Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Amsterdam (City Travel Guide)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

excellent guide book; comprehensive, easy to browse and no fluff. gives sufficient background in separate sections, which if willing, can be skipped. gives suggestions for all sort of activities, including dancing, drinking, smoking, museums and other touristy activities. it breaks the city into quadrants, which makes it easy to navigate and not get overwhelmed with information. the pull out color map is very handy.

I've visited 44 countries, mostly on a budget, and Lonely Planet is THE only book I would consider using. It's throrough, comprehensive and concise. It's especially geared for the budget/adventure traveler, though it would also prove useful to anyone on a tour or cruise. Lonely Planet is packed with maps, useful phrases, history lessons, tips on culture & conduct, addresses and descriptions of museums, hotels, restaurants - everything you need. Though Lonely Planet leans towards those of us who travel in hostels and budget hotels, it also gives a good description of hotels and restaurants for those who wish to travel in a more luxurious manner. There are other good travel books out there - Eyewitness Guides, etc - that have a lot of beautiful photos - but unless you're traveling with a steamer trunk, these are of little use because they lack the information you'll need while on the road. Look at the others for inspiration before you go, if you'd like, but pack your Lonely Planet. I'd never travel without it.

Not a bad guide for the Dam as there's a ton of useful information and plenty of maps. I also found the pages on Haarlem useful. Amsterdam can be an overwhelming place with it's zillions of tourists (even in mid-September) and bicycles, but it's still very picturesque and there's nowhere else really like it. This book got me around without any problems so I can't complain. As for Amsterdam itself, meh, it's a bit overripe at this point and I was ready to leave after a few days, but that's certainly not Lonely Planet's fault. I recommend this guide to fellow travelers for it's practicality and its maps.

One tip for travelers seeking budget accommodation: check out Zaandvort. It's a beach town about 27 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central Station and we found a studio apartment there for a heck of a lot less than what the worst dives available in Amsterdam were charging for a twin room with zero amenities. The beach in Zaandvort isn't world class or anything, but it's kind of a cool place in that nearly everyone you'll meet there will be Dutch, as opposed to the opposite being true in Amsterdam!

I recently came back from Amsterdam (had my trip Dec 2011 for a few days while touring Europe). I used both this and the wikitravel Amsterdam pages. Amsterdam is a fairly small city and it isn't tough to walk around and find your own places to visit, but I certainly found a few gems thanks to this book. The first night I was in Amsterdam I was exhausted and ended up eating at a fairly bad restaurant with sky high prices. After that, I consulted the travel guide for every restaurant and bar choices and arrived at plenty of excellent places to eat and drink that were suited to what I enjoy. I liked that everything was categorized by types (not just the restaurants, but the bars as well).

This guide also helped us get from the airport into the city, and to understand costs of trains, trams, and where to buy tickets from.

We never encountered anyone who didn't speak English (this included signs, tram announcements, and menus as well), so don't worry about the common Dutch translations in the book unless you really want to act like a local.

Overall this was a solid guide to touring Amsterdam, and while not a necessity, definitely helped.