Visiting Amsterdam Amsterdam is the 5th busiest tourist destination in Europe with more than 4.2 million international visitors. This number of visitors has been growing rapidly and steadily over the past decade. 41743 beds were located in 19400 rooms in 351 hotels as of 2007. Two thirds of these hotels are located in the city's center. Hotels with 4 or 5 stars contribute 42% of the total beds available and 41% of the overnight stays in Amsterdam. The room occupation rate was 78% in 2006, up from 70% in 2005. The origin of tourists visiting Amsterdam is largely European: 74%. The growth in recent years can be attributed to an increase in the number of visitors from Europe too. The largest group of non-European visitors came from the United States, with 14% of the total. Certain years have a theme in Amsterdam to bring extra tourists. For example, the year 2006 was designated "Rembrandt 400" to celebrate the 400th birthday of Rembrandt van Rijn. Some hotels offer special arrangements or activities due to these years. The average number of guests per year staying on the four campsites around the city numbers from 12,000 to 65,000. Being part of the province North-Holland, Amsterdam is located in the northwest of the Netherlands next to the provinces Utrecht and Flevoland. The river Amstel terminates in the city center into a large number of canals that eventually terminate in the IJ. Amsterdam is situated 2 meters above sea level. The surrounding land is flat as it is formed of large polders. To the southwest of the city lies a man-made forest called het Amsterdamse Bos. Amsterdam is connected to the North Sea through the long North Sea Canal. Amsterdam is intensely urbanized, as is the urban area surrounding the city. Comprising 219.4 square kilometers of land, the city proper has a population density of 4457 inhabitants and 2275 houses per square kilometer. Parks and nature reserves make up 12% of Amsterdam's land area. The concentrations of both carbon dioxide and small particles were above the limits the European Union directives. Amsterdam enjoys a temperate climate, strongly influenced by its proximity to the North Sea to the west with prevailing north-western winds and gales. Winter temperatures are mild, seldom below 0°C. Frosts merely occur during spells of eastern or northeastern winds from the inner European continent, i.e., from Scandinavia, Russia, and even Siberia. Summers are warm but rarely hot. Days with measurable precipitation are common. Nevertheless, Amsterdam's average annual precipitation is less than 760 mm. Most of it pours as protracted drizzle or light rain, making cloudy and damp days common during the cooler months, October through March. Only the occasional Western storm may bring a lot of water at once, requiring all of it to be pumped out to higher grounds or to the seas around the city. Many tourists seeking to experience the typically Dutch tulips and windmills visit the Keukenhof flower gardens, the windmills of the Zaanse Schans and Kinderdijk, and the traditional fishing villages of Volendam and Marken. Popular souvenirs from the Netherlands are flower bulbs, delftware and clogs (wooden shoes). But the Netherlands also has to offer a great coastline along the North Sea, the IJsselmeer and the Wadden Sea - great resorts for sailing with picturesque little typical Dutch towns like Elburg or Harderwijk. The Netherlands is a great country for cycling, sailing or ice skating in winter. They have mainly flat landscapes with many canals, windmills, little villages, rivers like the Rhine or IJssel, Maas or Schelde. The Netherlands is a member of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement. European visa policy will be covered in the article about the EU. In brief, a visa to any other signatory state of the Schengen Agreement is valid in the Netherlands too. No visa is required for citizens of other EU member states, and those of some selected nations with whom the European Union or the Netherlands have special treaties. Only the citizens of the following countries do not need a visa for entry into the Netherlands. Note that citizens of these countries (except EU nationals) must not stay longer than three months in half a year and must not work in the Netherlands: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela. The Chinese Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong are also exempt. Also, there are no border controls between the Netherlands and other Schengen Agreement states, making travel less complicated. Keep in mind that some EU-states do not belong to the Schengen Agreement (like the United Kingdom and Ireland), while some non-EU-states do belong to it (like Norway and Iceland). There are a number of ways to get into the Netherlands. From neighboring European countries, a drive with the car or a train ride are feasible; visitors from further away will probably be using air travel. Visitors from the United Kingdom can also travel by boat. The national language in the Netherlands is Dutch. It's a charming, lilting language punctuated by phlegm-trembling glottal g's (not in the south) and sch's (also found, for example, in Arabic). Written Dutch might be semi-intelligible to someone who knows other germanic languages (English, German, Scandinavian languages), but the spoken language sounds rather different from English. Even though the Netherlands is just a small country, dialects can still be found everywhere. Dutch people can easily tell where other people were raised just by their dialect/accent. Dialects are hardly used in everyday life in most of the country. Near the borders this is different, especially in Limburg, in the south, which still cherishes its dialects. The Carnaval period is another exception, when many cities even get renamed. Although dialects haven't died out, everyone can still speak standard Dutch perfectly. Officially the Netherlands is bilingual, as Frisian is also an official language. When travelling through Fryslân you will come across many roadsigns in two languages (similar to Wales). This is also the case in southern Limburg. Everybody speaks Dutch, but the Frisians are so protective of the minority language that ordering a beer in it might just get you the next one free. In areas bordering Germany, German is widely spoken. However, outside of the eastern provinces, a good amount of people (especially amongst the younger generation) can speak basic German too. French will be understood by some as well, especially the older generations. Immigrant languages are prominent in urban areas, they include Turkish, Arabic, Sranan-Tongo (Surinam) and Papiamento (Netherlands Antilles). The hackneyed phrase "They all speak English there" is in fact pretty accurate for the Netherlands. Education from an early age in English and other European languages (mostly German and French) makes the Dutch some of the most fluent polyglots on the continent. Oblivious travelers to the major cities should be able to make their way without learning a word of Dutch. Dealing with seniors, however - or finding yourself in a family atmosphere - will probably require learning a bit of the native tongue. Older Version of this page

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