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Cold and Rainy Amsterdam: What to do?

Here is a scenario. You booked a nice city trip to Amsterdam. Flight tickets are booked and your stay at Amsterdam Teleport Hotel is confirmed! Now it’s time to get really excited. Evenings go by sitting at the couch, browsing the internet and looking at all the different places you want to visit. The number of places you are putting on your Amsterdam bucket list becomes quite overwhelming. There is so much to do and to see! But apart from not having enough time, what can go wrong during the trip you are asking to yourself? Then you realize there is one thing you haven’t checked yet: the weather! You add Amsterdam on your favourite weather app on your phone; you refresh the page a couple of times. Can it be true? Is the app working properly? You check other weather pages and that’s when you fully realize; it will be grey and rainy every single day of your trip! How is this possible you are wondering?rain

Here is a “comfortable” thought and explanation. Amsterdam has a mild sea climate with relatively warm winters and refreshing summers. Amsterdam gets on average 800mm of rain, spread out over 184 days, per year! But don’t worry; this is all normal for us! Local people are completely used to this type of climate. Most of us don’t even get bothered too much when the skies open up once again and we have to go bike to work, school or just for meeting a friend. And the good news is, since we have to deal with it 50% of the year, there is tons of exciting things to do even when it rains cats and dogs! So let me help you lift up your mood a bit and make you excited again for visiting our beautiful city!3647173262_1b70b5f61e_o

Let me start by recommending two very cool places not too far from the hotel: Westergasfabriek and De (Food) Hallen. Both places are very popular cultural hotspots in the city and offer tons of different activities year round. Westergasfabriek has a big variety of different shops, coffee places, galleries, restaurants and bars. Once per month they organise a big largely indoor fashion, design and art market. Definitely worth a visiimg_0851

If you decide to go a little bit further, by tram of course, why get under the rain when Amsterdam has such a good public transportation system, you get to De Hallen. De Hallen is a former tram depot that recently has been turned into a multipurpose cultural complex. Here you will find one of Amsterdam’s biggest food courts and lots of galleries and stores with unique souvenirs from Amsterdam. Those who are into cinema can eat their heart out as well. De Hallen has the largest independent movie theatre in The Netherlands which on top of that even has a one cinema hall (number 7) that is on the UNESCO heritage list because of its historical art deco interior.img_0971-2

I can hear you thinking: “This doesn’t sound too bad but what about the historical city centre”? Also in “old” Amsterdam there are many things to do when the weather is not cooperating. In the red light district for example there is the TonTon club. A cool, old school arcade hall where you can play lots of pinball machines and your all-time favourite classic racing, shoot-em-up games! After you had enough of game nostalgia you can go for a delicious local draft beer at Brouwerij de Prael or for those who want a bit more of a touristic beer experience at Brouwerij ‘t IJ which is located in a classic Dutch windmill. If gaming is not really your thing and you are wondering what to do, you should definitely go for a comfortable canal cruise. The easiest way to explore the city, all dry and provided with interesting historical information throughout the trip. During the winter months you might want to go for a special Amsterdam Light Festival watercolour cruise during the night.

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After the canal cruise and getting to know you should visit one of the many museums Amsterdam has to offer. Get your skip the line ticket at the front desk of the hotel and get inside straight away while other tourists are waiting outside being all cold and wet! The Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum, Eye Film museum, Nemo Science museum, Anne Frank house, Tropical museum, Hermitage and Foam photo museum are just few of the exciting options that you have.8928519988_9347a0cbaf_k

Another cool activity on a rainy day is to visit one of the many escape rooms Amsterdam has to offer. Sherlocked is located under the Beurs van Berlage, in the heart of the city centre. Other great options are Claustrophobia and Zombie escape.sherlocked-wide-shotcompressed

Last but not least there are two places totally worth mentioning that are a bit further away. On the other side of the IJ river (behind Amsterdam Central station) there are the IJ-hallen. Here you can find the largest flee market of Europe. You have to be lucky though. The market is held only one time per month. The last place I think that should complete this list is The World of Food.  This food court can be found in the Bijlmer a.k.a. Amsterdam Zuidoost. This food court represents the true multicultural spirit of the city. Amsterdam people with roots from all over the world share their delicious food for affordable prices!8244508693_858e876584_o

