Hello All!

We are taking a 10 day trip that begins by flying into Paris, spending a few days there and in the French countryside, then ending up with a few days of sightseeing in Amsterdam before we fly back home from there. My questions are....what are the best things to see and do there? Where is the best area to stay? Any suggestions for a cheap (75-100 Euro or more if necessary to find the right accomodation), attractive and clean hotel?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

There is a lot of information about popular destinations available under the "Destinations" link in the orange banner above. Here is the file for Amsterdam:

http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgr...n=amsterdam@10

And even though the search function on this forum does not work, if you select just a country - Netherlands - (upper right) and press search, it will bring up all posts that have been indexed as country-specific by the original poster.

There's much to be read -- you will glean many ideas/answers by looking through them.

Things to do depends on what you are looking for in Amsterdam. Do you want museums, sightseeing, and clean fun? Or do you want coffeeshops, bars, and the red light district? Or do you want some of both? I prefer to stay in the Jordaan or the museum district.

If you're going in the off season (Nov-March), some very nice 3-star hotels have rates below 100 euro per night, including the Avenue Hotel and the Rho Hotel. The Tulip Inn Amsterdam Center also has sub-100 rates.

Amsterdam is so dynamic and has such a youthful spirit that you barely need do more than wander around to stay occupied. I most like to find a vantage point and a beverage to watch the combination of pedestrians, autos, taxis, bicycles, trolleys, buses and boats pass me by.

However, if you'd like a little more structure I would highly recommend the following:

Van Gogh Museum
Rijksmuseum (Check renovation status)
Anne Frank House

If you would consider bed and breakfast type accommodation, check out Boogards -(http://www.boogaardsbnb.com/) we stayed there a few months ago and were absolutely delighted with all aspects. Good location, near Leidseplein, newly renovated, spacious, nothing too much trouble for our host, Peter. All for under 100 euro per night! Have fun.

Thanks! I checked out Boogarts, and they have a Pug themed room!!! I nearly fell off my chair in excitement! I have a pug, and the room was too cute. The rest of the hotel looked wonderful as well, but alas, there are no rooms available for the entire length of time we will be there. I am trying to convince my boyfriend that we can spend a night or so there, and finish up in a different hotel for a night or so. I will let you know how we decide. I haven't yet checked out the Ams link from Fodors, but duh, why didn't I think to look there first anyway??!!

Thanks for the advice!!

We stayed at The Canal House. It is wonderful - very cozy, great breakfasts, beautiful garden, excellent staff with lots of help and advice, and right on a canal so the view is lovely. It is right around the corner from the Ann Frank house so the location is wonderful for walking to many sights. We had the front bedroom overlooking the canal which was very special - on the web site "interiors" its the photo at top left side of the right columm of pictures. I would highly recommend The Canal House as have others on this web site.

http://www.canalhouse.nl/

I used Priceline (www.priceline.com) to bid on a hotel room in Amsterdam for a week in July. I paid 100 USD (much less than 100 Euro) and ended up with a 4 star hotel - the Rennaisance-on a quiet little street near Central Station. You can't pick your hotel with Priceline, but you can pick the area and the number of stars. Quite worthwhile! Look at www.biddingfortravel.com to get a sense of what rooms are going for and suggestions for bidding strategies.

I recommend the Leidseplein area as an Amsterdam base. It is a major city transportation hub and not as seedy as the Centraal Station area. The area has restaurants ranging from Indian and Thai to a New York Steakhouse. The square, which is usually full of tourists and street performers, is less than ten minutes walking from the Rijksmuseum.

I have stayed at the Hotel Hestia, which is located along the Vondelpark and is less than five minutes walking from the Leidseplein. I believe the rate was just under E100.

bookmarking...thanks for the great info!
Rosie