travel videos & photos at: townsofeurope.com/ with text, maps & links.
Oh, Amsterdam! You've got to love this city, where nearly everybody rides a bicycle. And the bicycles, scooters, and people get a free boat ride across the river into downtown. It can be a scenic round-trip for the visitor too, arriving at the Central Train Station. We will be showing you all that and more, including a trip out to the airport, with some suggestions on how to get around. If you're traveling throughout the Netherlands, the train is an excellent way to see this beautiful country.
See our Netherlands playlist with 27 movies: • Netherlands 31 movies
Many visitors arrive at Schiphol Airport, just outside of Amsterdam, and there is a very easy rail connection that brings you right into the heart of town.
In this program we're going to focus on that section of Amsterdam near the train station, perhaps the first part of the city that you'll see when you arrive. We will show you that free ferry ride and the great shopping street of Haarlemerstraat.
As you exit the train station, this street is your right, just a few minutes walk to get over here, and you will find some of the best shopping and eating in the entire city, although it's a place that's often overlooked by the visitor eager to get into the central part of Amsterdam at the Dam Square.
So Haarlemerstraat is more of a local street where you can kick back and mingle with the residents of Amsterdam.
It's mostly a street for pedestrians and bicycles, although cars are allowed to drive here, but most Dutch don't want to drive a car. It's too difficult to drive in these narrow streets with bicycles all over the place.
The origin of New York City was created on this street inside the West India House, former headquarters of the West India Company, which ordered the construction of a fort on Manhattan Island in 1625.
The same building at night and now it's a restaurant the Café New Amsterdam, with its streetside and courtyard terrace tables.
Haarlemerstraat in the evening, is just as busy as during the daytime. This is Amsterdam's hip alternative district offering boutique specialty shops, there's delis, the perfect neighborhood for dining and bar hopping.
This road continues for a kilometer with more shops along the way through a neighborhood called Haarlemebuurt with the Brouwersgracht canal on the side.
There are 14 different tramlines in Amsterdam and 11 of them stop here in front of the Central Station
There are three tunnels for bicycles and pedestrians that go underneath the station leading to the other side where you can catch the ferry. We're going to take you on a free boat ride.
These ferries provide an essential service for pedestrians, cyclists and mopeds, bringing them from Amsterdam to North Amsterdam, just a few minutes away. And the boats arrive so frequently, there's hardly any waiting time at all before boarding.
You'll enjoy some nice harbor views, including the Eye Film Museum, where they put on film festivals with Amsterdam Lookout Tower next to it, with observation decks, a hotel, restaurants and nightclubs.
The ferry arrives in Amsterdam North and the passengers very patiently get off the boat, walking, pushing their bicycles and mopeds. It's a very polite crowd of people navigating together.
The train station has a very modern appearance, with this sleek, curved roof outside with a nice wide road for bicycles in the middle and an elevated sidewalk on the edges. Upstairs, there's a road for buses, and inside it's like a shopping mall. It's open from early morning until late in the evening.
You can purchase the OV chip card used for public transit throughout the country right here at this lovely shop, with very helpful clerks.
They've also got a doctor and pharmacy here to take care of any medical needs you might have. Central Station is used by about 200,000 passengers daily.
We're heading out to a Schiphol Airport and you don't have to worry about a schedule because trains leave the station every 10 minutes for the airport.
I've had the pleasure of riding these comfortable trains all over the country visiting a dozen cities and making lots of movies that you can find in my collection.
When you get off the train and arrive at your destination, you've got a tap your OV card again to let the system know that you've ended your ride, so you get charged the proper amount for distance traveled.
Of course they had many shops, including a supermarket, and more in the duty-free area. Schiphol is the world's second-busiest airport for international travel, and often wins awards as Europe's best airport.
All that's left to do now is check your bearings, have a look at the signs, figure out which way to go to find your gate, and depart.
I spent three weeks traveling through this wonderful country shooting lots of video and created a couple dozen travel movies that you can find in my collection.