So nothing to worry about when coming to Amsterdam, there is always something to do! For those who are still a bit unsure and afraid of the bad weather, we provide free umbrella’s at Teleport! :)

Alternative Amsterdam: Off the beaten tourist track

Amsterdam is renowned for its beautiful architecture, canals, world class museums, coffee shops and red light district. There is so much to see and to do and then still after spending a couple of days exploring Amsterdam you have a feeling you didn’t have enough time to see it all! And guess what? You are right! Amsterdam, despite being a small city, compared to for instance Paris, London or Berlin, has so much more to offer than the regular tourist experience! Don’t get me wrong, I love the classic Amsterdam probably just as much as you do, but let’s be honest you truly get to know the city in its full glory, once you get off the beaten tourist track! Hopefully this article will help you to make your trip to Amsterdam more unique, diverse, interesting and local!

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NDSM

NDSM is a former wharf on the other side of the IJ, the big river behind the central station. To get there is already a small adventure by itself. There are free ferries connecting the centre of the city with different parts of Amsterdam North. The one you need to get to NDSM is the one all the way on the left if you get out of back entrance of the station. In about 10 minutes you will be on the other side and able to see the iconic NDSM crane and old submarine laying in the water. NDSM is thriving and getting more interesting every day. Ever since the wharf went bankrupt in 1984, free spirits and creative souls have taken over the area and given it its unique character that makes NDSM so different than other parts of the city. Visitors can expect to see a lot of beautiful street art, especially around the old wharf area, the unique NDSM breeding place full of small workshops and galleries and cool bars and restaurants such Noorderlicht, Plekk and KEBEC.

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Ruigoord

Ruigoord is a small artistic village a bit outside the city, about an 8km bike ride away from the hotel. This former village and island was taken over by squatters in 1973 and became a free haven for artists.  Here they can work in peace, not being distracted by the ever developing and fast city environment, being surrounded by lots of green and tranquillity. Very often the whole village works together on big art projects that characterize the place. In this unique place, living as a community and integrating art in their daily life has become a communal experiment. Ruigoord is also known for all the parties, festivals and other events that take place there. The best part about it all is that they usually take place in the beautiful old church that this artist community is famous for.

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Westergasfabriek

This old factory, in the Westerpark, has become a very popular hot spot of the city amongst locals. This former late 19th century gas factory closed its doors in 1967. Luckily, instead of taking the buildings down the area slowly developed into a place where innovation and creativity became the beating heart and energy of the renewed Westergasfabriek. It is difficult to describe what this place is like since there is so much to see and to do. The best thing to do is to hop on your bike or hike from the hotel, since its only 3km away and experience it yourself. If you decide to do so make sure you grab a coffee at the Espressofabriek, buy a fairtrade candybar at the Tony Chocolonely store, have a sandwich at the Bakkerswinkel, try a local draft beer at Brouwerij Troost, dance, eat with locals at the Pacific Parc and play old school arcade games at the TonTon club.

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Amsterdamse Bos

Not many tourists are aware of the fact Amsterdam has a beautiful forest that offers a great getaway from the busy city. Here locals love to walk their dog, swim during summer, enjoy open air concerts and plays, attend festivals, have their morning run or just simply enjoy the changing seasons and nature throughout the year. If you are planning to go here you should first go to the beautiful visitors’ centre that explains everything about the forest, where you can buy maps with all the different trails on them and that has a great educational centre for kids as well on the second floor.

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Other local gems

After describing four great places where you can experience the true Amsterdam spirit and where you probably will meet way more locals than tourists, there is few true gems left that are totally worth mentioning. Even though the summer has long passed it’s never too cold or rainy for a drink at Hanneke’s Boom, Café Sound Garden or Waterkant.

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Another great way of spending your day is by visiting one of Amsterdam’s local markets at the Albert Cuypstraat, Dapperstraat and Noordermarkt to try some of the delicious local delicacies like stroopwafel or herring. For the ones that even the above experiences are not local enough should have a look at DinewithDutch, a super cool platform where you can arrange an at home dinner with a true Dutch family! It doesn’t get any more local than that! :)