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The best summer locations in A’dam

3. July 2018/in /by David

Throughout the whole year Amsterdam offers many kinds of attractions and activities – interesting museums, vibrant night-life in the red-light district and canals with the bridges covered in beautiful flowers and bicycles. What is special in the summer (what I didn’t even know when I first visited Amsterdam) is that you can experience something more summer like – urban beaches! During the summer these beaches provide festivals, parties, activities, drinks & food and just a little bit more vacation-like atmosphere to the city holiday!

1.Roest

When asking for recommendations for urban beaches, you probably will hear the name Roest mentioned often. Roest is in the east of Amsterdam near by the Brouwerij’t IJ – so if you cycle there you can pass one of the eight windmills in Amsterdam as well.

The concept of Roest is interesting, the venue is well used in the old industrial area – it is a café, bar and a restaurant (the food looks amazing), it also holds a lot of events and parties. For example, on the 14th of July you can participate in the Respect the 80’s party here!

2.Strand Zuid

Strand Zuid is located a bit more in the east, easy to get to with the metro line 50 from Sloterdijk. Alternatively cycling is also a nice option, since the area in the south is very scenic.

The first thing I noticed here when I arrived at Strand Zuid, was how charming the surroundings were. Cute little lanterns and a lot of green plants help make the place feel really cozy and fresh. Just a quick turn from the cycling path and you’re experiencing a totally different atmosphere. Strand Zuid offers nice terrace tables by the view to the Zuidpool and the Beatrix park behind it, but also tables and chairs on the beach where you can just take your shoes off and enjoy the day.

3.Dok

One of my favorite ones is definitely Dok. 13-minutes cycling from Teleport and you’re already there! At this place the view towards the water is actually outside of the beach, but when you get inside it doesn’t really matter anymore. At Dok you have almost everything else a beach would require – people walking bare foot, beach volleyball, sand and of course the palm trees! Literally you can just go there, take your shoes off and relax with a beer or a plate of nachos.

Dok also hosts a lot of events and on the 7th of July, you will find a Tapas Food Festival there!

4.Sloterplas

Interested in swimming, renting a kayak or a sailboat, having a picnic, running, yoga, exercising in an outdoor gym or just having a drink on a terrace? Well Sloterplas is a great place to visit then! I cycle pass this lake every day, but only recently found out about the beach (with seashells) where you can actually swim. Albert Heijn is not too far either (5 minutes away), so getting the picnic foods is not too much of a trouble. And if you don’t want to sit in the sand, on the other side of Sloterplas there are nice grass areas.

Sloterplas in very conveniently located from Teleport – only 9 minutes of cycling or 28 minutes of walking.

5.Het Stenen Hoofd

This small beach with more casual-like atmosphere is just 5 minutes from the central station. There is a little beach café, where you can order lemonades, soft drinks and snacks. I tried their lemon lemonade, which was really good – bubbly and sweet. You can have a drink at the café on its terrace or lay on the little beach left-side of the café with your own food.

From here you have a pretty nice view to the north – you can spot the A’dam tower and the NDSM for example.

On the 7th till the 8th of July you can find a beer festival here with live wrestling, tasty food and different craft beers!

Besides these five, there are other urban beaches in Amsterdam: Pllek in the north and Blijburg aan Zee in the east of Amsterdam. These two also host different events throughout the summer: open air movie nights at Pllek and different music events in the huge beach of Blijburg aan Zee.

As a non-local I definitely recommend these places for the people who are interested in doing something a bit different on their holiday to Amsterdam. After visiting some museums, I can’t think of anything better than relaxing on an urban beach with good music, tasty food and cold drinks or even enjoying a festival!

On this map you can check out all the places I mentioned and find the most convenient one![:]

Street Art Transformation of Teleport

4. December 2016/in /by David

“Blank walls are a shared canvas and we’re all artists.”

Carla H. Krueger

When we started with alternative art tours for our guests around Amsterdam and met great guys from AllTourNative, little did we know how carried away we would get. Teleport had no clue where this collaboration would bring us and what would grow out of it. It’s been developing step by step: first we got introduced to Amsterdam Street Art (ASA) association (really talented street artists, who create true masterpieces!), then we decided to make Teleport Hotel more artsy and got so much inspiration that we couldn’t hold it anymore. That’s how the idea of Amsterdam Street Art Event was born.

We had the canvas of the blank walls, and we felt that we needed the artists to change them into something unique and breathtaking. And we were lucky to know just the right guys for it, who could share their talent with our guests and add up to the open-minded spirit of Teleport Hotel. Now we’re happy to share what turned out of a very special event last week.

