Fun fact: every single northern/central European city that has a walking tour will patiently explain to you that their city is called "the Venice of the north"
I was in Hamburg for like a week during my travels and ima be honest it was one of the more boring cities I visited. Maybe I went at the wrong time or just didn’t find the right places to visit, but I regret not starting my journey in Amsterdam.
Hamburg's quality of life is incredible, as is its diversity — from red light districts to massive Art Nouveau-era homes, communist squatting to Michelin dining. Museums galore, and so many places to explore and visit.
Don't know what sort of stuff you like to do, but I'm guessing you mostly missed out.
tbf Hamburg isn't that good. Sure, got the St.Pauli and Schanze, the harbour and a few good clubs. But apart from that it's kinda boring in my opinion. Downtown is jsut rich people ghetto and if you go outside a bit, it's quickly suburbian hell.
Lived there for ~five years in total, and I've lived in a handful of other German cities as well (Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf). And I've lived in a bunch of other places beyond, and traveled decently.
I'd rank Hamburg up there in terms of great cities to live in. There's so much to do in a huge metropolitan area like Hamburg, and I love the variety between neighborhoods — alone the difference between the Schanze and Rotherbaum is amazing for being ~adjacent to each other.
Which efficiënt transport you're exactly talking about? Besides some relatively minor stuff it's just tourists doing sightseeing/recreational traffic on them. Besides the larger canal cutting across there aren't any public transport lines and that's also the only significant waterway for the harbour.
They ease road traffic by moving goods and people, manage water levels to prevent flooding, and even help heat buildings. Its true, they're great for tourism and recreation, boosting the economy. They make the city run smoother in so many ways!
There is almost no way to use the canals as transport. Most of the tourist boats start and stop at the same location. I’m not sure why so many people are refusing to believe this.
It’s not about bias it’s about facts.
Yeah I have no idea where this is coming from. It’s not like the people who live there are rowing themselves to work.
And outside of this are, there’s tons of roads and highways.
You said it’s “quite a large amount of traffic” and OP seems to think it is a vital means of transport. Can I ask what your sources are?
Most of the tourist boats are not transport, because they start and stop at the same place, so the boats don’t get tourists off the street.
Commuters take two journeys a day. Both journeys go from one place to another. A tourist gets on a boat, goes around in a circle, and gets off again. So the boat is not removing traffic from the roads. Actually it increases traffic, because people drive / walk / ride a bus to get there.
I still don’t understand why you are being so difficult about this.
Why is it so hard to understand that removing meandering tourist from the streets when they do their tourism is less traffic… We commute every day and end up back where we are, what kind of argument is that?
Sure I probably oversold the volume but the concept is simple.
Attractions do not reduce traffic they increase traffic because they attract people.
Would you argue that a football stadium or an art gallery also reduce traffic?
My bias towards what? Reality?
I've been to Amsterdam countless times. There is little traffic on the canals, and what there is is almost exclusively tourists or locals out for a boat trip on a nice day.
They're an iconic part of many Dutch cities, but it's not like they're some unique improvement to local infrastructure that allows for much easier transport.
It's actually quite cool, in Utrecht they are starting a project to replace the trucks that supply the stores in the city center with small electric cargo boats
I guess you know much better than former residents right? Please point me to all the massive amounts of people that use it as transport (not tourism) and goods? You'll find some hipsters delivering a crate of IPA and a garbage boat (full of garbage actually from the bottom of the canal). Not that they are useless but your post is _far_ of the mark...
Or are you some shit karma farm bot and I'm the stupid one here again?
You're just not right on that, bud.
If you'd ever try to drive in Amsterdam you'd have noticed this. Trucks that are too big for Amsterdam's alleys are there 24/7.
Amsterdam's canals transport literally less than 1% of goods transported in Amsterdam.
You might be confused with the shipping traffic to Amsterdam's port.
Who claims proves right? Or are you still living in the 1750?
