About DutchAmsterdam.com

DutchAmsterdam — We’re the locals

This travel and visitors guide to Amsterdam, Holland, is a website written and operated by a handful of Amsterdam locals – not by paid professionals, tourist office officials, or any other agency. ¹

But people who have used this website in planning their visit, or whom we have met and guided around in person, do refer to us as “The Amsterdam Experts”.

Fact is, we love this city and enjoy sharing our knowledge and enthusiasm with others.

Amsterdam is truly the world’s most unique city; a thriving, world-class metropolis in pocket format.

DutchAmsterdam’s Publishers

Anton and Janet Hudson live and work in Amsterdam.

Anton was born on a houseboat in the center of Amsterdam, right across from the iconic Westertoren, and what later became the Anne Frank House museum.

Having lived in nearly every district since then, he knows the city like his own back pocket.

Janet was born in England and raised in Ireland before moving to Amsterdam 35+ years ago. Even to date she brings an expat’s perspective to the DutchAmsterdam website.

A handful of friends help us with fact checking and updates to various articles, as well as with social media goodness.

Amsterdam Is Joined at the Hip With Serendipity

We could easily fill this page with tourist-brochure prose describing what Amsterdam is all about. But Amsterdam is best experienced in person, and experience shows that the best way to enjoy this city is to simply wander around, browsing and sampling all that it has to offer.

There is so much to see, do, taste and otherwise enjoy around every corner that you’ll soon find yourself adopting Amsterdam’s laid-back attitude.

Most first-time tourists try and plan their trip to the minute — only to find out once they are here that Amsterdam is joined at the hip with serendipity. This is a city where you discover and enjoy things by happy chance.

That’s what we do as well: while we’ve got our favorite spots and hangouts, we often get off the proverbial ‘beaten track’ to find new surprises all the time.

That’s the same way we approach this web site. You’ll find that using DutchAmsterdam is much like wandering through Amsterdam itself: you’ll enjoy the sights, discover unique shops, decide to sample the food and drink at a local cafe or two, and happen upon lots of other things to see and do.

Basic, No-Nonsense Information About Amsterdam

At the same time our aim is to provide basic, no-nonsense information about Amsterdam. Quick facts you can use in planning your visit. Like so:

• The best way to get to and from the airport
• How to buy public transport tickets ahead of your visit
• Where to stay: hotels, youth hostels, bed and breakfast, campings…
• Places to see (tourist attractions, museums, unique sights)
• Where to shop (We’ll guide you to Amsterdam’s best-loved stores and boutiques)
• Things to do and Tourist traps to avoid
• Eating and Drinking (from ‘brown cafes’ and coffee shops to restaurants)
• Things to do, and lots of other stuff, including:
• Practical information about transportation, the weather, the money, safety, churches, and so on…

In preparing this web site we rely on our own experience as well as the input of friends, family members and acquaintances. We’d also love to hear from you.

Amsterdam Is People

Oh, here’s something else we’d like you to know: Amsterdam is all about people. All kinds of people, from all manner of backgrounds — with a wide variety of skin colors, beliefs, hopes and dreams. Rich, poor, and everything in-between.

Did you know that Amsterdam is home to people of 180 nationalities?

Regardless of what you normally pack when traveling, when you visit Amsterdam the one thing you cannot do without is an open mind.

As locals, we’re proud of our city. And we’re proud of all the people who make it Amsterdam ‘Amsterdam’:

Why ‘Dutch Amsterdam’?

No big story, really. When we started to look for a suitable domain name the plain ‘Amsterdam-dot-something’ sites were already taken — some of them by people who wanted to sell them for more money than we’ve ever even seen.

So we looked for alternatives, and since a number of cities are called ‘Amsterdam’ (mostly in the U.S.), we thought it would be a good idea to show that this site is about the only original Amsterdam — the Dutch one: Dutch Amsterdam — or DutchAmsterdam, if you will.

The DutchAmsterdam Team — The Amsterdam Experts

And yes, you can contact us.