2 days, 8 artists, 20 rooms

We’re fortunate enough to welcome guests to the city of Amsterdam that embodies freedom and liberty, and that has motivated us to give all the freedom of creativity to 8 selected (amazing!) artists from ASA. These talented guys have their own distinctive styles, and we knew that we made the right choice the moment we saw bright color sprays on the once boring white walls.

This time our hotel started with 20 rooms that were ready for transformation and new character with any form of alternative art on their walls. And since we like sharing happy moments with our guests, we made a 2-days party out of it with free mojitos, yummy snacks, live DJ, live painting and even street art workshop.

Paint smell, can shakes sound and work in progress

When you entered the hotel you could already smell the work of the artists, but the moment you opened the door of the rooms, you could finally see the work of the creators. Most of ASA guys not only didn’t mind visitors observing their creative process, but they were also willing to tell more about their style and a particular piece. Impressive eyes (whether it was one of a fish, a tree or one by itself) by Sjembakkus were staring at your soul from the walls, while almost real life Salvador Dali by Ives.One was questioning your intentions with his double face. Dotsy’s unique character was teleporting you from one room to another, and PressOne colorful creatures were multiplying without stopping. Beazarility decorated Teleport with detailed Amsterdam symbols easily recognized by tourists, while Sket185 sprayed some old school graffiti throw ups bring Amsterdam streets to the hotel.

Mojitos, workshop and music

In between observing the talents spraying their artwork and making the walls alive, the visitors could catch some fresh air and enjoy freshly prepared mojitos accompanied by delicious snacks. The most adventurous souls even tried themselves at street art by learning how to spray the famous puzzle pieces by Hero de Janeiro. He was giving some speed lessons on stencils art, cracking jokes and working his way up the long corridor wall.

Those with dancing feet could enjoy the vibrant tunes by our DJ and then come back to see the final results of the 2-days hard work of Amsterdam Street Art guys.

What’s now and what will happen next?

Now Teleport Hotel is proud to have 20 rooms decorated with the top street art pieces by all different styles and techniques. The guests are happy with the creative rooms and original walls that they love taking pictures of. The good news is that this event just the start of the Teleport transformation. Amsterdam’s best street artists will return for our next street art event to bring even more colors, creativity and character to the rest of the hotel rooms in February. We can’t wait! Can you?

The Street Art Life of Amsterdam

9. October 2016/in /by David

As the Banksy exhibition has recently left Amsterdam, it’s time to explore the stunning street-art of the city available year-round and for free. From the first glance it might look that Amsterdam doesn’t have enough graffiti, murals, stencils, stickers and other forms of alternative art, but the first impressions can be deceiving. The truth is that our radiant city is full of them, but you might need to have your eyes open, pay attention and even know the hot spots of the local street artists. Let us help you a bit with that and send you at the right direction.

The NDSM Wharf

We can’t highlight enough the creative artsy spirit of the northern part of Amsterdam, where you see stunning graffiti and stencils every way you look. The NDSM Wharf is a vibrant industrial area with old cranes, trams turned into art projects, metal containers, huge ship halls and plenty of walls. All the colors of street-art look especially bright and vivid here with the rusty objects on the background. You can even see artists creating new pieces right in front of you, making the old walls come to life again. All you need to do is take a free ferry in the direction of NDSM behind the Central Station, and the best water views and street-art are guaranteed! As soon as your ferry arrives to the other side, you will be astonished by a gigantic colorful mural of Anne Frank’s portrait (240 square meters!!), recently painted by a very talented Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra.

Space Invaders of the Jordaan

The historical and more authentic part of Amsterdam, called the Jordaan, might be one of the least expected places for street-art, but it’s full of small charming pieces. One of the most impressive murals here is done by iconic local artists the London Police that spread love with their joyful LADS characters. The Jordaan also hides a bunch of Space Invaders, which are mosaic artworks spread around 60 cities all over the world. The best news is that now you can collect those pieces through a Flash Invaders app same way as you do with Pokémon these days. Except these invaders are the real art that you find on the walls. Make sure to check out Marnixstraat for constantly updating colorful graffiti.

The Past Glory of Spuistraat

Not that long ago if you walked down Spuistraat in Amsterdam, you could enjoy numerous art pieces on the walls of all the squatted buildings right in the heart of the city. Creativity used to be limitless here, while the rebellious vibe was felt in the air. The situation has changed quite a bit since the municipality took over the central masterpiece of De Slang. What used to be an iconic picture of alternative scene of Amsterdam is unfortunately no more there. However, you can still find a few brightly painted garages’ doors, squatted bars with their doors full of graffiti and millions of small stencils and stickers along the street. Spuistraat is definitely worth having a look still, but you really need to look closely and check out tiny side streets too.

