Amsterdam
-
Here are some personal tips: food/restaurants, nightlife, museums, shopping, coffee shops and parks.
Food / restaurants
Restaurants:
- Hemelse Modder is a really nice Dutch/French organic restaurant, semi fancy, almost only locals. Around 35 euros for a menu or 20 euros main dish. De Witte Zwaan is a similar establishment, very nice and even closer by.
- Great Dutch food is at restaurant Moeders (30 a menu, 20 a main meal, a unique
establishment as the walls are filled with pictures from customer’s mothers). - Vegetarian restaurant de Waaghals. Around 35 euros for a menu or 20 euros main dish
- De Kas, located in a greenhouse where they grow all their own vegetables.
- Cannibale Royale – American style kitchen, has different establishments. Please try their spare-ribs!!
- Great Indonesian food at (a Dutch colony for 300 years) Blauw and Jun.
- Cheap nearby Thai places are Ocha and The Bird (around 10 euros for a dish).
- Great authentic Chinese places are Fulu mandarin and Nam Kee. Around 15 to 25 for a
dish.
Nice cheese fondue and Entrecôte at Cafe Bern on the Nieuwmarkt square. Around 20.
If you want a great salad, go to one of the SLA restaurants. Around 10 for a huge filling
salad.
Great 5 euro falafel at the Maoz establishments, incl. unlimited salad bar. Open until 1 am
and 3 am on weekends.
The Jordaan area is also really nice to check for restaurants.
As well as the more bohemian area “De pijp” you should definitely visit the daily food and
clothes market the Albert Cuyp. You can get traditional dutch food there, but also
international cuisine. Its really delicious and the whole neighbourhood is definitely worth
visiting!
Other ones in the more expensive category would be (all around 40 to 70 euros for a 5 to 7 course menu. Be sure to make reservations!).
- Cafe Modern
- Gebroeders Hartering
- Choux
- Lucius – Best seafood in Amsterdam!
Around 10 to 15 for a dish. My personal favourite is Asian Fusion restaurant, which has
super nice veggie duck and chicken dishes.Breakfast/lunch:
For great sandwiches and breakfast go to the broodbar on Kloveniersburgwal 18. Or try
Betty blue or Latei, also very nice and close by. Caldi e freddi (near dam square) has 101
different sandwiches for a good price! Their calzones are amazing.
Great juiceries with amazing açaí bowls are the Juice Brothers establishments.
Delicious soup at Soup en Zo establishments.
Trust at the Albert Cuyp is a great vegan place where you pay by tip.
Dutch snacks:For amazing harring and kibbeling (typical Dutch fish treats) go to the stand on the
nieuwmarkt square around the corner (It’s not there every day though).
Have a “broodje kroket” with mustard (white bun with a croquette filled with ragout) at van
dobben. The kroket also comes in a small balls portion called “bitterballen” which you can
buy at almost every bar or cafe.
The best French fries are sold at Vleminckx Sausmeesters, make sure to get them with
mayonnaise or peanut sauce for the most authentic taste, or get the fries war (oorlog) for a
combination of the two with chopped onion.Food markets:
There are 2 great biological food markets on Saturday (best for your cheese shopping!!) on
the Nieuwmarkt square and the Noordermarkt square (famous apple pie at cafe Winkel
43 here as well)
And every day (except Sunday) already mentioned,the local market is the Albert Cuyp.
Bars:
Great for special beers are Brouwerij ‘t Ij (it’s in a windmill), Spuyt, Tripel and de Prael.
Also around Nieuwmarkt square there’s loads of great bars like de Bekeerde Suster
(Brewery) Willa Nieuwmarkt, or Fonteyn.
A great 17th century Dutch liqueur distillery is Wynand Fockink, reserve a tasting hour for
17,50 including 6 drinks and a tour!
For more alternative places you can go to Roest or de Ceuvel, better with nice weather
though.
The Bloemenbar at Spuiplein is open until late, the Poolbar around the same area is also a
very nice spot.
At the Poolbar you can play a variety of free board games (or rent a pool table) and they sell
10 Jägermeister shots for 10 euro!Nightlife:
Go to the areas of Leidseplein or Rembrandtplein.
Paradiso is a beautiful old venue at Leidseplein for concerts as well as dancing, and so is
Melkweg.
A great Berlin style EDM venue is De School (usually only on weekends, so check what’s
on). It’s the most famous and crazy techno club in town.
Other good clubs for electronic music are: RADION, Shelter or club Clare.
And if you like jazz music, one of my top favourite places is Jazz Cafe Alto.For hip hop and r&b go to Encore – at Melkweg (every saturday) or go to club Air.
