"Some 18 million tourists flock to Amsterdam every year -- more than the entire population of the Netherlands."
Boy is that mind-boggling.
oh gee i'm probably going to be spending a year abroad in amsterdam
Had to drive a big delivery truck onto the exact streets in the picture last friday when it was 37 degrees out. I fucking hate that place
I forgot yahoonews was even a thing.
not really. its 1 million more than its population, throughout a year too. try somewhere like NYC. small city designed for 5 million, housing 8.5, tourists up to 60 million, 7 times the populace. i'd like to think the country makes a pretty penny while not having to be too overpopulated
Oh, fair enough. I suppose it does just sound more grandiose than what it might actually be. Still, the fact it's causing as many issues already is nasty.
Amsterdam is a cesspool.
thats where your track skills come into play!
I mean, those streets fit like 4 people side by side at most, holy shit
It's like visiting a badly managed themepark during a weekend in the middle of summer break. Just without any fun rides or cute mascots.
I've visited Amsterdam several times both as lads holidays, and with my partner and never once have felt unsafe or like it was out of hand or anything.
I'm personally always surprised how quickly it gets quiet after midnight, and how non-threatening it all is (atleast compared to spending a saturday night on the town at home). And while it has it's seedy side; brothels, sex shows etc it always felt more silly and mildly titillating rather than anything too deep.
I feel for residents of the city, but at the same time residents complain about tourists in pretty much every major/tourist city.
Maybe it's because I went there in January but I found it to be very nice. I assume it's a bit like Maga in the summer though.
I think you got that comparison wrong. You were comparing the tourists in Amsterdam to the population of the entire country, rather than the population of the city. NYC's tourists outnumber the population by a factor of 7, but Amsterdam's tourists outnumber the population by a factor of 20.
I don't know what's worse. The Brits in Magaluf or the Germans at Ballermann.
pretty much true, yup
i went to amsterdam once for the annual dance event that gets held there, one of the places we decided to visit was in the middle of amsterdam, we had to walk quite a ways to get there. when we went back to the hotel after the night, we started in one very long lane where we saw a cop car responding to a call, was pretty small. mind you we were both extremely damn tired, a little buzzed, so needless to say we didn't walk that fast. within the span of less than a kilometre we saw a dude so goddamn drunk and high he was pretty much dying or some shit, ambulances had to come over, a stabbing incident, a fight, another stabbing incident, a dude on pcp or some shit trying to stir a bunch of nonsense, and that was amidst all the obnoxious dude weed lmao culture tourists. the same cop car we saw at the beginning of the street, we saw respond to all these incidents
there really aren't enough police to handle the cesspool that is amsterdam
fuck i'm going there on holiday in like 3 weeks
as long as you don't go to the overly visited places at night you'll be fine
Which areas are those?
When you come to the Netherlands, stay clear of Amsterdam and visit some of the other great cities we have here.
If you want to see canals in a city, go to Utrecht.
If you want to smoke weed, do truffles or something else, go literally anywhere but Amsterdam.
Here's a list of cities you could visit instead of Amsterdam:
The Hague, Leiden, Scheveningen, Utrecht, Nijmegen, Breda, Maastricht (there's many more great cities I may have missed)
Want to go to a authentic Dutch theme park with some kick-ass rides? Go to the Efteling in Kaatsheuvel.
Check out the Keukenhof between Amsterdam and Leiden to see "the garden of Europe".
Want to buy shitty quality coke, speed or mdma? Go to Amsterdam
Want to buy over-priced weed? Go to Amsterdam
Want to get your pockets picked clean? Go to Amsterdam
Want to get harassed? Go to Amsterdam
Well that's all good and dandy but I'm also going there for work, so I don't have much of a choice. But thanks for reassuring me !
Same with Barcelona, except without the rampant gun murders and actually corrupt government.
They're the two places I really don't ever want to visit, Amsterdam is likely really nice during the day but the whole night life does not interest me at all, it just screams sex, booze and drugs.
If I wanted that I'd just go a few miles into another town to get the same shit for a fifth of the cost.
This. Amsterdam is one of the most overrated places in Europe.
If you're going to work there you'll adjust fast enough. Try not to look like a tourist and you'll blend in fine. Just walk to your destination, look forward mostly and take no pictures if you have valuables on you. Try and get comfortable with how stuff works in Amsterdam like public transportation.
Asian tourists are among the most targeted because they look very obviously like tourists. Also never take a cab ride from someone asking you if you need a taxi. Go to a taxi point, step in the taxi at the front of the line of taxi's and never accept a fixed price. Let that meter run.
Where's the "useful" rating when you need it? Cheers man!
Cities like amsterdam and barcelona still rank among some of the safest in the world in multiple categories including safe city index. Obviously amsterdam has a reputation for drug tourism (not just weed) which is true but it's still a nice city both imo and statistically. Its gonna be a den of decadence compared to some quaint dutch village and im sure the locals dont appreciate the nightlife being invariably populated by tourists and addicts on 1000 mics of lsd in the hotspots
Dont be intimidated into not traveling, most users here probably live in far more dangerous cities
Amsterdam isn't exactly the safest place at night, but it's hardly a lawless jungle. On crime indexes it appears to be quite safe. In fact, the crime rate is surprisingly low. On the crime index it ranks lower (lower being safer and less crime) than the following European cities: Naples, Manchester, Brussels, Paris, Oslo, Milan, London, Leeds, Bologna, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Lisbon, to just name a few. Based on data from 2017, it is on #73 out of 129, with #1 being the most dangerous European city.
It really isn't a dangerous city. It is overhyped though. Practically any other Dutch city is more fun to visit IMO. Even if you only come for the weed, you could literally go to any other Dutch city.
What's a good Dutch city for art and culture?
I have to be a hypocrite, Amsterdam is great if you want art. The Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum are both located there, which is pretty much Amsterdam's saving grace in my opinion. The Hague has a few good museums, like the Escher museum and Madurodam, a miniature park depicting a Dutch city and many important buildings and landmarks, including the Rijksmuseum.
You can also head towards the east, in the province of Gelderland. There's the Kröller-Müller museum, which has a large collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings. In Arnhem there is the Netherlands Open Air Museum, which is 44 hectares of old Dutch culture. While you're there, you might as well visit the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek. It is housed in the former British headquarters for the battle of Arnhem. It houses an extensive collection of original firearms, equipment, uniforms and vehicles, and it has pretty cool set of dioramas in the large basement. It's a 20 minute walk from there to the war cemetery, where 1759 Allied servicemen lie. That puts the whole airborne museum in a new perspective.
That's most of the Dutch cultural and art museums I know personally are worth visiting.
amsterdam was lovely in my experience, but that's probably because i spent my entire time there hanging about the rijksmuseum. i did go to flevoland right after but regretted it immensely.
I'm saving this list for later, I'm going on a bike tour in a week and planned on stopping by Amsterdam. Had no idea it was considered to be so bad.
I guess that's what tourism can do.
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