Hello. I will be travelling to Amsterdam in mid-September mid-week alone. This is my 1st trip there and I'm curious as to what a single 40-ish woman can do there. Dinners and safe evening activites are of particular interest; I can find tours, etc online. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

I was 5 days solo, first trip to Amsterdam last August. Had a great time!

My best advise is... I highly recommend staying in the Leidseplein or Vondelpark districts of the city (not the central area around The Dam, train station, RLD). I had no formal agenda and mostly just wandered around. You will easily *feel* what areas are safe and when you cross into one that is a bit "shady". I had no problems at all.

I had dinner a few nights at a fun Greek restaurant near my hotel. Also a couple times was so tired & found a fantastic Italian food-to-go shop and took a wonderful dinner and bottle of wine back to my hotel room.

One evening was up in the Leidseplein main square and saw an amazing street performance by two fire-dancers. Just stuff like that. Enjoy!!

Oh yes, and look into the Connexxion hotel shuttle service as a means of getting to/from the airport. It was only 10euro one-way or 18euro round-trip and looped thru a long list of hotels. Very smooth.

Oops, I mean there were many participating hotels, when we boarded the driver asked where each passenger was staying and we only stopped at those places. Was actually a nice, quick overview of several parts of the city.

Thank you, Suze. I appreciate the suggestions. Anyone else? I'm getting very excited about this upcoming adventure!

funtraveller,
I also was by myself on my first trip to Amsterdam. Had no problem whatsoever filling up my time with museum going, etc. Suze's suggestions of just wandering and walking will ring completely true to you as soon as you get there. I fell totally in love with the city my first evening, just walking along the canals. Dusk seemed magical in Amsterdam, so perhaps you can get a boat tour at that time.
The core of Amsterdam is quite small and walkable. Don't worry about wandering into the Red Light District - I did so several times as I was orienting myself. Just use common city smarts, and avoid the darker, smaller streets in the area at night.
You'll have a great time. We want to hear about it!

Thanks! Any hotels you recommend? This is getting exciting... I cannot wait to get there and report back.

I'm not normally a big researcher, but since it was my first trip I bought "Let's Go Amsterdam" guidebook and thought it was helpful. Also used www.amsterdamhotspots.nl which is a great website. Check for hotels there.

I stayed a Hotel Kap, although I liked the location, I booked a tiny single with private shower/sink but a shared toilet down the hall (57 Euro). Although clean and safe, with a nice breakfast, next trip I'd spring for something a little nicer, honestly.

I went walking one day all over central, in the red light district (very interesting), went to the 'sex museum' which was a hoot. I didn't feel unsafe, but simply that the canal district, Leidseplein, Vondelpark as I mentioned before was soooo much cleaner, colorful, and more beautiful.

funtraveller,
I used the bookings.nl site to get a hotel room. If you can wait to reserve until shortly before you go, (which may not be advisable in September) many hotels offer "last-minute" rates through this site.
I've stayed in two different areas in Amsterdam. The first was on the edges of the central area, at the NH Doelen. It was o.k., but I enjoyed staying in the Canal Ring area much more - quieter, and, for a nocturnal walker like myself, it felt more residential and safer.
Check out the Seven Bridges - it's an upscale B&B in a quiet but very accessible area. I walked in to inquire about rooms and liked the atmosphere and people very much.
Look up a recent post about hotels in the canal ring area - the Ambassade is very popular and has a delightful spa on its premises.

Just adding my two bits.
We stayed at the Jolly Carlton Hotel in Amsterdam...can't remember the street address but it's close to Rembrandtplein (?). We liked the hotel very much and loved the area. It's kind of in the middle of just about everything. We walked everywhere. Leidsplein is extremely the bomb!! Loved that area.
One thing that I'd encourage you to do while you're there is to see the Boom Chicago show. It's in the Leidsplein square and is VERY funny. It's an improv thing and it's done by Americans and I laughed so hard I almost peed!
I agree with the previous posters...you'll feel which areas are safe and which are not. The area around the train station tends to "feel" a little bit sleazy at night so...
The Red Light District at night is a must! I wouldn't worry too much about safety in that area. There are so many tourists walking in that area that you just have to feel safe . As dovima said, use street smarts and avoid any dark lonely looking streets in that area. There are drug addicts in the Red Light District's "China Town" area so be careful going in there. On the whole though we felt pretty safe walking around at night (of course we went in July when 10:00 at night looks like 12:00 noon!
Have fun!