For more alternative places go to pacific park, SKATECAFE (in the north, where I live) or
OCCI. always check what’s on though.
The (legendary) gay areas are around the Reguliersdwarsstraat and de Zeedijk.
Shopping:
For nice boutique shops go to the 9 streets and de Haarlemmerstraat in the Jordaan area.
For the expensive big brand fashion shops go to the “Pieter Cornelis hooft straat” between
the Vondelpark (biggest park in Amsterdam) and the museum square.
For great second hand clothes go to the nearby Waterloo square clothes market (Monday
to Saturday) and the Episode, Time Machine, Zipper and kilo shops.
All the standard shops you can find at the Kalverstraat and Nieuwendijk around
Damsquare.Coffeeshops (no coffee; weed):
Great Coffeeshops are the Bluebird, Kadinsky, the Grey Area, the Dampkring, 1e Hulp,
Boerejongens, de Graal (really nice to hang out, play chess and board games, they even
have a 5 euro an hour recording studio out back for customers!) and the Prix the Amie if
you are with a big group.
Museums:
For the most popular museums (Anne Frank, Van Gogh, Rijksmuseum) order your tickets
online beforehand to skip the hour-long lines.
If you want to ‘fact check me” and learn more about the history and culture of Amsterdam go
to the Amsterdam Museum.
Some nice alternative museums are Stedelijk Museum (modern, next to Van Gogh), Foam
(photography) and Eye Filmmuseum (cinema and video art, it’s a movie theatre as well,
with a bar with a wonderful view of Amsterdam).
Also have a peek inside Tuschinski, the oldest movie theatre in Amsterda, built in an Art
Deco style with a crazy interior.Parks:
The Vondelpark: next to museum square.
Sarphatipark: in the Pijp parallel to the Albert Cuyp market
Amsterdamse Bos: huge man made woods (if you want to spend some time away from the
city)
You can also visit the nice windmill village Zaanse Schaans(very touristy though)
Keukenhof gardens if you are visiting in the tulip season(march-april) or some small towns
like Gouda, Delft, Haarlem or very close by beach side in Zandvoort.
Authentic Dutch towns near Amsterdam, bike ride distance:Oud Sloten (older than
Amsterdam!) Durgerdam, Volendam or Monnickendam (traditions Fisher towns)Things to do in Amsterdam! (take a look)
Berlin
-
Here are free museums:
Tränen Palast – FREE
The Wall Memorial – FREE
East-Side-Gallery – FREE
Soviet Memorial Treptower Park – FREE
Topography des Terrors – FREE
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe – FREE
Sachsenhausen KZ (Concentration Camp) – FREE
Anne Frank Zentrum – FREE
House of the Wannsee Conference (Haus der Wansee Konferenz) – FREE Berlin Underworld (Berliner Unterwelten bunkers) – depends on the tour Reichstag visit – FREE Jewish Museum Berlin/Jüdisches Museum – FREEOutdoor landmarks free to visit:
Treptower park (soviet memorial) *also name of train stop*
Tempelhof (old airport – now park)
Humboldt park (outside bunker) *gesundbrunnen train stop*
Hackescher MarktBoxhaganer Platz Flea Market, every Sunday
Flakturm Humbolthein (Old WWII Flak Tower that you can walk up to, great views of city)
Mauer Park (on Sundays)RESTAURANTS/TAKE OUT
El Amigos TacosJohnny’s Bar – Caribbean food
Typisch Berlin – Local snack and drink shop
Eberswalder Straße (train stop)
K’Ups Gemüsekebap – (doner sit downplace )
Asteria (greek food and free shots too)
Mr. Le (Vietnamese food, vegan & veggie friendly)Monsieur Wong – (Vietnamese)
Konnopke‘s Imbiss – CurrywurstSchönhauser allee (train stop)
Bilakis (doner take out)Schwestern – (local)
Café am Neuen See – Biergarten
Augustiner/Hofbräu/Weihenstephaner/Erdinger/Paulaner – Breweries and German food
Cookies Cream – Vegetarian (Michellin star)
Himmel 8 – Vegan
Little Tibet (dumplings)GOING OUT/BARS
silent-disco – walk and dance tour- Every Friday at 20:30
Klunkerkranich (rooftop bar) – U7 Rathaus Neukölln (stop)
Café Luzia
Fitcher’s Vogel
Yorckschlösschen (Jazz)
Rockz (Rock)
Mein Haus am See (Techno)
Birgit & Bier
The Castle (expat bar)
BRLO Brwhouse