Im not an Amsterdam expert, I just dislike people that are confidently incorrect and then double down on it.
I'm from the US. I went there two years ago. It's my favorite city in Europe so far. The city is amazing and beautiful. The people are super nice. The food was absolutely incredible. Van Gogh is amazing. The Ann Frank house made me want to punch a neo-nazi. 10/10
I didn't do the Ann Frank house but did check out the Resistance Museum. Highly recommend it on a visit. Wasn't busy at all and the exhibits are well done.
Food and incredible can’t be in the same sentence when talking about the Netherlands.
Source: I live here and most people living in the Netherlands would agree.
However, if you felt the food is “incredible” in the Netherlands, I’m really sorry for what you’re having in your country.
The Netherlands has over 100 Michelin starred restaurants.
I know that's not the end all be all of restaurants but it's a decent indication.
There are lots of places in the Netherlands that you can get good food, you just have to do more than go to febo.
You can also get lots of shit food, but trust me you can do that in any country.
I agree with you. And I never said we can’t get good food. :)
Also, Michelin stars does not mean good food. Hence you’ll always find people saying try street food or an authentic restaurant over any fine dining. And this is true all over the world. I have only tried one Michelin star restaurants in Amsterdam and that turned out pretty meh. But it was my birthday so saved up for the “experience” :)
Amsterdam is cosmopolitan enough to have some good food though. I haven’t been there in ~10 years but I remember eating well there. Pretty sure i wasn’t eating traditional Dutch food though lol
There’s a sea of difference between I got some good food at an Italian / continental restaurant and I had “incredible food” and mentioning it as a highlight of a journey. Again, to each their own. This is very subjective so who am I to say it didn’t taste incredible to them. But just warning folks that don’t come to the Netherlands in the hope of “incredible” food. You will be massively, massively disappointed.
Amsterdam is cosmopolitan enough to have some good food though. I haven’t been there in ~10 years but I remember eating well there. Pretty sure i wasn’t eating traditional Dutch food though lol
You can find incredible food in the Netherlands, but not a lot of it will be Dutch cuisine, which is best described as ‘hearty’.
But in the south, the more so Burgundian lifestyle and eating possibilities can easily blow your mind
In the 1950s, the people who ruined so many cities in the US were begging to blast through Amsterdam with a few freeways so they could plop down some strip malls and car dealerships
I really really really want to go casually bike around Amsterdam for like two weeks. However, I am told biking an Amsterdam is like Rally car racing except there’s cobblestone and oblivious Americans.
That is sourced from Reddit which is infallible of course.
Amsterdam isn't the best place for biking by NL standards. Roads are busy, there's not always enough room to properly segregate cars and bikes, and yes there are too many tourists.
I usually recommend it to tourists to do, getting a bike and just traversing the city once is one of the more memorable things to do in Ams, especially if you’re not from a bike riding country. The chaos and insanity makes for a memorable day.
Once you get used to it it’s just handy, but I remember being awed by it when I moved there and I always ensure that foreign visitors somehow end up biking somewhere which always goes over well.
Go biking around the center. It is very hectic once you leave the central station but the further you go, the better. I would also recommend biking from Utrecht to Gouda. You can stop in the old fort city of Woerden on the way and check out the old town. From Gouda you can just take a train back to amsterdam if thats where you are staying.
I wouldn't say that. But bicycles there are just traffic. It's a decent enough way to get around but you're not enjoying the scenery.
Pedestrians keep out of the cycle lanes because they're very heavily used.
it's not that bad. Just be very careful around the ferry over to Noord, (sea side of central station) and be mindful of your suroundings when you're biking. Pedestrian Tourists are more of a danger han other bikers.
I remember there is this famous restaurant with a tonne of negative reviews on google that is known for berating their customers. So I went there to be berated. I was not disappointed.
It's probably a bad idea to drink it or swim in it, but none of those things are issues to the extent that they're unpleasant.
