[Toilet & Bowels]

I have to organise a trip to Amsterdam for 15 people for 3 nights (stag do) and need to find some good places to go, obviously we will be heading to the red light district at some point and coffee shops will probably be on the cards so any recommendations for that type of shit are welcome, but I also want to know stuff about things to do during the day, & good places to eat etc. also good night clubs that would cater to a sort of mainstream/indie type of crowd, i.e. joy division, the strokes, etc.

Thanks folks!

[hevusa]

Shit dude... throw a dart and you are golden. Being American I am partial to the coffee shop "Grey Area" as they are American owned and provide eighth sacks in proper American baggies (not to mention their killer weed).

[ni'k]

joy division play the paradiso every friday at 2,4,7 and 10pm, they have a residency there. unfortunately by now ians' a little moldy and he can't really hit those higher notes like he used to. but julian from the strokes comes out and plays xylophone with his bones.

[pokkeherrie]

when's this happening?
15 people = all blokes?

[jon boy]

it sounds kinda hellish.

[batreleaser]

420 Cafe, right outside of the Red Light District. Near Grasshopper's. Great bar and hash bar, friendly service and they play Rock n Roll music instead of euro trashy techno. Complimentary volcano vaporizer to those who request.

Jimmy Woo was the hot nightclub when I was there in 2006.

Happy ending massage, total must.

[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by pokkeherrie

when's this happening?
15 people = all blokes?

The end of July, yes 15 people = all blokes. I think the groom would like the weekend all planned before we go so there is as little time wasted on arguing about what to do and actually embarking on 3 days of fun.

[davenotdead]

this is like the hangover except your wolfpack is larger and weed doesn't give you a hangover

[tesla69]

I thought you had to be a Dutchie now to go in the coffee shops - they banned foreigners cuz they were causing too much traffic from Germany.

[hevusa]

Originally Posted by tesla69

I thought you had to be a Dutchie now to go in the coffee shops - they banned foreigners cuz they were causing too much traffic from Germany.

and monkeys might fly out of my ass

[radarmaker]

I suggest not sticking together as one large group the whole time as it'll be a logistical nightmare - last time I was there was in a group of 20-odd and it did my fucking head in. As did the Ecuadorian shrooms, but that's another story...

The Van Gogh museum is a must if the idea of culture isn't anathema to the trip. Don't waste money on the sex museum or cannabis museum, they're both shit.

The Winston, just past the north end of the red light district is where hip Dutch kids hang out (or at least it was 5/6 years ago when I was last there), IIRC, Sunday nights are the best time to go. It'll be worth having a look what's on at the Paradiso too - if nothing else, it's a fantastic building. There's a sweet record shop just across the road from it too.

Coffeeshop-wise, most of the ones in the red light district are horrendous tourist traps that all sell the same overpriced commercial weed. Stock up at the places that grow their own instead, like the various Greenhouse shops, or my personal favourite, Amnesia, which is out towards Jordaan and tends to be frequented by locals rather than tourists. Oh, and it's a bit of a cheesy Brits-in-Amsterdam thing to do, but getting breakfast at Barney's up near Centraal Station is totally worth it.

[Toilet & Bowels]

thanks. most of the people i'm going with are straight up essex boys so cultural activities will be frowned upon.

[Better_Than_Deux]

How exciting!

Tell us how it goes.

[hevusa]

when are you going to be there?

[knox]

omg bachelor party.

i don't like the strokes.
have fun.

i think too many cafes = too much paranoia.
which could ruin the whole thing.

[!@#$%!]

 

[fugazifan]

i actually agree with hevusa- the grey area is a fantastic coffee shop. i mostly like just walking the streets. but go to leidsplein and whatever that market in the northeastish section of town is.
obviously the museums both art and sex.
im not too sure what nightclubs, i mostly just bar hopped. i think ion the red light district there are a few cool indie places, like on the second street that is parallel to damrak (second street on your left if you are coming from the train station, the first street is cool as well), right after some church that has a plaque of tits on the sidewalk outside of it.

[Phlegmscope]

We went to the horror / torture -museum, that had all the medieval punishment devices on display. Kind of goofy, but it was worth it just for the curiosity value.

Not sure if your mates appreciate any record store wankerism, but if you have any spare time, I recommend the Distortion Records shop.

There's a couple other amsterdam threads here too.

[Phlegmscope]

Oh yeah, I have a vague memory that the drunk british blokes wandering around the red light district had a strong aura of twat -ishness around them.

[pokkeherrie]

Not sure if there's anyone on the board from Amsterdam, so being Dutch I'll have to step in I suppose... However, I don't live there and haven't gone clubbing in Amsterdam for years, so I don't really know about decent indie club nights.

Winston is probably a good call... I think they have a cheap hotel as well, plus it's very central (near Dam square) and pretty much right next to the red light district. So that might be a good place to stay for your stag thing. Dunno if the hotel's any good though... The club itself is pretty small. I've only been there a couple of times in recent years though, and then it was always for gigs, most recently for White Hills.
http://www.winston.nl/

Paradiso probably fits your description too. After gigs they usually have club nights, surely in the weekends. I remember an indie club night called "Noodlanding" from years ago which I think they still do, mostly on Thursdays. The crowd is probably still mostly students, but again, I haven't been there in years. It should be mainstream enough for you though. A big advantage of Paradiso for gigs is that you can usually buy a ticket for one show and then see whatever else's playing in the other rooms as well. If you happen to be there for the weekend of Sunday 25th, you could buy a cheap ticket for Wavves (like 10 euros) and then sneak into the main room to catch Wu-Tang Clan (35-40 euros!) instead/afterwards. That's what I might be doing.

Other "rock venues" I remember from like 10(!) years ago are places like Korsakoff and The Cave, although both are more rock/metal than indie per se. Then there was a pub called Soundgarden, but I don't remember ever seeing people dance there. I'm not even sure if it still exists.

Jimmy Woo is a welknown place - never been there, but I guess it's solely dance music and probably hipster. Then there's Bitterzoet, but I don't know what they do for club nights either. I only know it from gigs but it seems like an ok place. I'm guessing it's fairly hipster during club nights though.

I'm not sure how welcoming the average mainstream clubs are to large groups of English males. "Brits on stag" do have a reputation in Holland and mostly it's like Phlegmscope writes above... I wouldn't be surprised if you'd get refused entrance in some places, while other clubs probably specifically cater to British stag-tourists. But Amsterdam's full of tourists in the summer, so you'll probably be okay walking into any random pub near Leidseplein or Rembrandtplein.


As for non-cultural daytime activities, a typical thing for Brits on stag weekend (other than the red light district, sex museum, Heineken brewery tour, yadda yadda etc.) seems to be renting a beer-bicycle. I sometimes see them in the streets. It's exactly what you'd think it is: a large bike with a built-in bar (bartender/driver included) on it. You can ride it with 15 people at the same time, do some sight-seeing through the city while listening to cheesy tunes, get drunk and randomly throw insults to innocent bystanders at the same time. Looks like it might be fun... Other than that, maybe renting pedal boats to go down the canals could be fun too? I dunno.

Places to eat - again I can't really help you very much. If you're looking for Dutch food, I guess poffertjes (little pancakes) are a typical Dutch cuisine that I enjoy (although I never eat them). Furthermore it's the time of the year for fresh herring (yuck!) and there are various traditional Dutch dishes containing cabbage and stuff. Chips with mayonnaise and kroketten (greasy meat snack) is very Dutch too. You'll find lots of places where you can get Indonesian or Surinamese food too, which is probably better than the native Dutch food.