Schellingwoudebrug

In case you want to see whether the roots of Amsterdam’s street art are coming from, then welcome to this bridge (under the bridge to be precise). Just take a tram 14 to the Flevopark, and you will find the graffiti paradise in the end of the line. Schellingwoudebrug goes over the IJ and is the witness of the crazy 90s, when street artists from all over the globe presented their wall pieces to Amsterdam.

Downtown Street Art Map

How about turning your day in Amsterdam into a street art quest? Just use this map to locate the best pieces in town, see how many invaders you can detect and what gallery turns out to be your favorite. Amsterdam’s street art goes way beyond some cool graffiti in the hidden spots, it becomes a trend of the city, worth exhibiting in museums and galleries. Even the local municipality realizes the importance of alternative art for the cultural life, providing the street artists with legal opportunities to create and present their pieces to all the guests to enjoy.

Amsterdam Teleport Hotel is happy to join with our grand Street Art Event on 27-28 November, so stay tuned to learn more!

The coolest urban beaches of Amsterdam

21. July 2016/in /by David

These days when the temperatures are unusually high in Amsterdam, regular sightseeing might get more tiresome and maybe even somewhat boring. This nice sunny weather (that won’t last long by the way, since it’s the Netherlands!) make you want to spend some time chilling, catching a suntan and having a drink next to the water. If you’re still wondering how locals enjoy themselves during the summer in Amsterdam, then continue reading to discover cool hang out spots and urban beaches.

Of course, you might think that we will be recommending you the easiest ways to get to Zandvoort or Bloemendaal beaches, which are great for a swim in the Northern see or observing the Dutch turning red. And even though they are perfect for some sand and nature explorations, we will draw your attention to a different kind of beaches that Amsterdam has to offer even within a shorter distance.

Pllek

Hop on a free ferry behind the Central Station and find yourself at the NDSM wharf on the other side of the IJ that turn outs to be all cool and hip. Industrial Pllek will greet you with its creative vibe, live music or DJs playing and cold beers. Just relax on giant bean bags, try some good food and admire a spectacular view of Amsterdam on the other side.

Amsterdam Plage

In case you don’t fancy crossing the water and want to stick to the area next to the Central Station, no problem as a small city beach is only a 15 minute walk away. It’s known as the Stenen Hoofd, open for lively crowd till 15 August. The best part is that it features a free open-air film festival called Pluk de Nacht, which will be a great way to spend your evenings from 3 to 13 August.

Blijburg aan Zee

One of the biggest city beaches, this one is situated on Ijburg, which is a man-made island to the east of Amsterdam. It’s pretty much the only urban spot where you can swim and enjoy evening camp fires. Blijburg is even more alternative than other beaches and proud to have a hippie atmosphere with the feeling of freedom and bohemian spirit. Taste some of the delicious food here to the tunes of live music. If you’re lucky, you’re might be right on time for dance or music festivals that happen here quite often.

NEMO’s Rooftop Beach

For those of you who want to experience a very original beach type in Amsterdam, NEMO’s rooftop can be the right spot to spend a relaxed afternoon. This science museum in the shape of a cruise ship will surprise you with deckchairs, decking, an amazing cascade with 4 000 liters of water, olive trees and sand pits. Just have a break, eat your Amsterdam ice-cream and breath in the magnificent view across the city’s roofs. It’s the largest terrace in town, which is ideal for kids as they will have a great entertainment time at Splashing Water Wonder playground.

Strand Zuid

As the name suggests, this lovely beach is located in the south of Amsterdam very close to RAI Convention Centre. It attracts an upper class crowd that come to relax here, sipping their cocktails, having luxurious food and laying in hammocks or lounge chairs. The area of Strand Zuid is huge with about 2000m2 of property here, but don’t expect any swimming facilities. Play some volleyball and mingle with the richies instead.

Amsterdam Roest

With the opposite vibe from Strand Zuid, this beach is more for hipsters and trendy young people who like good music, post-industrial architecture, indoor and outdoor bars with an artsy vibe. Roest’s sandy waterside is great for sun tanning, while its alternative markets and film screenings can serve as an interesting entertainment for kids and adults alike.

Strand West

This beach is more of a modern lounge spot where locals come for afternoon tapas and a drink, beach volleyball and hammock lazing. Although swimming isn’t allowed here, you still have plenty of opportunities of having a nice beach day here all year round.

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