First time in Amsterdam?
So much to say on Amsterdam, where do I begin? Coffee, coffeeshops, biking, stroopwafels, canals, tulips, museums? Smart shops? The Red Light District?
Amsterdam is notorious for their coffeeshop culture, and the red light district. However these are just unique features of the city.
Amsterdam is a city for everybody and that's why it is one of my favorites. For cannabis lovers, a coffeeshop provides the opportunity to legally purchase and consume marijuana. There will typically be a menu in every shop. Broken down into categories, shops with offer flower, edibles, pre rolls, concentrates, and more depending on the coffeeshop. All shops vary in style which is why you might not want to spend all your time in one shop. Coffeeshops will not allow you to consume alcohol inside, but there are bars you can find to have your beer and are also cannabis friendly. Amsterdam does a good job to provide plenty of areas for the cannabis lovers but also plenty of non smoking zones for people who don't want to be near a smoking environment.
Amsterdam has an endless amount of museums, I've seen a new museum every time I've visited and there are still so many to choose from. From the Vincent Van Gogh, to the house Ann Frank lived in, to the Ripley’s Believe it or not, the choices on museums are endless. One of my personal favorites was the “STRAAT” museum, in which you need to take the ferry just to get there.
The Red Light District is something you have to see to believe. Along with legal cannabis and psychedelics; prostitution is also legal in Amsterdam. As it is a neighborhood of Amsterdam, where as the name suggests, is filled with Red Lights. The Red Lights in the windows indicating where a prostitute will be seen because prostition is legal. Yes you read that correctly. If you decide to stroll through the Red Light District as many tourists do. You will see an endless amount of prostitutes in their glass windows, sex theaters where you can see live sex shows, tattoo parlors, coffee shops, places to get fries, donuts, bars to drink in. The Red Light District is a neighborhood where locals do live. I remember seeing a little old granny walking with her groceries through the district and then walked through a door between two prostitutes up to her apartment. One might think that is crazy, but to her and many others that is normal. There are multiple Red Lights District museums in the District as well, as I visited the “Red Lights Secrets” and would recommend it for a quick pit stop if you’re curious to how things work within that industry.
One of my favorite things about Amsterdam is how efficient their airport and trains are. Schiphol has their own train system within their airport, which means after you land you can be on a train on your way into Amsterdam in no time. Amsterdam makes a great multi-city stop for any trip, because you can count on getting to and from Schiphol Airport easily by train. Schipol offers direct flights to nearly everywhere in Europe, and Amsterdam Centraal will give you the option to reach many different cities and countries within Europe by train.
Amsterdam is must visit on your next European endeavor.
Article by @ Johnnyviaggi