Visitor Information in Amsterdam

Amsterdam and Beyond

The VVV (Netherlands Board of Tourism) has several offices around Amsterdam. The office in Centraal Station is open Tues.-Sat. 10-6:15; the one on Stationsplein, opposite Centraal Station, is open daily 7-7; on Leidseplein, Mon.-Sat. 10-7:30, Sun. 12-7; and at Schiphol Airport, daily 7 am-10 pm. Hours at all offices except Schiphol may vary slightly with the seasons. Each VVV within Holland has information principally on its own region.

Every town in Belgium has an official tourist office with key visitor's information, maps, and calendars of events. The helpful staff is usually trilingual (English, French, and Flemish). The offices might close for an hour at lunchtime, but during the high season they might stay open past 6. Offices in the main destinations are open on weekends as well as weekdays.

Amsterdam and the Netherlands Tourist Information

VVV—Netherlands Board of Tourism. Spoor 2b/Platform 2b, Centraal Station, Centrum, Amsterdam. 020/201-8880. www.iamsterdam.com. Stationsplein 10, Centraal Station, 1012 AB.

Leidseplein 26, Leidseplein, 1017 PT.

Schiphol Airport, Badhoevedorp, 1118 AP.

Hofweg 1, The Hague, 2511 AA. 0900/340-3505 regional specialists.

Coolsingel 195-197, Rotterdam, 3012 AG. 010/271-0120 regional specialists.

Belgian National Tourist Office

Belgian Office of Tourism. Rue Marché aux Herbes 61-63, Brussels, B1000. 02/504-0390.

In the U.S. 220 E. 42nd St., Suite 3402, New York, NY, 10017. 212/758-8130.

Online Travel Tools

Amsterdam and the Netherlands

For a guide to what's happening in Holland, the official site for the Netherlands Board of Tourism is us.holland.com. The official Amsterdam site is www.iamsterdam.com. More information is found at www.visitamsterdam.nl. Other general sites are www.amsterdamhotspots.nl and www.amsterdam.info. www.channels.nl is a Web site that guides you through the city with the help of many colorful photographs. The American Society of Travel Agents is at www.asta.org. For rail information and schedules, go to www.ns.nl. For airport information, go to www.schiphol.nl. For flight information and reservations on KLM/Northwest, the national carrier, go to www.klm.com; check out the low tariffs to other European destinations on www.easyjet.com, www.ryanair.com, and, for budget travelers, www.airfair.nl. One of the most informative English-language Web sites about the Netherlands is at www.expatica.com. www.dutchnews.nl offers a daily digest in English of the top domestic news stories in the Netherlands. Shark is a free newspaper with alternative listings; their site is at www.underwateramsterdam.com. Go to www.citymundo.com to view City Mundo's creative city-specialist directory of accommodations. Make bookings online with Nederlands Reserverings Centrum (the Dutch hoteliers' reservation service) at www.hotelres.nl. For budget accommodations, try www.stayokay.com, which provides comprehensive information for the Netherlands—just click on "English" to access all information. Hostelling International has a site for worldwide reservations at www.iyhf.org. For information on car-breakdown rescue service, camping, biking, hiking, and water sports, go to www.anwb.nl, the Dutch Touring Club. Go to www.raileurope.com for pan-Europe ticket sales, for U.S. residents, which also has links to sites for Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and British residents. You'll find these at the top of the screen. At www.weer.nl you can find weather forecasts for the Netherlands (in Dutch but with figures and visuals so it's accessible). For a fun site where you can learn a bit of Dutch, go to www.learndutch.org. Virtually all cities and towns have individual tourism Web sites.