Visitor Information

Before You Go

Before leaving for the Netherlands, obtain information on the country and its travel facilities by contacting the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC), which maintains offices around the world. Their Internet address is www.holland.com.

For the U.S. and Canada, they're at 355 Lexington Ave., 19th Floor, New York, NY 10017 (tel. 212/370-7360; fax 212/370-9507). For Great Britain and Ireland (no walk-in service), the info is P.O. Box 30783, London WC2B 6DH (tel. 020/7539-7950; fax 020/7539-7953).

Or contact the Dutch umbrella organization for the country's many local tourist information organizations (no walk-in service): Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, Postbus 458, 2260 MG Leidschendam (tel. 070/370-5705; fax 070/320-1654). In addition, for those flying into Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, there's the Holland Tourist Information office.

In Amsterdam

Amsterdam's own tourist information organization (no walk-in service) is the Amsterdam Tourism & Convention Board, P.O. Box 3901, 1001 AS Amsterdam (tel. 0900/400-4040, or 31-20/551-2525 from outside the Netherlands; fax 020/201-8850; www.amsterdamtourist.nl). Handle the 0900 phone number with caution; it costs .40€ (65¢) per minute, which is tolerable if you get a fast response and not so good if you have to hold. Calls made from outside the Netherlands are at the usual international rate.

This organization operates three VVV Amsterdam tourist offices, identified by triangular blue-and-white VVV signs. The letters stand for a tongue-twisting name: Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer (Association for Visitor Travel). Even the Dutch don't much like saying that every time so they call it simply the VVV (pronounced vay-vay-vay, though it'll sound more like fay-fay-fay when spoken in an Amsterdam accent). VVV Amsterdam tourist offices are efficient and have multilingual attendants on duty. They can help you with almost any question about the city, and provide brochures and maps, reserve last-minute hotel rooms and tours, and sell reduced-rate tickets for attractions, public transportation, theater, and concerts.

One VVV office is inside Centraal Station, on platform 2B, open Monday to Wednesday from 9am to 8pm, Thursday to Saturday from 8am to 8pm, and Sunday and holidays from 9am to 6pm. A second office is right in front of the station, at Stationsplein 10, open daily from 8am to 9pm (trams for both offices: 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 13, 16, 17, 24, 25, and 26). The third office is an agency office in a white kiosk facing Stadhouderskade 1, at Leidseplein (tram: 1, 2, 5, 7, or 10), and is open daily from 9am to 5pm. All of these offices are extremely busy.

Be sure to pick up a copy of the VVV's Amsterdam Day by Day, for 1.95€ ($3.10). This monthly magazine in English is full of details about the month's art exhibits, concerts, and theater performances, and lists restaurants, bars, dance clubs, and more. Or get a free copy of the yellow Visitors Guide, which is like a mini-Yellow Pages with a wealth of addresses and phone numbers, from any tourist office and some hotels.

In addition, the free Amsterdam Weekly newspaper is available from cultural outlets and some hotels and restaurants. The Times, also free, covers Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam and is available from select outlets like the American Book Center.

Street Maps -- Once you get the hang of the four major canals' necklace pattern and become familiar with the names of the five principal roads into the Center, all you need do as you walk along is keep track of whether you're walking toward or away from the Dam -- the heart of the city -- or simply circling around it.

Buying a street map will make detailed navigation easier. The most cost-effective map is Amsterdam Tourism & Congress Bureau's Amsterdam City Map, available from VVV Amsterdam offices for 2€ ($3.20). It shows every street and canal, museums and churches, and tram routes and stops, extending as far as the ring road. For even more meticulous coverage of the city (and its suburbs), buy the Falk Easy City Amsterdam Professional Map for 9.95€ ($16).