cold fingers, warm beer, and wifi that actually works: amsterdam in january
ok so i literally just got off the train and my hands are still numb but i need to get this down before i forget everything because that's how i roll when i'm traveling. the timestamp on my phone says 1528899853 which if you're nerdy enough to check is may 2018 but i'm writing this now and honestly time is fake when you're a digital nomad bouncing between cities every few weeks. anyway here's the deal with amsterdam in late spring when it's somehow still cold enough to see your breath.
Quick Answers
Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: yes but only if you like cities that smell slightly like weed and canal water mixed together. it's chaotic in a way that works if you're into that whole 'organized chaos' thing. the architecture alone is worth the trip.
Q: Is it expensive?
A: ridiculously expensive. expect to pay like 15 euros for a basic lunch and don't even get me started on drinks. hostels are around 30-50 euros a night if you're booking last minute like me.
Q: Who would hate it here?
A: people who need personal space, anyone afraid of bikes, and definitely anyone who thinks 6am is a reasonable time to sleep in because the tram will change your mind.
Q: Best time to visit?
A: honestly maybe skip may/june unless you love crowds. i heard from some backpacker at the hostel that september-october is better for weather and prices but honestly the cold keeps the worst of the tourist crowds away so there's that.
so the weather right now is something like 6.63 degrees but it feels like 4.4 because of the humidity which is at 75% and honestly that's just brutal. the pressure is super high at 1025 which actually makes the air feel heavier and weirdly still. i checked a few weather apps and they all said the same thing - not raining exactly but everything is damp all the time. my jacket never dried out the whole trip.
i'm staying in a pretty central hostel and the wifi is actually decent which is like 80% of why i picked it. as a digital nomad i need to actually work sometimes and there's nothing worse than trying to do a client call while your connection drops every five minutes. this place has fiber or something and i managed to do three calls without anyone disconnecting. massive win.
one thing nobody tells you about amsterdam is how weirdly quiet it gets at night in certain areas. i walked back from a bar around midnight and some streets were completely dead. then you'd turn a corner and there's like three people on bikes almost hitting you because there's no streetlights in some parts. safety wise i felt fine as a solo traveler but i'm a pretty tall guy so that probably helps. a local warned me about the area near the station at night and said to just keep my phone in my pocket and don't be that tourist taking photos of everything.
here's the thing about amsterdam - it's expensive but there's ways around it. i found cheaper food at the albert cuyp market than in the tourist centers. the stroopwafels there are like 2 euros instead of 4 euros at the souvenir shops near dam square. also the app too good to go is huge here where restaurants sell leftover food at like 5pm for cheap. i ate like a king for like 8 euros a couple nights.
tourist vs local experience is super segregated here. the tourists all stay in the center near the red light district and the coffee shops and they never really see the actual amsterdam. i met a girl at my hostel who's been here for three months doing an internship and she took me to this area called de pijp which is way more local and actually has decent bars without the absurd prices. the thing she said that stuck with me was "the tourists see the museum quarter and the party district and think they know the city but nobody who lives here eats in the streets with the boats."
the canals are obviously beautiful but after the third day they kind of just become background noise. what surprised me more was the random architecture stuff - there's this thing where some buildings lean literally every direction and nobody seems to care. i looked it up and apparently it's because of the ground being all swampy and wooden piles and it's been like that for centuries. pretty cool if you're into that weird building stuff.
my hostel roommate told me the best view of the city is from the A'dam Tower but you have to pay like 20 euros to go up so i just went to one of the free ferry boats instead and honestly the view was almost as good
i've been to a lot of cities as a nomad and here's my take on amsterdam - it's one of those places that people either love or hate and there's not much in between. the bike culture is intense if you're not used to it and the way people just leave their bikes locked to anything is kind of amazing. i saw a bike locked to a street sign that was already holding like six other bikes.
if you're planning to visit here's some actual practical stuff:
- get an OV-chipkaart for public transport because buying tickets every time is annoying and more expensive
- the ian special tourist pass is only worth it if you're doing museums every single day
- download the ns app for train times because they change constantly
- don't rent a bike as a tourist just walk and take trams until you learn the rules
i'm writing this from a cafe near vondelpark and the wifi here is also solid which is why i keep coming back. the coffee is expensive like 4-5 euros but you can sit for hours and nobody bothers you. i saw a reddit thread that said the best cafes for working are in the jordaan area but i haven't tried those yet.
the weather is supposed to get slightly better next week with temps going up to like 7.78 max which is honestly not that different but at least it might stop drizzling. the humidity is supposed to stay around 75% though so basically pack layers and accept that everything will feel slightly damp the whole time.
i'm gonna head to utrecht tomorrow which is like 25 minutes by train and supposedly way quieter. someone told me it's like amsterdam used to be before everything got too touristy. we'll see.
for more info on what's happening in amsterdam check out the subreddits or tripadvisor but honestly the best tips come from talking to people at hostels. that's literally how i found out about the free ferry to the north side of the city which has amazing views of the whole skyline without paying for anything.
the hostel receptionist told me the red light district is actually changing a lot because of new regulations and some streets are way more touristy now than they used to be
anyway that's my chaotic brain dump about amsterdam. it's cold, it's expensive, the wifi is good, and if you can handle the bikes and the weird narrow stairs in old buildings you'll probably love it.
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related stuff:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Amsterdam
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g188590-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province-Amsterdam_Boat_Tours.html
- https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=best+coffee&find_loc=amsterdam
- https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g188590-c30182-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province-Guide_To_Amsterdam_Netherlands.html
- https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=cheap+food&find_loc=de+pijp+amsterdam