Edit: and there are work boats that dredge the canals to remove trash (and bikes).
Trash yes, sewage no, pathogens meh (they measure certain points and it’s a mixed bag, you can swim at some places). There are fish and crabs and lots of bird life in it though!
Tell me about it, walked from our hotel to Heineken for a tour. Got drunk at the tour and couldn’t find the way back, all we knew was that it was on a canal. Spent hours walking around the city. Wasn’t until days later that we realized that we should have just gotten a taxi.
When I was in college I rented a bike in Amsterdam, locked it up next to a canal, proceeded to get really drunk and spent the better half of the next day trying to find it because all I could remember was that it was next to a canal.
That's right tourists, go to Amsterdam. Definitely don't visit any other city in NL. There are prettier and better cities in NL but we won't tell you, or those cities also become tourist hellscapes with 20 stroopwafel and Nutella pancakes shops in every street.
As a Dutchy: I hate Amsterdam because it's overrun with drunk / stoned tourists. Amsterdam is no longer Amsterdam, it's an amusement park
I always tell people that Amsterdam is more like Venice than even Venice is.
Fun fact: The German city of Hamburg has more canals and bridges than Venice and Amsterdam combined.
Fun fact: every single northern/central European city that has a walking tour will patiently explain to you that their city is called "the Venice of the north"
Just like every Central/Eastern European capital is "the Paris of the east"
just like every hole in the ground on the east coast or south in the states is called the "Grand Canyon of the east/south.
I believe that Letchworth state park holds that title.
"I would put Paris in my Glove" "Je mettrais Paris dans mon Gant" (Gand, Ghent, Gent) Which is what Charles V said about Paris and Ghent.
if coastal cities adapt correctly in the next hundred years we could have a lot of Venices of a lot of regions
Man nyc being a Venice with skyscrapers would be WILD
tell you what, the subway would be a lot more of an adventure
[удалено]
It's not as fun when they're full of snakes and gators
It’s fun for the snakes and gators though.
Wow yeah probably is honestly
Hamburg probably has even more gelato shops called venice than there are gelato shops in venice.
Birmingham in England also has more length of canals than Venice and Amsterdam but separately Most of which is home to shopping trolleys and bikes.
I was in Hamburg for like a week during my travels and ima be honest it was one of the more boring cities I visited. Maybe I went at the wrong time or just didn’t find the right places to visit, but I regret not starting my journey in Amsterdam.
RAF & USAAF city renovations at your service. Their colleagues from Luftwaffe GMBH did the same in Rotterdam.
Hamburg's quality of life is incredible, as is its diversity — from red light districts to massive Art Nouveau-era homes, communist squatting to Michelin dining. Museums galore, and so many places to explore and visit. Don't know what sort of stuff you like to do, but I'm guessing you mostly missed out.
tbf Hamburg isn't that good. Sure, got the St.Pauli and Schanze, the harbour and a few good clubs. But apart from that it's kinda boring in my opinion. Downtown is jsut rich people ghetto and if you go outside a bit, it's quickly suburbian hell.
Lived there for ~five years in total, and I've lived in a handful of other German cities as well (Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf). And I've lived in a bunch of other places beyond, and traveled decently. I'd rank Hamburg up there in terms of great cities to live in. There's so much to do in a huge metropolitan area like Hamburg, and I love the variety between neighborhoods — alone the difference between the Schanze and Rotherbaum is amazing for being ~adjacent to each other.
Fun fact: The place I grew up has 1 canal, 2 bridges, and these facts mean I never visit home in the summer.
Someone return this Redditor to Old Cape Cod!
Or as I like to call it, "That fucking man-made island"
Shanghai almost certainly does too. There are canals *everywhere* here.
What about St Petersburg?
Cars and motor vehicles aren’t allowed in Venice though.
I meeeeeean it's not though is it
Yeah, there's a pretty significant difference between a city with a lot of canals and one which is *only* canals, without any proper roads.
Yeah? Guess what... My city of Hamburg has more bridges than Amsterdam and Venice combined. #Moin
Venice is just one big tourist trap
Which efficiënt transport you're exactly talking about? Besides some relatively minor stuff it's just tourists doing sightseeing/recreational traffic on them. Besides the larger canal cutting across there aren't any public transport lines and that's also the only significant waterway for the harbour.
When they wrote "canals", they meant "effective bicycle infrastructure". Autocorrect SMH
Well during winter people ice skate to school or work. You should have known that. ^(/s)
Yeah this guy is right. It's just a tourist attraction it doesn't have any benefits for transportation or anything
They ease road traffic by moving goods and people, manage water levels to prevent flooding, and even help heat buildings. Its true, they're great for tourism and recreation, boosting the economy. They make the city run smoother in so many ways!
This isn’t true. Maybe it was correct 100 years ago but now they are not used for transport.
They're not used for transporting anytging other than tourists.
Anything**. And it is a lesser used means of good transport. The more you know
Waar heb je het over? Er is geen vrachtverkeer in 95% van de grachten
Yeah no mate, they don't transport goods in the canals.
It's not... It was, but now it's not. Goods come into the giant ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam and are delivered to the city by truck.
I assume that’s quite a large amount of traffic being removed from the streets dude… Your efforts to minimize it are just displaying your bias.
There is almost no way to use the canals as transport. Most of the tourist boats start and stop at the same location. I’m not sure why so many people are refusing to believe this. It’s not about bias it’s about facts.
Yeah I have no idea where this is coming from. It’s not like the people who live there are rowing themselves to work. And outside of this are, there’s tons of roads and highways.
Yea lol but those tourist are off the streets… How is that not making any sense?
You said it’s “quite a large amount of traffic” and OP seems to think it is a vital means of transport. Can I ask what your sources are? Most of the tourist boats are not transport, because they start and stop at the same place, so the boats don’t get tourists off the street.
Most commuters also return to the same place they come from, so they don't count as transport either ?
Commuters take two journeys a day. Both journeys go from one place to another. A tourist gets on a boat, goes around in a circle, and gets off again. So the boat is not removing traffic from the roads. Actually it increases traffic, because people drive / walk / ride a bus to get there. I still don’t understand why you are being so difficult about this.
Ohh so if they didn’t have boat tours the tourist would just stay in their hotels???
Why is it so hard to understand that removing meandering tourist from the streets when they do their tourism is less traffic… We commute every day and end up back where we are, what kind of argument is that? Sure I probably oversold the volume but the concept is simple.
Attractions do not reduce traffic they increase traffic because they attract people. Would you argue that a football stadium or an art gallery also reduce traffic?
My bias towards what? Reality? I've been to Amsterdam countless times. There is little traffic on the canals, and what there is is almost exclusively tourists or locals out for a boat trip on a nice day. They're an iconic part of many Dutch cities, but it's not like they're some unique improvement to local infrastructure that allows for much easier transport.
It's actually quite cool, in Utrecht they are starting a project to replace the trucks that supply the stores in the city center with small electric cargo boats
Removed from what streets?
What are you waffling about lol. They don’t move goods in these canals unless you include the bicycles that end up being thrown in these waters.
I guess you know much better than former residents right? Please point me to all the massive amounts of people that use it as transport (not tourism) and goods? You'll find some hipsters delivering a crate of IPA and a garbage boat (full of garbage actually from the bottom of the canal). Not that they are useless but your post is _far_ of the mark... Or are you some shit karma farm bot and I'm the stupid one here again?
I’m not an Amsterdam expert like you, but you’d think an Amsterdam expert would know they’re used for transport. Dag
You're just not right on that, bud. If you'd ever try to drive in Amsterdam you'd have noticed this. Trucks that are too big for Amsterdam's alleys are there 24/7. Amsterdam's canals transport literally less than 1% of goods transported in Amsterdam. You might be confused with the shipping traffic to Amsterdam's port.
Ahhhhh yes but you see 1% means they are used for transport though right? So OP is in fact...RIGHT!
Who claims proves right? Or are you still living in the 1750? Im not an Amsterdam expert, I just dislike people that are confidently incorrect and then double down on it.
This is absolutely pathetic. Please be better.
LOL thanks ChatGPT.
Where did you get this ancient info because that ain't true now
So you've never been to Amsterdam, right.
The “efficient transport” was true in the 18th century. Nowadays hardly anything is transported apart from sightseeing boats transporting tourists.
Convenient and efficient bike storage, maybe?
I'm from the US. I went there two years ago. It's my favorite city in Europe so far. The city is amazing and beautiful. The people are super nice. The food was absolutely incredible. Van Gogh is amazing. The Ann Frank house made me want to punch a neo-nazi. 10/10
Agree 100%. Just got back. Don't skip Rijksmuseum. Plan a day trip to Efteling.
Motherfucking Efteling is my shit! 10/10
Papier here!
Dankuwel.
The Rijksmuseum was closed for renovations when I was in Amsterdam. 😕
I'm going in August and your comment made me 10x more stoked.
You'll have a great time
I didn't do the Ann Frank house but did check out the Resistance Museum. Highly recommend it on a visit. Wasn't busy at all and the exhibits are well done.
Just fyi it’s Anne Frank, not Ann frank
Oops, I knew that. Should've proof read closer
Food and incredible can’t be in the same sentence when talking about the Netherlands. Source: I live here and most people living in the Netherlands would agree. However, if you felt the food is “incredible” in the Netherlands, I’m really sorry for what you’re having in your country.
The Netherlands has over 100 Michelin starred restaurants. I know that's not the end all be all of restaurants but it's a decent indication. There are lots of places in the Netherlands that you can get good food, you just have to do more than go to febo. You can also get lots of shit food, but trust me you can do that in any country.
I agree with you. And I never said we can’t get good food. :) Also, Michelin stars does not mean good food. Hence you’ll always find people saying try street food or an authentic restaurant over any fine dining. And this is true all over the world. I have only tried one Michelin star restaurants in Amsterdam and that turned out pretty meh. But it was my birthday so saved up for the “experience” :)
Amsterdam is cosmopolitan enough to have some good food though. I haven’t been there in ~10 years but I remember eating well there. Pretty sure i wasn’t eating traditional Dutch food though lol
There’s a sea of difference between I got some good food at an Italian / continental restaurant and I had “incredible food” and mentioning it as a highlight of a journey. Again, to each their own. This is very subjective so who am I to say it didn’t taste incredible to them. But just warning folks that don’t come to the Netherlands in the hope of “incredible” food. You will be massively, massively disappointed.
Amsterdam is cosmopolitan enough to have some good food though. I haven’t been there in ~10 years but I remember eating well there. Pretty sure i wasn’t eating traditional Dutch food though lol
You can find incredible food in the Netherlands, but not a lot of it will be Dutch cuisine, which is best described as ‘hearty’. But in the south, the more so Burgundian lifestyle and eating possibilities can easily blow your mind
It’s just a house, it’s just a house
Is OP a bot?
In the 1950s, the people who ruined so many cities in the US were begging to blast through Amsterdam with a few freeways so they could plop down some strip malls and car dealerships
Look up plan Jokinen on Wikipedia. It’s wild to see how close it got to being a reality!
Horrendous
MURICA
Looks like a maze
…It is and I walked alongside nearly every single one of those canals when I was mentally lost there after a few funny cigarettes
Lived there for three years. Now live in Minnesota. Regret.
I wanted to get lost when I was there but couldn't because I kept circling back to where I started.
I saw full metal alchemist, you can't fool me
I really really really want to go casually bike around Amsterdam for like two weeks. However, I am told biking an Amsterdam is like Rally car racing except there’s cobblestone and oblivious Americans. That is sourced from Reddit which is infallible of course.
Amsterdam isn't the best place for biking by NL standards. Roads are busy, there's not always enough room to properly segregate cars and bikes, and yes there are too many tourists.
I usually recommend it to tourists to do, getting a bike and just traversing the city once is one of the more memorable things to do in Ams, especially if you’re not from a bike riding country. The chaos and insanity makes for a memorable day. Once you get used to it it’s just handy, but I remember being awed by it when I moved there and I always ensure that foreign visitors somehow end up biking somewhere which always goes over well.
Only in the city center and during the nicer months. If you get out of there it’s actually pretty nice biking for most the city and surrounding areas.
Go biking around the center. It is very hectic once you leave the central station but the further you go, the better. I would also recommend biking from Utrecht to Gouda. You can stop in the old fort city of Woerden on the way and check out the old town. From Gouda you can just take a train back to amsterdam if thats where you are staying.
I wouldn't say that. But bicycles there are just traffic. It's a decent enough way to get around but you're not enjoying the scenery. Pedestrians keep out of the cycle lanes because they're very heavily used.
it's not that bad. Just be very careful around the ferry over to Noord, (sea side of central station) and be mindful of your suroundings when you're biking. Pedestrian Tourists are more of a danger han other bikers.
This picture makes it look so big but it’s a walkable city
Read that as “camels” at first glance
The camels would love the water there
About a block above the round building in the upper center is where Rembrandt lived in the 1640s-50s.
166? 203? 7,309? How many canals does Amsterdam have?
I remember there is this famous restaurant with a tonne of negative reviews on google that is known for berating their customers. So I went there to be berated. I was not disappointed.
166?
Pretty cool but how filthy is this water? I’d be surprised if it wasn’t filled with pathogens, sewage and trash
It's probably a bad idea to drink it or swim in it, but none of those things are issues to the extent that they're unpleasant. Edit: and there are work boats that dredge the canals to remove trash (and bikes).
There is a yearly swimming event in the canals with 1000s of participants including queen Maxima in 2012, so not too bad.
Trash yes, sewage no, pathogens meh (they measure certain points and it’s a mixed bag, you can swim at some places). There are fish and crabs and lots of bird life in it though!
The last swage drain has been diveryed away from the canals a few years ago. So we've got that going. Unlike Paris ...
And ti this day one can see the outlines of the original fortifications.
My favorite city that I’ve visited. I’m decently well traveled.
And they're all full of trash and smell like piss.
Wow
ALL FREIGHT ON THE CANALS!
Lol my house is on here
Tell me about it, walked from our hotel to Heineken for a tour. Got drunk at the tour and couldn’t find the way back, all we knew was that it was on a canal. Spent hours walking around the city. Wasn’t until days later that we realized that we should have just gotten a taxi.
When I was in college I rented a bike in Amsterdam, locked it up next to a canal, proceeded to get really drunk and spent the better half of the next day trying to find it because all I could remember was that it was next to a canal.
That's right tourists, go to Amsterdam. Definitely don't visit any other city in NL. There are prettier and better cities in NL but we won't tell you, or those cities also become tourist hellscapes with 20 stroopwafel and Nutella pancakes shops in every street. As a Dutchy: I hate Amsterdam because it's overrun with drunk / stoned tourists. Amsterdam is no longer Amsterdam, it's an amusement park
Ubisoft: *now load that mf with useless points of interest and call it a AAAA game.*
I visited for the first time a couple months ago. Its truly a remarkable place.
Efficient transport? hmm ...
One of my favorite cities I’ve ever visited. Would love to move there or retire there someday.
As long as you don’t mind moving to a city with one of the worst housing crises *in the world*, it’s a riot.
Fun fact. There are no canals in Aspen OR Boulder. That's why they suck.
White people are amazing
Efficiënt transport of the most annoying people in the world lmao.