Who's been to the Netherlands?

[BongSmokityDuo]

The girlfriend and I are planning a trip over there for sometime in the next few months, and I was hoping to get some input from people that have gone recently. Has anybody been to the cannabis cup? Is it really anything other than just a busride to the coffee shops and a weed voting ballot? Also, since we're not exactly interested in hitting up the red light district, is there any reason for us to go to Amsterdam instead of some other city? Oh, and also if you want to share how much you spent and how long you were there and any must see spots or other info, that'd be great! Thanks a bunch.

BongSmokityDuo Reviewed by BongSmokityDuo on 07-08-2006. Who's been to the Netherlands? The girlfriend and I are planning a trip over there for sometime in the next few months, and I was hoping to get some input from people that have gone recently. Has anybody been to the cannabis cup? Is it really anything other than just a busride to the coffee shops and a weed voting ballot? Also, since we're not exactly interested in hitting up the red light district, is there any reason for us to go to Amsterdam instead of some other city? Oh, and also if you want to share how much you Rating: 5

[Tom Swierzbinski]

Well Ive done a bit of research and had some feedback from members on this board (Az has been there recently), and I know for a fact that if you go during the Cannabis Cup the prices are 'hiked up' considerably. I dont know by how much, but its supposed to be quite expensive for food and drinks, plus during the CC they put the prices of bud up in the coffeeshops.
Im actually thinking of visiting a small town instead of Amsterdam. As long as it has its own coffeeshop though

[BongSmokityDuo]

That's exactly what I figured....seems like a bit of a tourist trap. Well let me know if you come across some awesome little town...don't try to hog it all to yourself! I've heard about people visiting Mastricht--i think that's how you spell it? Hey AZ, where did you stay??!!

[Tom Swierzbinski]

Oh yeah and if you wanna go for the cheaper option, try camping. Theres a nice little campsite thats had good reviews (well, its considered good as long as yer young!) called Zeeburg. Its relatively close to Schipol Airport so you can just catch the train, and also about a 20-30 minute walk away from Amsterdam Centre. Heres the website http://www.campingzeeburg.nl/index.html

Edit: Ill look up that town you mentioned

[BongSmokityDuo]

I almost spelled it right...I think this might be where I'm heading...

Maastricht, the oldest city in the Netherlands, differs from Amsterdam in numerous ways.

"Maastricht is about as diametrically opposed to its northern cousin as two cities within one European country can be," said a visitor named Kifwebe. Where Amsterdam is dirty and bustling, Maastricht is impeccably clean and quiet. Amsterdam is the hub of Dutch heritage but Maastricht, situated in a finger of land between Belgium and Germany, reflects heavy
French and German influences. Amsterdam has 725,000 residents, about 600,000 more than Maastricht.

However, there is one important shared feature: "coffee shops" where world-class marijuana and hash are purchased and smoked openly. "[Coffee shops] exist solely to provide a safe, clean place for people to legally buy small quantities of hashish and marijuana to smoke on the premises or take home," said an unnamed traveller who sampled the Maastricht wares. "That's extremely high-quality hash and wacky weed: Pollen, Double Pollen, Moroccan hash,
gold or red Lebanese."

In Maastricht, city ordinance forbids the sale of alcohol in coffeeshops; weed only.

Costs are comparable to those in Amsterdam, with marijuana starting around the equivalent of four dollars for a gram or $6 per gram for hash. As in Amsterdam, the stoner culture has been firmly established in Maastricht.

[Tom Swierzbinski]

I think Im gonna stick to the Camping Zoidberg (my little name for it) place in Amsterdam. Its out the way, its cheap, and Im gonna set it back til next October so the prices will be cheaper and there wont be as many people there. Also, it means Ill have some more spending money, so Ill be able to get a taxi to... er... well, other places!

[Breukelen advocaat]

We were there for about a week, in the 1990's. We liked the Van Gogh museum, and others. It's nice to just walk around the canals in Amsterdam. We didn't spend too much, but it was like 8 or 10 years ago, so my memory is foggy. I don't know if you should go to the Cannabis Cup - that may make it impossible, or extremely expensive, to get a hotel room, which are small to begin with.


They have a lot of concerts in Holland, and there is a good chance that you'll catch somebody that you like. We saw Ry Cooder and David Lindley in the city of Utrecht, which we went to by a train out of Amsterdam. David Lindley said he had two "coffees" right before the show, it was the best, and he hoped that they didn't check his blood at customs when he went to his next scheduled gig. :dance: His sometimes musical partner Cooder, though, is a teetotaler.

[Gargantua]

I've been to Amsterdam 3 or 4 times. If you're a beer afficionado, make sure you take the Heineken brewery tour. The Van Gogh museum is a definite must-see. Although I haven't really stayed in any other Dutch towns, I did make a day trip to Haarlem, which was a nice relief from the big city. Another nice thing to do is take one of those boat tours of the canals.

There are plenty of coffeehouses. Try to find one that's not an obvious tourist destination. I found a little out of the way rastafarian coffee shop with a big binder of samples. It was really cool to be able to leaf through it and say "hmmmm, I think maybe I'll try a little thai stick today." :thumbsup:

[locomark]

Well I have been five time in the last seven years and I still love it. Being an hoe lover the Red Light District was made for me. Anyway times were better before the euro now your dollar is worth about 75 cents or so. So anywhere you go in Europe will be a pain when you pull out some cash. Plan a budget of about $100 a day after your hotel cost and you'll be fine.

I think Amsterdam is a great city but after reading your research on Maastricht I may consider traveling there in the spring instead of the dam. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a red light district there as well. Anyway you go I love the country and the people. Truely the land of the free.

Loco

[Az.]

I stayed in the hotel Abba dude,

hahaha yeah you may laugh at the name but it was actually really cool there, we had 3 sharing a room and there were 3 beds, a tv and places to put your shit if you wanted....really basic living but it was only £160 each for 8 nights, which works out at about £20 a day

You could smoke in the rooms there, when i first walked up the stairs (which are really steep everywhere) it stunk of weed in the corridor

A BIG bonus was the bottom floor was a biiig supermarket and across the road there was a tram stop and a night shop that was open late which sold alcohol and food....not that we drank once over there

ummmm It literally took us 5 seconds from leaving the hotel to the tram stop, and then 10 mins on the tram to Dam Square, which is pretty much the heart of amsterdam...there are loads of coffee shops around there, mostly touristy one but if you walk away from the center in any direction you will find some of the more locally aimed ones....

I took some pictures to show you how far away we were etc etc
The first one is how far away we were from the square
the second one is a really really cool park right next to the hotel where we went to mellow, we smoked there a few times sitting by the edge of the many lakes and had no trouble....It seems that if you are away from busy places and you arn't completly obvious or causing any trouble then people are pretty accepting and you generally wont get any trouble....although their laws should really be respected, but I suppose people expect smokers to smoke there because of it being a public park....

lol and the third one is the whole city just to give you an idea...

Sorry about the stupidly long post dude, im still loving the memories
Hope you have a good time dude
Im sure you will :thumbsup: