Heading to Amsterdam...hotel advice

**Irishexit** · 10-25-2011, 09:03 PM

So as the title states I am going to Amsterdam for a week to get involved in all types of weirdness. That said we have yet to book a room and before I can start looking into anything else I need to get this nailed down. I have been doing some research but wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations instead of just going off of travelocity type reviews.

I'd say my criteria is the following in order of preference:

1) Clean! - call me a pussy but I have a big fear of getting bed bugs.
2) Around a 100 US a night
3) Stumbling distance from city centre - I have enough trouble getting home from the bars in my own town let alone a foreign city.
4) Probably prefer a hotel vs hostel unless it was a private room in a nicer hostel
5) Relatively safe location - will be two dudes so we just don't want to have to worry about getting jumped late night or waking up in a hostel like setting with some dude getting ready to cut my achilles.

Any input would be greatly appreciated and would allow me to focus my time on much more interesting research about who to do while I'm there.

**ex-powderbroker** · 10-25-2011, 10:18 PM

amsterdam is pretty safe if you aren't a retarded dick. you'll be fine.

**Alaskan Rover** · 10-25-2011, 10:28 PM

There is only ONE place to stay in Amsterdam if memories are important to you:

The Flying Pig

Close to downtown...hell it is downtown.

Great 'coffeehouse' down below.

Smoke rises.

All problems solved.

--

P.S. - That aforementioned possibility of achilles slashing sounds more like a hostILE environment than a hosTEL environment....at least in terms of hostels I've been to.

**Irishexit** · 10-26-2011, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by ml242

amsterdam is pretty safe if you aren't a retarded dick. you'll be fine.

So, i'll let my travel companion do most of the talking.

Originally Posted by Alaskan Rover

There is only ONE place to stay in Amsterdam if memories are important to you:

The Flying Pig

Close to downtown...hell it is downtown.

Great 'coffeehouse' down below.

Smoke rises.

All problems solved.

--

P.S. - That aforementioned possibility of achilles slashing sounds more like a hostILE environment than a hosTEL environment....at least in terms of hostels I've been to.

Thanks! Someone did previously mention this place to me, as being awesome. I think I need to spend at least a couple nights.

Btw I was referencing a disturbing scene from the movie Hostel, well that whole movie is fucking disturbing to me...I guess I should have thrown out a couple

's.

I have had good/great experiences with the hostels that I have been too, except one.

**skifishbum** · 10-26-2011, 07:14 AM

I'll ask the Mrs. where we stayed it was nice in town and not super expensive.
being spacecaked bdogged to the bejeebus and getting the rental car into the elavator and into the parking gargage was a challange.
don't park anywhere they are quick w/ the boot
have fun cool city and not just cause legal thc

Bobby Stainless · 10-26-2011, 07:53 AM

Bed Bugs have nothing to do with cleanliness. Just ask the folks at the Plaza Hotel.

**ass-to-mouth** · 10-26-2011, 09:34 AM

The pig is a great time. Not as much fun as the Kabul in Barca, but really what is.

**HankScorpio** · 10-26-2011, 12:17 PM

The Flying Pig is fun. Not the cleanest place in the world, I woke up to a pile of human shit outside my room when I stayed there. Having a bar in the lobby is a place and its fairly cheap too.

**Moeghoul** · 10-26-2011, 12:21 PM

Avenue Hotel, stayed there a few times, clean, continental b-fast included, a few blox from the train station.

**Irishexit** · 10-26-2011, 06:47 PM

I checked out Avenue and it looked pretty damn nice but there was no availability. I am a bit short on time, I am heading there on Nov 4th. At the moment I think I will be spending some time at the Flying Pig, we may also hit up their beach and/or uptown locations.

VT - for whatever reason shit outside my door wouldn't bother me as much as roaches or bedbugs creeping around my room. I guess I view the latter as a sign of a good time..

Stainless - My counter argument to you would be that price/prestige doesn't always equate to cleanliness. Although I understand what you are getting at.

**Alaskan Rover** · 10-27-2011, 07:51 AM

One thing I should mention if this will be your first time in Amsterdam is that the downtown area is one of the few places in the Netherlands where petty theft is rampant.

On that one street (I forgot its name) where the women all hang-out in those glass boxes above the streets, there are many pickpockets day and evening and they are VERY good....and I wouldn't advise that particular street after 1 AM or so. But it is crime of only a petty nature and a decent "under the pants" money/card/passport slip will negate pickpocket potential. If you'll have a backpack, make sure all zips have small locks on them. As pickpockets LOVE backpacks with accessible zippers.

Of course I was bicycle touring while there, and so my theft potential was higher. I popped into the Post office for exactly 8 minutes to mail a package and in that short time one of my panniers was cut off my bike. I found it around the corner, rifled through. Managed to find most of my stuff scattered around. They were looking only for valuables.

I now use a lockable wire-mesh around my panniers and packs when I travel in theft-potential areas. They're cheap and they work...luggage stores or REI sometimes have them.

Beyond that, I absolutely LOVED Amsterdam !! Would go back in a minute. Be sure to check out all the VERY weird museums. They have the strangest museums I have ever seen there, on nearly any subject. You can find a complete listing on the net.

Enjoy your trip.

--

**Moeghoul** · 10-27-2011, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by Alaskan Rover

One thing I should mention if this will be your first time in Amsterdam is that the downtown area is one of the few places in the Netherlands where petty theft is rampant.

On that one street (I forgot its name) where the women all hang-out in those glass boxes above the streets, there are many pickpockets day and evening and they are VERY good....and I wouldn't advise that particular street after 1 AM or so. But it is crime of only a petty nature and a decent "under the pants" money/card/passport slip will negate pickpocket potential. If you'll have a backpack, make sure all zips have small locks on them. As pickpockets LOVE backpacks with accessible zippers.

Of course I was bicycle touring while there, and so my theft potential was higher. I popped into the Post office for exactly 8 minutes to mail a package and in that short time one of my panniers was cut off my bike. I found it around the corner, rifled through. Managed to find most of my stuff scattered around. They were looking only for valuables.

I now use a lockable wire-mesh around my panniers and packs when I travel in theft-potential areas. They're cheap and they work...luggage stores or REI sometimes have them.

Beyond that, I absolutely LOVED Amsterdam !! Would go back in a minute. Be sure to check out all the VERY weird museums. They have the strangest museums I have ever seen there, on nearly any subject. You can find a complete listing on the net.

Enjoy your trip.

--

QFT! My wife got her wallet clipped from her purse getting on a trolley. These guys/gals are pros!

**Skidog** · 10-27-2011, 03:52 PM

http://www.nh-hotels.com/nh/en/hotel...snapolsky.html

Awesome....backs right up to the red light district and literally within walking distance of all the popular "tourist" sites. We found that the first few days we'd take the light rail..then we figured out that we could walk nearly as easily to all the places we needed to go. Mostly coffee shops...

I'd suggest all the museums and do the Anne Frank house..its enlightening.