Suggestions for Amsterdam

Go into a greenhouse coffee shop and just read the menu plenty to choose from with good description + thc content guide, i'd say cakes/brownies are a must but they are stupidly strong, and all sorts to do there

 

Dude I love Amsterdam, been 3 times. Here's a link for a website with a pretty good coffeeshop map on it and also some general info that I found useful the first couple of times I went.

I really don't know where to start with advice... there's so many awesome things to do and see along with of course the copious amounts of weed to be smoked. First thing I'd recommend is for you to try some hash, as Amsterdam is home to probably the best and most reliable sources of good quality properly made hashish. Some will be imported (Moroccan, Nepalese Temple Ball etc) some will be made there (Ice hash, iso hash, bubble hash) but generally it'll be better than what you can get in most places worldwide (I'm guessing especially America with the Import stuff).

Few places to check out... well my 5 favourite coffeeshops from my last 2 trips would have to be Amnesia, Mellow Yellow, Grey Area, Cafe 420 and Green Place. There are the obvious ones such as The Green House, Grasshopper, Bulldog etc; these tend to be more commercial (although usually still offering good quality smoke).

As for strains; look out for hazes, they're currently still the hot thing in Amsterdam. You'll see pure sativa's on a few menus (Grey Area do) which are always worth a shot. My favourite strains of last trip were probably Neville's Haze, Hawaiin Snow, Yellow Cab and picking up some classics such as Northern Lights or White Widow.

Few quick bits of advice:

1. Look out for the bikes... seriously, there's thousands of them and they're crazy. Think yellow cabs in New York, they outnumber everything else on the road by about 10.

2. Amsterdam is a small city, you can walk or cycle pretty much everywhere. If you don't want to, public transport is the way to go. All Dutch people use it because it is so efficient, getting the train from the airport is faster than getting a taxi.

3. Eat some nice food. There's hundreds of places to try different cuisines. Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Moroccan, Argentinian... the list goes on.

4. Do some stuff other than just coffeeshops and hookers. Amsterdam is a diverse city with loads of other stuff. Do a canal tour, visit the Heineken Brewery... do some touristy stuff.

Hope that helps dude... you don't understand how jealous I am!

 

Check out coffeeshop media, it was my favorite when i was there. Id also recomend staying away from the coffeeshops in the center of the city. For the most part the prices were quite a bit higher than the ones on the outskirts of the city. And the people that worked at lots of them were assholes (except a few like the bluebird and the grey area).

Please roll a hash blunt there like this:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE_x9HNb9q8]YouTube - Redman smoking hash[/ame]

Rent a bike, its so much faster than walking and its lots of fun to ride a bike around really high.

If your interested you can also rent a roor with a bag while your there, I found this out on my second to last day and whished I would have known sooner. Only a couple places had glass bongs, check out the roor shop and ask the nice british lady which coffee shops have roors in them. Its where you rent them.

If your into museums get the museumkaart, its a card for around 25-35 euros that gets you into all sorts of museums. If you plan on going to a few of them it is easily worth it. The museums are great there, thats what I spent most of my time doing. Well that and looking for a new coffee shop to try inbetween museums.

watch out of the US customs people on the way back (I ended up getting searched for 3 hours)

The whores are very hot, dont spend all your money on them. Avoid the ones facing the church and the purple lights, unless thats what your into...

 

I went there for a week in the summer, but didn't leave the red light district. There was just too much chronic all over the place. If I were you I'd really talk to the guys in the head shops, they'll direct you to some good places. They all have good tree, but you can find the super dank, and some pretty crazy strains. I recommend buying some sclerotia ( legal shrooms) it's legit.

Seriously, have fun. It will be an awesome experience. I'd also recommend the Green House, ( not to be confused with the green house effect)

I'd say for edibles go with the rasta shops, they have the best brownies. But there are some shops that have specially potent space cakes, so try them too.

Go to the RooR. de shop, and to the Heineken factory, also the Van Gogh museum is a one in a life time experience.

 

Like hammy said above me, Amsterdam is truly an amazing city. I was there this past fall for 5 days and it was AMAZING.

My tips would be:

1. Just do whatever you want. Don't NOT do something because someone told you not to do it. Everything in the city is fun and beautiful.

2. Visit as many coffeeshops as you can. They all have a different style or theme so just spend afternoons and evenings checking out different shops. Our hostel was directly across from one of the Bulldog coffeeshops like 2 blocks outside the Red Light District so we spent every morning there and then made our way out to explore.

3. Try as many different MJ strains as you can. You know you're getting legit green out there so truly become a connoisseur of marijuana. Before going out there, I always thought White Widow was going to be amazing. That was the first thing we bought when we got into town and I was truly disappointed. White Widow just didn't do it for me. You'll also find that White Widow to them is like drinking a cheap American beer in the US. WW is the cheapest marijuana on almost every single menu. So be observant of the true premium strains. "Amnesia" was my absolute favorite strain. It was the most expensive strain we found and the person in charge of the shop said it was his favorite along with the most potent. And it was INTENSE.