Belushi‘s (Sports Bar)GOING OUT/CLUBS (Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Neukölln (Nightlife Boroughs)
Berghain
Tresor
KitKatClub
About Blank
Cassiopeia
Club der Visionäre
SchwuZ
Watergate
Kater Blau
YAAM
Havanna Club
Lido
Wilde Renate
SisyphosAlso for additional info: visitberlin.de and Thing to do in Berlin
Cologne
-
Outdoors – FreeHiroshima-Nagasaki Park (Aachener Weiher) on a beautiful dayBelgian QuarterAIDS victims’ memorial (between the river and Heumarkt)Hohenzollern Bridge (with all the locks)Memorial to gay victims of the Nazi era (The Pink Triangle by the Hohenzollern bridge)Cafes & restaurantsHommage Coffee ShopPaffgen brewery (traditional food and beer)MuseumsNational Socialist Documentation Center4711Fragrance Museum at Farina’sCathedral DOMChocolate Museum & The Mustard MuseumKolumbaLudwig Museum of Modern ArtEyes and EarsCologne Triangle rooftop platform (great view)Cologne Philharmonic Hall (sometimes open/free during rehearsals and noontime concerts)
Nottingham
-
1, English fish and chips take out from the Lace Market Fish Bar on Stoney Street
2, Craft beers at The Angel Microbrewery also on Stoney Street
3, Cocktails at The Hockley Arts Club secretly hidden away in a small alley off of Carlton Street
4, Quirky Mexican food and cocktails called 400 Rabbits 15 Hurts Yard near the old market Square
5, The Kitty café for cat lovers for coffee and cake 31 – 37 Friar lane
6, Cool coffee from 200 degrees coffee shop in the flying horse building next to the Council House / City Hall
7, The Canal house bar / restaurant in an old factory and boat house, complete with canal barge inside the dock inside the building 48 – 52 Canal street
8, Mojo cool late night bar on Thurland Street in the city centre very cool late night dancing and drinks
9, The Pitcher and Piano bar / restaurant in the old unitarian church on high pavement next to the contemporary art museum
10, The Bell Inn, traditional English pub dating back to 1437 Beastmarket Hill
Things to do in Nottingham! (take a look) email us for out PDF list!
Potsdam
-
Bars
- Pub – Bar Fritz’n
- Pub – Waschbar
- Pub – Kneipe Hafthorn
- LGBT – La Leander
- Live Music – The pub a la pub
- Pub/Brewery – Alte Meierei
Restaurants
- Breakfast – Junick Coffee Roastery
- Breakfast and German – Backstoltz
- German – Zur Linde
- Vegan and best cake of Potsdam – Café Rosenberg
- Baked Potato (typical) – Belmundo
- Italian – Piccolo Pane
- Tapas – Matador
- Vietnamese – Herr Dang
- Persian – Restaurant Laila
- Seafood – Der Butt
- Burguer – Waikiki
- Ice Cream – Die Eisfrau
Museums
- Films – Filmpark Babelsberg
- Films – Film Museum
- Impressionisms – Barberini Museum
- Palaces – All accessible
Nightlife
- Waschhaus
- The inconspicuous
Worth a Visit:
- Babelsberg Palace
- Glienicker Bridge (Bridge of Spies)
- Marble Palace
- Belvedere Castle (Best view of Potsdam)
- Alexandrowka (Russian Quarter)
- Dutch Quarter
- Orangerie Palace
- St. Nikolaikirche
Stuttgart
-
TRADITIONAL FOOD:
- Gaisburger Marsch: beef stew (Gaisburg is a district in Stuttgart), made of diced
beef, vegetables, cooked potatoes & spätzle, topped with fried onions - Maultaschen: large meat-filled dumpling
- Lentils with Spätzle (egg noodles) and Frankfurter sausage
PLACES:
- Ragazzi (Best pizza)
- Il Pomodoro (italian)
- Brauhaus (Carls, Sofie’s, Brauerei-Gaststätte Dinkelacker)
- Stuttgarter Stäffele (traditional food)
- Super Jami (Vegan)
- Cube (restaurant with a view, pricey, classical with eastern flavors)
- Markthalle (food shopping, market)
BARS: Theodor-Heuss-Strasse: party mile/party street
- Zwölfzehn (club, various styles)
- Schocken (three level club)
- 7grad (clubbing)
- classic rock cafe
- tequilla bar, offers free tequilla with beer
- Mauritius (cocktails & food)
- Biddy Early’s (irish pub)
- Palast der Republic
- Mata Hari
- Classic rock cafe (DJ in the evening)
- Tequilla bar (offers free tequila with beer)
- Oblomow (relaxed alternative bar/institution)
Clubs:
- Gaisburger Marsch: beef stew (Gaisburg is a district in Stuttgart), made of diced