Amsterdam Celebrations

If you are looking to go to Amsterdam and want to join in some local calibrations then you have to go on Queens’s day, the Dutch celebrate the birthday of the Queen mother but in reality they use it as an excuse to party hard, any old excuse.

The best cities to stay at whilst celebrating Queens day is the Hague, Rotterdam and off course Amsterdam, although the hole of the Netherlands celebrate this occasion these cities have a special atmosphere during this spectacular party.

In particular Amsterdam has something special going with an estimated ¾ of million people coming into the city to party, many of whom wisely travel in by train. In the city centre hot spots like Leidseplein, Spui, Rembrandtplein, Damrak, Rokin and Dam you will find a great atmosphere with everybody dressed and partying in orange.

Also on Queens’s day you will find that all the street trade is unregulated so it makes it a good day for some second hand shopping, and in Vondelpark all the kids’ show of their business expertise by offering a wide variety of attractions.

As well as having a diverse range of museums, coffee shops, restaurants and bars - Amsterdam is also a fantastic shopping destination. Indeed many people take trips to the city purely to go shopping - and who can blame them. Almost every concievable type of store available can be found in Amsterdam, from major retail chains to the trendiest designers in the world and thrifty open air markets and stalls, Amsterdam shopping has something for everyone.

Rather than post a long list of our own, which would be far too detailed (although Kalverstraat is a must obviously) - we felt that we would link to some of the best posts on the web about shopping in Amsterdam. Hopefully, you will find some valuable information on shopping in Amsterdam.

• Top 10 Amsterdam Shopping Areas - from About.com: Great guide from About. Includes ten districts with reasons why you should go to each to find shopping heaven.
• 10 best - Amsterdam Shopping: 10 best is an interesting site which lists the 'Ten Best' (funnily enough) in a number of different categories. The Amsterdam Shoppping guide is great as it includes a break down of each area as well as user reviews and opinions of people who have actually been there.
• Tripwolf - list of Amsterdam shops: Tripwolf compiles a list of shops with som einformation on where they can be found - great if youre looking for something in particular.
• Amsterdam Info - Shopping Streets: Great post on the main shopping streets in Amsterdam - quite general but well worth a read.

Thanks for reading - if anyone has any shops they feel must be visited during a trip to Amsterdam, let us know.

Just a quick heads up for anyone thinking of traveling to Amsterdam soon - as part of Ferry Fortnight, DFDS Seaways are currently offering two for one on their 2 night mini cruise breaks to Amsterdam, and you can take your car over for free as well, making it a total of £65 for two people and a car (a saving of £64) - ideal for these credit crunching times! - See the DFDS Seaways Ferry Fortnight page for more information.

Ferry fortnight is an initiative set up by the Passenger Shipping Association to encourage more ferry travel from the UK, most of the major operators are offering special deals during this period.