Welcome to our beautiful city. I usually send this to my friends who come to Amsterdam, but maybe someone sent it to you. Nice to meet you, I’m Rodrigo Turra. I’m from São Paulo, Brazil and I have lived here since 2018. This is a work in progress.
<aside> 💡 Tip: Use the search feature (ctrl+f) to see if i have any specific recommendations, i.e.: coffee, coworking, second-hand, etc
</aside>
If you enjoyed this... Buy me a Coffee? ☕️
Last update: 20/09/2023
❓r/Amsterdam: The Amsterdam subreddit is super helpful, they post weekly updates on events around the city and have a very handy FAQ about the city.
📍**izi.travel** has free audio tours of the city.
🚎 Public Transportation: it’s a bit expensive. You can buy tickets inside the tram, usually there is a person inside selling, for 1hr, 24hrs and other ways. You can also do it in machines at stations or tramstops. Works as check-in/check-out approaching the card. Now you can pay contactlessly with credit, debit or mobile payment, without buying a paper ticket. If you really need a car, Viavan is a local app to move within Amsterdam center for a lower price. Otherwise, Uber or Bolt should be fine.
🚲 Rent a bike (if you have experience): it makes the experience of Amsterdam THAT much better. We recommend you rent one. I know you might be scared of people that bike since they’re 3 years old, but you’ll be fine, get over it. Our tips about biking: lock your bike’s back wheel with the lock and tie it with the chain, preferably in bike-parking areas. And be careful with the tram trails; the wheel can get stuck. Avoid rush hours if you’re insecure. 8-9am, 5-6pm.
🛶 Rent a boat: I have done it with Mokumboot a couple of times. you can rent small boats and ‘drive’ them yourself, perfect for a small group. Doing the Amsterdam Lights Festival or a nice summer day can be super fun. It’s one of my favorite things to do in Amsterdam.
💸Money: Most places take PIN cards, which is like the local debit card. More and more places take PIN cards only, so make sure to check that before shopping. Credit cards (Visa/Master/amex) are not so popular for daily things. Maestro and Vpay are more reliable.
🪙Tipping: it is not mandatory, but appreciated. Usually, they take it with a card payment, but cash is always better.
📆Amsterdammers are very planned. Make sure you make reservations before you go to restaurants, buy tickets to museums (especially Van Gogh and Anne Franke, weeks before if possible), buy tickets to go parties. If not, Ticketswap can help with parties/events.
💦Water: you can drink from the tap. Also, in restaurants, you can order tap water instead of paying for expensive bottled water.
☔️Buienradar: they use this website/app to know exactly when rain is over the city. Just look when clouds are passing. There’s also an app.
📺Music: I have a Youtube playlist and a Spotify playlist with some Dutch music I like, in case you want to get in the mood and get a bit familiar with the dutch language.
🧠Knowledge: I have a Youtube playlist with videos I find about Dutch Culture. The Geemente youtube channel uploads some interesting content about the past of the city. If you watch on your laptop, you can select for automatic translation of the subtitles to English (for some reason, it doesn't work from the phone).
🗝Atlas Obscura: If you want to go beyond the obvious places in the city, this website is a great place to look. I always look for other cities when I travel.