Be warned, bitterballen are hot. DO NOT put a freshly served one in your mouth and bite down, you will burn your mouth.

Instead pick it up with your fingers, dip one side in the provided mustard, bite off some of the side coating gently, let the steam escape and the filling cool down, then eat it.

Hubs and I will be in Amsterdam for 2 days before departing on a river cruise. We are booked using points! at DoubleTree Central. Plane arrives 8:30am and we will probably take train to Central Station or maybe pre book thru Schiphol Hotel Shuttle for 17 eu each (if Shuttle do we tip the driver?) We will have 2 checked bags, 2 carryons. I have read the DT is centrally located to many of the things we want to visit, such as Anne Frank house, Red Light district (hubs wishlist) a canal cruise, restaurants. My question is, is all of these within walking distance of hotel or would we benefit from a bus pass?

No need to tip the driver, and all those places are within a walking distance from the doubletree

We ended up taking the train and it was fine even with a large checked bag. Many of the folks on our train to Centraal had just gotten off the incoming international flights. Cost is 4,2 Euro. If weather is good I would go train.

We stayed on the other side of the station from the DoubleTree, I think you are actually closer to the station than we were. The canal cruises are right there, and so are the trams, metro and buses. We got GVB passes, but only used the trams, and they were very convenient. Red light district is very close. Anne Frank is a little bit longer, and if you end up at the Museums it's a longer walk still. GVB passes are 7,5 for 24 hours, 12,5 for 48 hours and 17 for 72 hours. You can buy them at the info center/ticket office just outside the central station, or often we found a van with a ticket window that sold tickets next to the tracks at Centraal. I heard you can buy tickets or passes on the trams themselves, but we didn't want to muck up the works fumbling with Euros as everyone is trying to get on behind us.

I would say this is how the locals make their way across town, but as someone else mentioned they probably ride bikes more often. We didn't get to do that during our short stay, but it would be fun in good weather.

Yup inhabitants generally bike. The immigrant population prefers to use the public transport, as well as the elderly of course, and those from out of town. For longer distances to the suburbs, of course metro/bus/train/tram/etc. is used extensively.

Although it's fun to bike, it may not be the best idea for you if you are not experienced at biking. Other cyclists will go faster than you, and there's all kinds of vehicles on the bike roads, such as scooters, mopeds, 'bakfietsen' (a kind of bike with a large bin in front of it for cargo/children/etc.), etc. If you are in the way you will be cursed at and people will ring their bells angrily at you, haha.

Outside of rush hour, you can take your bike in the metro, but not in trams/busses. Taking your bike in the train costs 6 euros for a day, whether you go one station far or to the other side of the country, doesn't matter.

That's an unbelievably ignorant, stupid and downright wrong overgeneralization. :confused:

It's through though.

A truly Dutch person prefers to bike, rather than pay for the public transport, if at all possible. Biking is free and gives healthy exercise to boot.

In my home town, I virtually never take the bus, except if I am going to travel further by train (parking bike at central station is a pain).

That's not the overgeneralization I was referring to. Your statement about the "immigrant population" is what I'm talking about.

Has anyone tried the doner kebab from the Doner Company inside AMS Central? Or do you guys recommend taking the tram over to Leeman?