Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [10]
Finally, if you want to buy a bike, a well-worn boneshaker will set you back about €100, maybe less, while €150 and up should get you a fairly decent secondhand machine; see "Bikes" for a list of recommended bike shops. Never buy a bike from someone off the street or in a bar as it will almost certainly have been stolen. Bike theft is in fact a real problem, so make sure you have a good lock – they can be bought cheaply at the city’s flea market among other places. For useful cycling terms in Dutch, see "Useful cycling terms".
Getting around |
By car
The centre of Amsterdam is geared up for trams and bicycles rather than cars as a matter of municipal policy. Pedestrianized zones as such are not extensive, but motorists still have to negotiate a convoluted one-way system, avoid getting boxed onto tramlines and steer around herds of cyclists.
Driving into the city is strongly discouraged by the authorities; parking your car in the outer suburbs and entering the city by tram or metro is a better idea. If you do take your car into the centre, you’ll find that on-street parking is very limited – with far too many cars chasing too few spaces – and can be quite expensive. Every city-centre street where parking is permitted is metered between 9am and at least 7pm every day, until midnight in the city centre. The standard rate is between €4–5 for one hour within the Grachtengordel and city centre, around €30 for the day (9am–7pm) and €20 or so for the evening (7pm–midnight). An entire day’s parking (9am–midnight) costs €45, and you can buy a ticket for the whole week for a whopping €180. Tickets are available from meters if you are paying by the hour, or from Stadstoezicht offices around town – call 020/553 0333 for details of the nearest one to you. If you overrun your ticket, you can expect to be clamped by eager traffic wardens, who can give you a fine of around €55. The good news is that signs on all the main approach roads to Amsterdam indicate which of the city’s car parks have spaces. Car parks in the centre charge comparable rates to the metered street spaces. Some of the most central 24-hour car parks are: Amsterdam Centre (Prins Hendrikkade 20; €4 per hour, €55 per day); De Bijenkorf (Beursplein/Damrak; €4 per hour, €50 per day); De Kolk (NZ Voorburgwal/NZ Kolk; €4.20 per hour, €50 per day); Muziektheater (Waterlooplein, under City Hall; €4 per hour, €48 per day). Those on the outskirts are a good deal less expensive and are invariably but a short journey from the centre by public transport. Finally, note that some of the larger hotels either have their own parking spaces or offer special deals with nearby car parks.
Getting around | By car |
Amsterdam addresses
For the uninitiated, Amsterdam addresses can be a little confusing. Addresses are written as, for example, “Kerkstr. 79 II”, which means the second-floor apartment at Kerkstraat 79. The ground floor is indicated by hs (huis, house) after the number; the basement is sous (sousterrain). In some cases, especially in the Jordaan, where streets have the same name, to differentiate between them, 1e, 2e, 3e and even occasionally 4e are placed in front; these are abbreviations for Eerste (first), Tweede (second), Derde (third) and Vierde (fourth). Many side streets take the name of the main street they run off, with the addition of the word dwars, meaning “crossing”; for instance, Palmdwarsstraat is a side street off Palmstraat. Furthermore, and for no apparent reason, some dead-straight cross-streets change their name – so that, for example, in the space of about 300m, 1e Bloemdwarsstraat becomes 2e Leliedwarsstraat and then 3e Egelantiersdwarsstraat.
T/O (tegenover, or “opposite”) in an address shows that the address is a boat: hence “Prinsengracht T/O 26” would indicate a boat to be found opposite Prinsengracht 26.
The main Grachtengordel canals begin their numbering at Brouwersgracht and increase as they progress anticlockwise. By the time they reach the Amstel, Herengracht’s house numbers are in