funtraveller, I (50-ish) had 4 solo days in Amsterdam last September. I stayed at the Ambassade. For my first (and maybe only time in Amsterdam), I had to stay in a canal hotel. I had one of the attic rooms (just what I wanted) and loved the location. I thought it was very central.
As Suze has suggested, use the connexxion shuttle from the airport. Even though my hotel was not a 'drop off' hotel, the driver stopped beside the Herengracht and pointed me in the right direction.
I walked everywhere for 4 days. Amsterdam is very flat and so easy to get around.
Do take a canal cruise, either during the day or evening. I ate at restaurants in the vicinity of my hotel and never once did I feel unsafe. I only ventured into the red light district on one occassion, and that was because I wanted to visit the Amstelkring Museum.
The rest of the time I spent visiting museums, wandering around or people watching.
I hope you enjoy Amsterdam as much as I did.

don't wait to make your hotel reservations. Amsterdam fills up very quickly. I once made a trip not knowing that there was a conference scheduled - I started looking for a hotel a month in advance and could not find anything (under 300 euros that is - not).

boat tours are a good idea, and you must know the typical stuff to visit - Anne Frank's house, the various museums, etc. if you have enough time give yourself one day to visit something outside of Amsterdam - it's quite flat so perhaps a bike ride.

I would definitely take a canal cruise, and if you drink beer, the Heineken Brewery has an excellent tour.

Rent a bike and blend in with the locals (or at least try). It's less taxing on the feet, easier to get around, quicker, and will give you a chance to explore more of the city so you can decide in which areas you want to spend more time.

As for hotel discounts, give Priceline a try after familiarizing yourself with successful and unsuccessful bids on www.biddingfortravel.com/. You can save big bucks on a quality hotel like the Renaissance, Marriott, Radisson SAS, etc.

I second cal776's suggestion to rent a bike. We sure wish we had done that...but thought about it too late! Ride through Vondelpark...or you can rent skates as well. You can also do a bike tour of the city...it looked like fun although we didn't do one.

Agree with the Leidesplein suggestion - I stayed at the Hotel Acro which is in the middle of the museum district and a block from the main square of the Leidesplein (please ignore my speling!)
The Heineken tour is fun plus you get a few free beers and you can try and pour your own (plus drink the failures). The Van Gogh museum is superb as in the Reichtsmuseum (again, spelling?) As for the red light district, the main drag was okay, but a lot of the side streets were a bad idea and we saw a number of groups of men hanging around even in the fairly busy parts hassling single people as they walked past. Don't let it put you off but don't let them try and give you anything (try keeping you hands in your pockets). A local friend told me that they can try and put someting (drugs, anything) in your hand and when you drop it, they threaten you for the money. I don't normally listen to that sort of thing but since it was a local that told me.........
Also, the canal boat trip is fun enough, but I didn't reallise how many half sunk and abandoned boats there were in the canals.
If you like Jazz there is a fantastic little bar down one of the side streets of the main square of the leidesplein called Cafe Alto - real dark and smokey but with fantastic live Jazz every night we were there. It only opens at 9pm and we used to watch the barman getting more and more hammered on schnapps as the night went on!

I would only rent a bike in central Amsterdam if you can: talk on your cell phone, hold an umbrella, smoke a cigarette, and ride that bike while wearing a short skirt and high heels and not get run down by a tram while doing so!!!

(Just kidding, but only a little bit. They take their bikes very seriously! In Vondelpark would be good though, even new locals go there to practice first.)

ooops, forgot to say, stayed at the Acro because it was a decent area, basic but en-suite and cheap enough.
Never felt anything but cold (and sometimes drunk) walking around that area (it was January this year I went)

Amsterdam is a great place to stay in september. For a hotels is the recommended Vondelpark area ok but you can try a hotel in "De Jordaan" it's the old center (but just away from the noisy streets around central station) with lots of small restaurants en bars around the corners and the Anne Frank museum is around the corner. You can do Amsterdam alone verry good but if you want to take a tour try the walking tour of the Jordaan, cancal boat/water bike, guided bike tour(good impression of the city) and even the red light tour is great (but walking there alone is absolutely no problem and you'll be surprised by all the bars and restaurants). Bookings by the tourist office (VVV in Dutch). Also very nice is the museumboat hopping around and saving on a canal cruise. Do not forget to pay a visit to new Amsterdam: the old Docks area (Eilanden).
Travelling by foot, bike or tram(buy day tickets)are great and easy. If you've got time to spend around Amsterdam do so, but not on a tour visit those tourist places on your own by public transport or rent a car. A day trip to The Hague or the beach/dunes is also nice to do.
Enjoy your stay

Cant add much to the good advice above, just wanted to add to the pep talk, you'll have a great time! I went to Amsterdam solo - I felt very comfortable there alone. But as a bonus, I met some great fellow travelers (now friends) and it made it all the better!

funtraveller,
I will be there Sept21-25th. I am a single traveler too. If you are there on those dates, what to hook up for a drink?