4. I'm sure this is on your list but do not miss the Red Light District. It's so unique. Being that there really isn't anything like that in the States, it's pretty nuts to see beautiful women on display for your sexual pleasuring.... Nuts.

5. Last tip. Get yourself some edibles and a package of pre rolled joints. Eat edible. Rent a paddle boat and start blazing your Js. You'll will have the greatest time as your edible starts to hit you on top of your J while paddling around canals in Amsterdam. This was my single greatest memory of all Europe. lol

Have a blast! It's an amazing city!!

 

yea food takes a lot longer to hit but tends to hit a lot harder haha
only problem you have is that its harder to know exactly how much your taking in always best to ask at the coffee shops about their cakes and how much would they say to have, 1st time i went the man who served me advised i just had half a slice of cake and my mate have the other, however it was a pointless suggestion as i was already high with the munchies, 2 slices of cake + about an hour later i was absolutely on another planet

 

Amnesia was def. one of the best I smoked. But everyone had that, it's not very unique. I'd say the best I found was Mako Haze, and blue cheese.

Edit: I wouldn't go there, solely for the food.

 

Funny, you all adore it so much and I actually live there and concider everything normal.

But seriously, everything has already been said.

Just be sure to smoke some White Widow, my fav strain.

btw, lol @ crazy bikers.

 

The little scales on the top right of a post .

Always happy to help out!

 

Yeah man, though I tend to get the feeling that you would end up being pissed off at stoned tourists constantly wandering into the roads and cycle paths.

God damn I'm gonna move to Amsterdam after uni. So glad we're both in the EU... I could move tommorow with like practically no trouble if I wanted to

EDIT: woops, double post...

 

Keep it discreet. Don't be smoking on main thoroughfares or busy side streets unless sat outside a coffeeshop. Keep it out of sight of children if possible as well. Other than that just use common sense really. If it's a nice day going to the Museumplein (big grassy area) behind the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum or Vondelpark and just sitting down with a spliff is awesome. Also sitting on the side of a canal. Just be respectful really. Technically it's illegal so if the Police tell you to stop, listen. (though unless you're a dick they will do nothing more about the matter, apart from maybe ask for ID: quick note, as a non-EU citizen you must carry ID at all times in the Netherlands).

As far as I am aware there are basically 2 things here. You can rent a RooR from the RooR shop in Amsterdam for the duration of your stay. You'll pay a deposit and also a fee for the privilege. However I wouldn't bother. Many coffeeshops have acceptable GonG bongs that they will let you use for a deposit while you are in the coffeeshop. No cost unless you break it. It's courtesy to buy weed if you're using their tools though.

Hopefully someone else can help you out with the other stuff. Oh yeah, they pretty much all speak English over there if you were wondering, so most tourist websites are available in English such as iAmsterdam the tourist office website.

 

I'm liking this thread, thank you OP.

If I may slap another question down...

I've been told that they mix their J's with tobacco (my sister was there for the Cannabis Cup), when you "order" bud at a coffee shop, can you not get it just raw (not prerolled)? Was it perhaps just the "free samples" they were hading out at the Cup that were pre-mixed with tobacco?

Thanks in advance oh wise ones

 

Europeans tend to mix with tobacco as a rule, it's the common thing to do when rolling a joint. Therefore many places will sell pre-rolled joints with tobacco in them, even though smoking tobacco indoors is now illegal in the Netherlands. It's become an 'under the table' policy however in many coffeeshops (where of course smoking simply weed remains unaffected) in that it is essentially allowed but you must keep it out of sight. I'd advise staying away from the pre-rolled joints however, as they usually use the shake from their supplies.

Most people tend to buy weed by the gram, pure; no tobacco. Great big nugs! Advice: ask to see what you're buying, a good budtender will be more than willing to let you see and smell buds that are on the menu before you make a purchase. Don't just buy because of the name, you can also choose specific buds if you see one that you want in the container you are shown.

As for customs, I dunno the laws on importing seeds into the US. In the UK it's completely legal to possess seeds so I wouldn't have a problem with that. Seeds are easy to get and I'd certainly recommend picking some up in Amsterdam if customs isn't gonna be a problem; you can be certain of the genetics as you will probably be buying them directly from the seedbank that created that strain.

Just for those that don't know; the tobacco mixing is a cultural thing, not because of the strength of weed. Historically most of the MJ in Europe was hash imported from Morocco and the Middle East and therefore it necessitated the need to use tobacco to keep a joint lit. It became part of the culture and so even with the shift to smoking mostly buds many Europeans will still mix with tobacco.

 

Thanks OP and Hammy, my interest in visiting the next Cannabis Cup just grew a thousand-fold.