Many guidebooks and travel websites rave about this popular viewpoint in the center of Amsterdam. All claim you’ll be able to see 15 bridges from one location. But is that true?
Built on 13,659 wooden piles, Amsterdam’s Royal Palace on Dam Square — which started life as the city’s Town Hall — was once described as the world’s Eight Wonder.
Though the palace is at the disposal of the Royal House, most days of the year it is open to visitors.
Founded sometime in the 14th century for the Beguines, members of a lay Catholic sisterhood, the Begijnhof is one of Amsterdam’s oldest inner courtyards — and one of the city’s best known landmarks.
Even taking into account the effects of mass tourism, the Begijnhof remains for the most part a haven of peace and tranquility in the busy center of medieval Amsterdam.
While Amsterdam’s most expensive shopping street, the P.C. Hooftstraat, was recently rated third on a list of the world’s nicest places to shop, shoppers throughout the Netherlands have selected the city’s Haarlemmerdijk and Haarlemmerstraat as, together, the nicest shopping street in Holland.
De Munt is not the type of square where you sit down at a terrace and enjoy the scenery. It is a busy junction sporting a never-ending jumble of cars, trams, bikes and people.
It is a good place from which to explore the Flower Market, nearby Rembrandtplein, or the Kalverstraat shopping district.
Amsterdammers and rich tourists avoid Damstraat and other shopping streets in the area.
That is why Amsterdam wants to see coffeeshops, mini supermarkets and tourist shops make room for luxury shops and restaurants.
Rokin is the thoroughfare between Amsterdam’s Dam square and Munt square. While it has lots a lot of its erstwhile allure, the street is rich in history.
Rokin is part of what the city of Amsterdam considers it’s ‘red carpet’ into the city.