Frommer's Amsterdam (Frommer's Complete Guides) [Paperback]

George McDonald (Author)

Book Description

Series: Frommer's Complete Guides | Publication Date: February 25, 2005

Frommer's Amsterdam (13th Edition) is the only guide you'll need to plan the perfect trip to this vibrant, attractive city. Amsterdam is far more complex than its dated reputation as a hippie haven suggests, and we give you the best of both worlds—from the Red Light District to the Van Gogh Museum, from "smoking coffeeshops" to an evening at the Concertgebouw. It's all gezellig to Amsterdammers. Frommer's Amsterdam gives you insider tips on the best museums, big and small; the best antique shops in the Spiegelgracht quarter; the best restaurants for French, modern Dutch, or the Indonesian feast rijsttafel walking tours and biking tours along the Golden Age Canal and the Amstel River; plus information for side trips to Rotterdam, The Hague, Gouda, and other cities.

You'll also find candid reviews of a huge selection of accommodations in all price ranges, from romantic B&Bs to family-friendly hotels. Plus you'll get the latest trip-planning advice on everything from bargain airfares to customs requirements, money-saving tips, and a complete shopper's guide. You'll even get a free color fold-out map, a Dutch vocabulary list, and an online directory that makes trip-planning a snap!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer. Frommer's. The best trips start here.

• Insider tips on the best bars, brown cafés, and smoking coffeeshops—plus the Dutch quest for gezelligheid.
• Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.
• Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget.
• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

About the Author

George McDonald has lived and worked in Amsterdam as deputy editor of the inflight magazine for KLM. Now a freelance journalist and travel writer, he has written extensively on Amsterdam and the Netherlands for magazines and for travel books that include Frommer’s Belgium, Holland & Luxembourg; Frommer’s Europe; and Frommer’s Europe from $70 a Day. He is also the author of Frommer’s Irreverent Guide to Amsterdam.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Frommer's; 1st edition (February 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076457664X
• ISBN-13: 978-0764576645
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,710,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not up to Frommer's usual quality, July 20, 2005

By 

Jeff in Philly "Jeff in Philly" (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's Amsterdam (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

We travel a lot and always get a Frommer's Guide the first time we visit a new place. In general these guides are full of useful information, accurate maps and excellent sight-seeing suggestions and lists of restaurants. We have found this to be true of the Frommer's Guides to France, Provence, Germany, London, Spain and Norway.

This Amsterdam guide did not live up to our expectations. It's not that the book is "terrible", but we consistently found inaccuracies and, as others have said here, were often left wondering if the author George McDonald actually ate at the restaurants he recommends. One could reasonably suspect that the appearance of some of these restaurants' names in the guide were paid endorsements. (A particular recommendation for Indonesian food, which one can find in abundance in Amsterdam, was especially suspicious, as it was overpriced and nowhere near the quality of other restaurants we visited).

We always like to walk when visiting a city, and this Amsterdam Guide contains several long walking tours. We tried almost all of them, and invariably gave up and headed in our own direction. The maps provided with the walking tours had inaccuracies serious enough to really throw us off (street names off by an entire block), and included ridiculous "points of interest" -- in one case he sends you off to see the site of a historic orphanage, when in fact the orphanage is gone and now replaced by the new Ballet house, an unattractive steel and glass monstrosity. He even goes so far as to explain that the orphanage "used" to stand there. What's the point? Does Mr. McDonald really not think that Amsterdam has enough existing points-of-interest that he has to send us off to the ones that aren't there anymore?

Further, the tear-out folding map that comes with the book contains little more than street names -- there are inexplicably no references to points-of-interest mentioned in the book, or even major landmarks.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A real disappointment., November 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Amsterdam (9th ed) (Paperback)

I bought this book for my first trip to Amsterdam. The basic info is sound but there were some problems. The most annoying is that key parts of maps end up in the middle (binding) making them difficult to read. The restaurant reviews were in inaccurate and left the reader wondering whether anyone from Frommers had been in the restaurant. In summary the book is OK but there are better ones on the market.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good, basic travel guide, November 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Amsterdam (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

I just took this book to Amsterdam. I found it to be very helpful. The books features maps dedicated to a single subject (such as a restaurant map, a hotel map, etc.). We used these extensively. The Frommer's Irreverent Guides have more candid and entertaining reviews (including information on coffeeshops, which this book essentially skips), but this book is an excellent one-stop source of travel information. If you're only bringing one guide to Amsterdam, this one will do the job well. If you can pack two, bring along the Irreverent Guide (or something similarly hip).