Before you plan to go to a specific city, you probably will do some desk research before. This is where we have written this article for. The article is about general information of Amsterdam, that can be useful during your trip

The location of Amsterdam

Amsterdam is conveniently located at central location in the Netherlands. It is located a bit to the West of the heart of the Netherlands. This makes it an excellent base to explore the other cities of the country. The Netherlands is a relatively small country and therefore it doesn’t have to take more than 1.5 hours to travel from Amsterdam to another place in the Netherlands. For example: a transfer to the Schiphol (the largest international airport of the country), won’t take longer than 30 minutes. Also, when you decide to go to the beach, this is just less than half an hour with the train.

The history of Amsterdam

Amsterdam nowadays is a typical trading city. This is not different than a couple of centuries ago, when the city was founded. It was also the home for the first multinational corporation and they mainly focussed on trading.

The city was not always named Amsterdam. Long ago during the middle ages, Amsterdam was a small fortress called: Aemestelle. This was located on the banks of the Amstel river. The Dam square at that time was open and separated this fortress in two. Around the year 1250 this changed when they built a dam to connect both parts. This was the start of an good economic period. After the construction of the dam, the name Aemstelle was renamed to: Aemstelledam. Later this was changed again, as we know it today.

Do you like learn some of the city on a fun way? Than you should join one of the Amsterdam Canal Cruises, that are given by the many tour boat companies. On these tours you will be a bit more informed about the history of the city. The guides often inform you why the city took shape he way it is. You will also pass sights that are very relevant to the Golden Age.

Weather in Amsterdam

Netherlands is located next the North Sea and therefore there is a temperate climate in Amsterdam. In practical terms this means that it the average temperature in the summer is around 23 degrees. Sometimes there could be peaks above 30 degrees celsius. In winter the temperature remains around 5 degrees, but sometimes this can drop well below freezing.

Please note that Amsterdam can be rainy throughout the year, especially during the spring and fall season.

Tourism in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is very popular city for tourists and anno 2016 Amsterdam has nearly 8 million tourists visiting yearly. The majority of these visitors only visit a small part of Amsterdam. As you can imagine, this leads to a huge pressure on those parts of the city. For famous attractions like the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank House, there sometimes can be queues up to a couple of hours. Sometimes it is possible to buy your tickets in advance via the internet, this can save you a lot of time waiting in line.

Culture

Dutch people are not particularly proud of their traditions. A cause of this could be explained by the versatility of all the nationalities living here. Their is one aspect that is very integrated in their culture, which is that Dutch people really love to celebrate and throw parties. There are so many national and local festivals, such as the Uitmarkt in Amsterdam and the liberty festival (vriiheidsdag). These are some great festivals, which are open to public and free of admission. But the biggest festival by far is the Koningsdag (formerly called Queen's day). This festival is held to celebrate the kings birthday. On this day there people are dressed in orange and the national colors and they all party on the streets.

Another aspect that is integrated in the culture is football. This can especially be noticed when the Dutch national team plays an important game. For example, during the World Cup in 2014 the Museum square was filled of a couple of tens of thousands fans, looking at the contest. After each match they won, they started a big party at the streets. This can also happen with big games

of the number one football club of Amsterdam: Ajax.

Finances

Amsterdam is a very multi-national city, where you can talk English virtually anywhere. Despite this feature it is only possible to do payments in euros. In addition you should keep in mind that Amsterdam is a relatively expensive city. As an indication: a beer at a terrace can easily cost you three euros or more.