AmsterdamTips

Amsterdam

The comprehensive description of what Amsterdam has to offer is available at Steven Pemberton's website http://homepages.cwi.nl/~steven/amsterdam.html.

A brief article on Amsterdam appeared in the [http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/travel/22amsterdamweb.html New York Times] on April 22. If you don't have or want to get the free account, see [http://www.bugmenot.com/].

David Reid has posted a [http://feathercast.org/?p=44 Feathercast] Podcast about visiting Amsterdam for ApacheCon.

Getting Around

This may not be the best way to get from the airport to the hotel and back, but it'll do the job!

Get the train from Amsterdam Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal. Don't get a return (unless you're going back the same day). A single should cost you c. 3.60EUR
When you get to Amsterdam Centraal, get a ticket for the local transport. You can get day passes from the GVB Tickets & Info place in the station (or at the machines, as long as you don't want a 96h one) - 24h->7EUR; 48h->11.50EUR; 72h->14.50EUR; 96h->17.50EUR. If you don't think you'll use that much transport, get a "strippenkaart". Travelling with the strippenkaart "costs" one strip per journey, plus one strip per zone. So a 1-zone journey is 2 strips, a 2-zone journey is 3 strips etc. Costs are 2-strip->1.60EUR; 3-strip->2.40EUR; 8-strip->6.40EUR (this also works as a day ticket, but I'm not sure how); 15-strip->6.90EUR; 45-strip->20.40EUR
That's the hard part over! Exit Centraal Station and walk all the way down to the end of the station (to your left, if your back is to the station).
The line for Tram 26 should be the one nearest to the station, at this end. If it's not, you've gone the wrong direction
Get on Tram 26 (it only goes one direction past here - IJburg), and stamp your card (2-strips, if it's a strippenkaart). Go one stop, to the Musiekgebouw, and alight.
Cross the tram lines, then the bike path, and walk down a bit to your right, until you find a bridge. Go over the bridge, down to your left, and you're at the hotel! (Note: it was late, and dark, and I did this bit wrong. But you can see the hotel from the tram stop, so you'll figure it out)
To get back to the airport, REVERSE!