Amsterdam Coffee House Suggestions

[njpsych]

Hello all -- first time poster.

Myself and a few friends are traveling to Amsterdam for the first time very soon and we would like your advice. From just a quick search for information we turned up well over a hundred different coffee shops to visit and needless to say, we are overwhelmed. We are worried that if we go there with no research we will end up just walking into the first touristy place that we find. We, however, want to get the full experience.

We are looking for any and all suggestions for coffee shops in Amsterdam. We are staying right by the red light district, so anything in the surrounding area would be great.

There is no specific type that we are looking for and are interested in getting a full visceral experience from several different types of shops. From large to small, busy to laid back, themed to casual, tourist friendly to local hot spot. Any and all advice is welcome. Any that stand out to do their participation in the Cannabis Cup would also be great.

Thank you all in advance for your help.

[psychocat]

Couple of links for you.
Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory - Amsterdam Map (http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/Map.html)
Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory - Cannabis Coffee Shop Guide (http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/index.htm)

[MadSativa]

Ill tell you where not to go, Paradise coffe shop, just pass it buy, the herb is supposedly shitty, the service no better and the atmosphere dark. other than that, they are all good

might be woth a look, their only about 6 months old.

YouTube - Coffee Shop Crawl 2008 Amsterdam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hRbtUywRLQ&feature=channel_page)

YouTube - Worst Coffeeshop In Amsterdam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbQhA4n0tFo&feature=channel_page)

[stoneybaby37]

Here's a youtube video I found on High Times website. It doesn't tell you specific coffee shops but the basics of them. It's pretty interesting.

YouTube - JORGE'S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAmJY6oZ83c)

[bigtopsfinn]

The Greenhouse - most of the winning htcc winners in the past few years, including 2008

Barney's - htcc winner 2007 g13 x haze was really nice..

Greenhouse has 3 locations, but one of them is right next to a Barney's... Both of these guys have some of the best stuff IMO, but rather expensive.

Rasta Baby - quite cheap compared to most... in the same area as the Barney's and Greenhouse

Popeye's - also in the same area (same street as GH and Barney's). Really nice owner. Usually let you take some tokes of "The Peace Pipe", which was a Hookah last time. Went there 5 days straight and they gave us 3 grams of blueberry from the bottom of a bag for free.

Home Grown Fantasy (maybe Homegrown, not sure) - A Dutch guy took me there, he goes there all the time. Not much selection, but good nugs and good coffee, nice people.

Do not go to "The Best Coffeeshop"...totally false advertising there. Expensive and pushy staff. It's close to Central Station, and sometimes has a lot of people in it for that reason, but don't be fooled... just keep walking :)

Actually, I find this to be true for all of the Coffeeshops I went to around the Red Light District (might be a couple good ones, but never found one myself). Over-priced drinks and weed, and the weed is nothing to write home about...The farther away from the RLD, the better.

[Reefer Rogue]

Grey Area has the best weed imo

[MadSativa]

I thought green house just has one shop now, like everyone elese, on the green house street, or ave or what ever

[bigtopsfinn]

I thought green house just has one shop now, like everyone elese, on the green house street, or ave or what ever

Never heard of any closing down. Do a google search and you can see them. On their website they actually have 4 locations.

Here's the link for the Coffee Shops: Green House Coffeeshops Amsterdam (http://www.greenhouse.org/index1.htm)