Amsterdam was my first city to visit. It is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country.
I arrived by train in the Amsterdam Cebtraal Station because is the closest station to the centre. There you have to visit, to sum up, all Amsterdam central with the canals, shops, parks, museums and the Red Light District.
There, you can find the Bulldog coffee shop one of the most visited coffee shops in Amsterdam where you can take a rest next to a canal.
If you are hungry, you can buy Dutch croquettes and French fries everywhere because it’s the typical Holland food.
Furthermore, if you want to enjoy another day more, you can find a lot of hotels and hostels. In my case I went to go to sleep in the Citizen M Hotel where you can go by the line 15 tram, it is an upscale hotel but it is the cheapest.
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Amsterdam. The city is an indicative of the city's origin: a dam in the river Amstel. The city is the financial and cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and 7 of the world's top 500 companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city.
Amsterdam's main attractions, including its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, Anne Frank House, its red-light district, and its many cannabis coffee shops draw more than 3.66 million international visitors annually, as of 2009.
Transport Amsterdam is one of the most bicycle-friendly large cities in the world and is a centre of bicycle culture with good facilities for cyclists such as bike paths and bike racks, which pervade the city. 38% of all journeys in the city are made by bicycle. In the city centre, driving a car is discouraged parking fees are expensive (5€/hour), and many streets are closed to cars or are one-way. Public transport in Amsterdam mainly consists of bus and tram lines, operated by Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf, Connexxionand Arriva.
Currently, there are 16 different tramlines and a freight tram operation is being developed. There are currently four metro lines, with a fifth line, the North/South line, under construction. Approximately 35% of all people travelling in Amsterdam use public transport.
Amsterdam Centraal is also an international train station. From the station there are regular services to destinations such as Austria, Belarus, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark,France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Switzerland. Among these trains are international trains of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen and the Thalys(Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris-Cologne), CityNightLine, and InterCityExpress. Eurolines has coaches from Amsterdam to destinations all over Europe.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is less than 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central Station. It is the biggest airport in the Netherlands, the fifth largest in Europe, and the twelfth largest in the world in terms of passengers. It handles about 46 million passengers a year and is the home base of three airlines, KLM, transavia.com and Martinair. Schiphol was, in 2006, the third busiest airport in the world measured by international passengers.
