Ámsterdam is probably the most famous city of The Netherlands, specially by the tourists. However, Dutch people don't find it so good, one of the reasons are tourists, who make the city busy and crowded. What attract those loads of people? Cannabis and prostitutes (at least in most of the cases). If you only know that, then you should know there is much more than drugs and sex.
As most of you know, The Netherlands has a tolerance stance to the use of soft drugs. It means that cannabis (and also hash) is sold in coffee shops. Only they can sell them and no more than 5 grs per person. To be able to enter inside a coffee shop and buy you must be above 18. You may think that smoke cannabis is legal, but it's not nor its use on the street. Ironically, cannabis plantations aren't allowed, so the source where the coffee shops get their product is unknown, for this reason, no quality controls are done.
About the red light district, it is in the centre of the city and there are no big banners or whatever anouncing you're in. Actually, you can stay in a ice cream shop and get into the district just crossing the street. Once you're in, you'll see a lot of coffee shops, cannabis museums and big windows with prostitutes waiting for clients. It's a crowded place mainly by tourists (both guys and girls) and some local people. Also, it can be found "theatres" offering live sex performances. The district is composed of three islands, so it's not very big. While prostitution is legal (the girls have their insurance, taxes...) it can only be done inside the rooms, prostitution on streets is illegal. Besides, not all girls are doing that voluntarily, so the system isn't perfect.
Once the most famous issues have been described let's talk about the cultural activities. There are 75 musuems in Amsterdam (via http://www.amsterdam.info/es/museos/). Some of the most famous are Anne Frank Huis (the house of Anne Frank), Rijkmuseum, Van Gogh's museum and Museum Het Rembrandthuis. There are also other not so well-known museums, such as the one about torture, cannabis... If you want to visiti one of the great museums be ready to wait queue of more than two hours, I'd recommend you to book the tickets if possible, and if you're planning to visit several of them, think about the museumkaart. It is a card which costs 50 euro, it can be bought in any museum and let you enter for free in almost all the museums (not only in Amsterdam but among The Netherlands). It is valuable because of two main reasons, Dutch museum are usually around 20 euro, so if you're going to visit some of them you'll save money. Besides, having the card let you go into the museum in a very much shorter queue (maybe 45 mins instead of the 3-4 hours one) so you'll save time.
Also, if you like cinema, you must have a look at Pathé Tuschinski Bioscoop. It's a cinema which looks like a theatre, so the experience of watching a movie there it's impressive. In The Netherkands all the movies are in original version with Dutch subtitles, so as lon as you can understan English you'll enjoy the film. The inside of the cinema is amazing and worth at least a visit to the hall.
To finish, here are some photos from Amsterdam.
Once the most famous issues have been described let's talk about the cultural activities. There are 75 musuems in Amsterdam (via http://www.amsterdam.info/es/museos/). Some of the most famous are Anne Frank Huis (the house of Anne Frank), Rijkmuseum, Van Gogh's museum and Museum Het Rembrandthuis. There are also other not so well-known museums, such as the one about torture, cannabis... If you want to visiti one of the great museums be ready to wait queue of more than two hours, I'd recommend you to book the tickets if possible, and if you're planning to visit several of them, think about the museumkaart. It is a card which costs 50 euro, it can be bought in any museum and let you enter for free in almost all the museums (not only in Amsterdam but among The Netherlands). It is valuable because of two main reasons, Dutch museum are usually around 20 euro, so if you're going to visit some of them you'll save money. Besides, having the card let you go into the museum in a very much shorter queue (maybe 45 mins instead of the 3-4 hours one) so you'll save time.
Also, if you like cinema, you must have a look at Pathé Tuschinski Bioscoop. It's a cinema which looks like a theatre, so the experience of watching a movie there it's impressive. In The Netherkands all the movies are in original version with Dutch subtitles, so as lon as you can understan English you'll enjoy the film. The inside of the cinema is amazing and worth at least a visit to the hall.
To finish, here are some photos from Amsterdam.
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