Recommend my first ever coffeeshop

[Lamont]

Hi folks,

I'll be visiting Amsterdam for the first time later in August. I get in around 9pm on a Friday night. Hotel is in the Centrum near Singel. Looking for recommendations on where to experience my first C/S.

I'm thinking I'll be pretty overwhelmed at first so I'm looking for a chill/friendly vibe that wouldn't be packed at that time of night.

I've already read a bunch of reviews and have my shortlist of Shops for my visit, but it would be fun to hear your suggestion on where I should lose my Amsterdam "virginity"!

Thanks!

[schererbuzz]

There are several, but can't go wrong with 420/De Kuil.

[Lamont]

There are several, but can't go wrong with 420/De Kuil.

Yep that one is definitely in the running, sounds like a friendly place and of course Burger Bar is close by....

Any other suggestions?

[chichi]

Old Church. Take a quick left. You can pray and drink and smoke and watch red lights all together.

[StonedSince67]

Looking for recommendations on where to experience my first C/S.

well, my suggestion is anywhere but basjoe

why? ... because it would spoil you for the rest imo

go to other places for the first day or two ... 420 cafe (de Kuil) is an excellent shop and i love their super silver haze ... yo-yo is a quiet coffeeshop / cafe / art gallery with outdoor organic weed, a nice 60s feel and a great apple tart (12 noon to 8pm) ... the dampkring group (dampkring, dampkring2 and tweede kamer) has good gear and well worth a visit or two to any of their shops ... amnesia is a great shop and not too far from centraal station so would be easy to get to on the night you arrive

and then go to basjoe ... it is a great cafe and coffeeshop, the budtender james is great and though the menu is small by some standards the product is always in great condition for preparing by hand and smoking pure ... and ps it is the one with the Original Formula, that very important ingredient which makes it special

enjoy your trip ... and please please watch out for the fast and crazy bicycles ... get stoned but stay safe

[Lamont]

Looking for recommendations on where to experience my first C/S.

and then go to basjoe ... it is a great cafe and coffeeshop, the budtender james is great and though the menu is small by some standards the product is always in great condition for preparing by hand and smoking pure

Thanks very much for your advice. Basjoe is defintely on my list and I'll probably take your advice and go over there on Sunday instead of Friday night. Amnesia is on my list too and it's very close to my hotel. One other shop I definitely want to check out is Grey Area (that Casey Jones that is in some of the recent trip reports looks amazing!). However t I think I read somewhere that they close early?

Any way seems like de Kuil or Amnesia are some good choices for a spot that I can start with and still manage to find my way back to my hotel from in the dark.

Thanks for your reply!

[Uncle Ron]

Thanks very much for your advice. Basjoe is defintely on my list and I'll probably take your advice and go over there on Sunday instead of Friday night. Amnesia is on my list too and it's very close to my hotel. One other shop I definitely want to check out is Grey Area (that Casey Jones that is in some of the recent trip reports looks amazing!). However t I think I read somewhere that they close early?

Any way seems like de Kuil or Amnesia are some good choices for a spot that I can start with and still manage to find my way back to my hotel from in the dark.

Thanks for your reply!

Make sure you check out the various maps of C/S locations, which you probably already have but I thought I would mention anyway. You definitely will find more than a handful of decent shops close to where you are staying. SS'67 gave a nice list of shops which should do you right, especially Basjoes.

Lastly, take a look at Amsterdam using Google Maps, or NAVTEQ Map24 http://www.de.map24.com/ for example. Place the pointer in the middle of The Dam. If you drew a circle with a one mile radius from this point, every C/S within the 5 major canal area is included. Of course this is all moot if your intent is to fall out of bed and into a C/S. Just something to think about. The Centrum isn't that large of an area, so ground can be covered quite quickly on foot, doubly so by bike.

Have fun.