or so by train/bus.Good coffee shops,bulidings, nature,musems and really good music scenes.
never understood this. went once in may 2005 and it seemed nice enough. everyone i came in contact seemed nice. granted i was there only a few hrs though.
i want to do a day trip to zandvoort my next trip. looks like a cool beach town.
That is a nice day trip cantona....nice stretch of beach to enjoy and you're not to far from Yanks coffeeshop....very pleasent place.
Just to clairfiy when I said R dam is not a tourist town I did not mean that in a bad way in fact I LOVE IT. It is more of a working persons town not as sexy as the dam but still a great town. The original poster of this topic was looking for an non tourist place to go. What I meant is that there are not a lot of tourists there compared to A dam which for me is a good thing, keeps the prices down. I like the mix of new and old that rotterdam has . I have never had a problem with it being scary in reguard to crime etc. But I live in country with much more crime than any where in the netherlands. In fact I will be there in 2 days and am happy . I never had a problem with old dry bud as a lot of people here have. If you go I recomend geting off Niewue Binneweg, (the place most people go because it has the most shops and exploring the town. The scene is more spread out than Amsterdanm but there are a lot of great places. You may walk more to find good bud here but if the weather is nice it is worth it. On Niewue Binneweg Nemo is decent and most popular. Not my favorite shop.I would give it an average rating over all. But to find the best u have to walk and look around. IMO the best for price and bud is 7 UP on Joost van Geelstrat,about 15 min from centraal station. There the Lavender at 10 Euros can not be beat and the sweetest and strongest bubble gum I ve ever had any where. All buds there Well cured never too dry or . Great low price hash also. Real strong Skuff. I am defo a Rdam fan in terms of everything> I love the people the weed the music and there is alot of nature too. Yes it is not like A dam but has its own good quailties. But to each there own. Peace, oh one draw back is if you smoke on the streets and the politie see you it is a 50 euro fine there. But I smoke outside all the time and as long as you keep your eyes open you will be good peace.
Last edited by aradiasraven on Sun 11th Oct 2009 10:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ive heard of a coffeeshop off "Niewue Binneweg" but i cant remember its name,Anyways it suppose to have a great upstairs seating area with sofas where you can sit/chill & look out threw the big glass window @ the square below with all the shoppers going about there business & such,+ not to touristy either! ps it seems people are going more & more to places like haarlem/eindhoven/rotterdam & even breda these days instead of floating around in amsterdam from coffeeshop to coffeeshop for like 10-12 days .
I think you mean Alpha Blondy it is a good shop most of NB are but the best shops IMO are tucked away and scatered all over the city so to speak. And there is a bar below Dirty Hairys you can smoke there also Beer is cheap compared to A dam 2.50 E for .5 liters. but on weekends it can be kind rough the bar not the CS.
aradiasraven wrote:I think you mean Alpha Blondy it is a good shop most of NB are but the bset IMO are hidden so to speak. And there is a bar below Dirty Hairys you can smoke ther but on weekends can be kind rough the bar not the CS.
Thanks for the heads up on the smoker friendly "Dirty Hairys" bar,If i were to go in i would only have 1 or 2 but still its nice to spark up a joint before drinking your 2nd beer slowly.
Marken is a very quaint and interesting old fishing village. It can be reached from Central Station on bus 111. Takes about 20 minutes.
Zandvoort (as mentioned) is a nice beach area, right past Haarlem on the train. Obviously, its a summer place but I do love the beach in the winter as well. Lots of beach bars and you can rent chairs, etc.
ga wrote:i think near amsterdam the best is WEESP!
and dont lose volendam
I was just about to say volendam ,But yea thats a nice little fishing village/town there,Ps been to ijmuiden twice (passing threw) & it looked ok! they are suppose to be ww2 bunkers & stuff down that way thats well worth a look i hear.
cantona7 wrote:yea rotterdam seemed nice. but its very modern compared to amsterdam. i guess it was bombed alot in ww2 and rebuilt.
Speaking of that i noticed all the glass buildings about halfway to schiphol last time,I guess ING & Abm amro have there hq & stuff out there?.
ING have a super headquarters building that I saw passing whilst on a bike. I wanted to stop and get a picture but thought I would snap it later since I was planning on returning the same way. Sadly we got sort of lost and missed it. After asking many folks for directions, thankfully, we made it back from our outing.
Folks can google ING headquarters in the "Images"---very cool
This park was the highlight of our trip last July. I promise a travelogue soon with pictures of this park, its "sculpture garden", and art gallery.
If you like bike riding as we do, a great time is had riding the free "white bikes" on the paths. The landscape reminded me of a storybook scene...we had much of the park to ourselves (not like Vondel Park). It was great to be in a peaceful natural setting away from the hustle and bustle of crowded A'dam
Of course I like that excitement too, but, a change of pace is nice also. I researched this park and contacted them by email too for open times.
It can be quite tricky making all the connections from train to bus to shuttle before entering the place. We waited for an hour for the next bus because we didn't know where to go, and couldn't read Dutch. But even arriving late in the afternoon we saw plenty and the lighting was good because of the long daylight.
For a quick little train ride out and back in a day I would recommend Naarden. It's an original fortified town with the ramparts still intact along with many original structures. You can see it on google-maps just north of Naarden. Look on-line for Naarden Vesting. It's a do-able bicycle ride if the weather is nice. You can find a route layed out at Bikely.com.
I don't think there's any smoke shops. but we never had any trouble finding a park bench inside or outside of the walls. It's a lovely place for a picnic and a smoke.
,But yea thats a nice little fishing village/town there,Ps been to ijmuiden twice (passing threw) & it looked ok! they are suppose to be ww2 bunkers & stuff down that way thats well worth a look i hear.
