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(or at least relative cheapness) of self-catering. Apartments sleeping four or five can often be found for the same price as a double room in a hotel. Houseboats tend to be significantly more luxurious and expensive. Both are often organized through local hotels. City Mundo (www.citymundo.com) is a booking service for private accommodation, including rooms, apartments and houseboats. Bookings of three to 21 days start at €25–33 per person per night (for up to four people). The website lists a hundred properties at any one time, taken from a database of a couple of hundred, and changes according to availability. They do charge a whopping €20 reservation cost though. Alternatively, the following are reliable city-centre options.

Acacia Lindengracht 251 020/622 1460, www.hotelacacia.nl. Studios sleeping two people at €100 per night in the heart of the Jordaan.

Amsterdam House ’s Gravelandseveer 7, 1011 KN Amsterdam 020/626 2577, www.amsterdamhouse.com. Two-room apartments start at €135 per night; houseboats €165.

Hoksbergen Apartments Singel 301 020/626 6043, www.hotelhoksbergen.nl. Apartments sleeping up to five from €120.

Accommodation |

Camping

There are a number of campsites on the peripheries of Amsterdam, most of them readily accessible by car or public transport. Those listed are two of the more established and central options.

Accommodation | Camping |

Campsites

Vliegenbos Meeuwenlaan 138 020/636 8855, www.vliegenbos.com. Bus #32 or #33 from CS or take the ferry to Buiksloterweg and allow a 15min walk; drivers take Exit S116 off the A10. A relaxed and friendly site, just a ten-minute bus ride into Amsterdam North from Centraal Station. Facilities include a general shop, bar and restaurant. Rates start at €8.30 per night per person with hot showers included. There are also huts with bunk beds and basic cooking facilities for €72.50 per night for four people; phone ahead to check availability. Car parking is €8.30. Under-16s need to be accompanied by an adult; no pets. Open April–Sept.

Zeeburg Zuider IJdijk 20 020/694 4430, www.campingzeeburg.nl. Tram #26 from CS to Zuiderzeeweg, then a 10min walk; drivers take Exit S114 off the A10. Well-equipped campsite in the Eastern docklands with a bar, restaurant, laundry, kayak and bicycle rental, plus lots of green fields. Tent pitches cost €5 in addition to a €5.50 charge per person per night, and €5 for a car. Two-berth cabins cost €40 and four-berth €80, including bed linen. Open all year.

Eating and drinking

Amsterdam may not be Europe’s gastronomic centre, but the food in the average Dutch restaurant has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years, and there are a great number of places serving good, often inventive, home-grown cuisine. The city also boasts a wide range of ethnic restaurants, especially Indonesian, Chinese and Thai, as well as numerous cafés and bars – often known as eetcafés – that serve adventurous, reasonably priced food in a relaxed and unpretentious setting. Amsterdam is also, of course, a great place for a drink; the Netherlands’ proximity to the great beer-drinking nation of Belgium – the birthplace of modern beer – helps explain the variety on offer.

The city is filled to the gunnels with dining and drinking options, and you should have no trouble finding somewhere convenient and enjoyable to suit your budget. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights it’s advisable to start early (between 6pm & 7pm), or make a reservation, if you want to get a table at any of the more popular restaurants. If you just want lunch, or a bite between sights, there are plenty of places throughout the city – cafés and tearooms – where you can just grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich or light lunch. Bars almost always serve sandwiches, and usually something more substantial as well; those that serve good-quality food are indicated in the listings.

Dutch meal times are a little idiosyncratic; breakfast tends to be later than you might expect, and other meals tend to be eaten earlier. If you choose to eat breakfast away from your hotel, you’ll find very