De Wallen (The Red Light District)
If you know one thing about Amsterdam, you know it is full of drugs and hookers. Basically everywhere you go, you will find high Italians and drunk Englishmen stumbling around with a paid escort on their arm.
The truth, of course, is absolutely nothing like this. Well, there are loads of drunk Englishmen and very high Italians, but they all tend to stick to the environs of the Red Light District, de Wallen. All of the shenanigans and the city can be found there, alongside a very well-regulated sex trade, a few “adult” souvenir stores hawking cheap garbage, and, of course, Starbucks. You don’t need to go to the RLD unless you want to. We recommend it – it is fascinating and Jana would be happy to introduce you to some sex workers at the the PIC (Prostitution Information Center) that houses the Prostitutes’ Union – but you can easily avoid all the seamy side of Amsterdam if you want. If you do go, find Belle and heed her words.
Drug Laws
This one is pretty easy. The Dutch view on “soft drugs” is one of tolerance. Soft drugs are essentially treated with systematic discretionary policing policies. Possession and retail sales are decriminalized and licenses for operation are tightly controlled. Wholesale, cultivation, and distribution however sit in far murkier waters. But how do you have retail sales without wholesale, cultivation and distribution? Good question. Because of the nature of the Dutch godoogbeleid (literally “tolerance policy”) these are not fully legalized. Many coffeeshops, such named because you can get a coffee there, but not alcohol, have grey/black market sources coming in the back door and open market sales going out the front.
But doesn’t that just launder illegal activity?
Well, yes. It’s idiotic legislation. But you probably won’t do anything illegal while you are here.
If you want to partake of cannabis culture, we recommend you head to a coffeeshop and enjoy the bud legally. If smoking to the ever-loudening round tones of Italian doesn’t float your boat, think about finding the local Best Friends or Boerenjongens (both recommended highly by youth hostel staff) and consulting a bud tender. You cannot legally consume this on the street or in a cafe that sells alcohol, but there is certainly a space for you somewhere.
NB: As the venue serves alcohol, they will ask you to leave if you bring any related substances so as a result, we would like to kindly ask you keep any items of the sort away from the venue on the day.
Crazy Amsterdam Cyclists / Bike Crashes / Why don’t people wear helmets?
There are 1.3 bikes per person in the Netherlands. When we tell you that bicycles are unavoidable in Amsterdam, we really mean it. We have 5 household (Jana has one, Alice has one, TJ has three) so we really think about cycling. All three of us love to cycle and we highly recommend you give it a try.
Quick Q&A
Should you rent a bike? “Tourists think they are biking in Disneyland and Amsterdammers think they are gods on two wheels.” This is an accurate reflection of reality. Yes, please rent a bike if you are so inclined, but be prepared to be cycling amongst people who have been doing it since, literally, before they could walk. Riding a bike through the chilly Amsterdam forests will be soothing and lovely. Negotiating the tourists and the cranky residents of the canal district might be less relaxing.
Will you be hit with a bike? Honestly, probably not. But to cut down on your chances of suddenly finding yourself on the pavement with tiny birdies flying around your head, we recommend looking both ways every single time you cross the street. The red lanes by the sidewalks are for bikes and THEY WILL RUN YOU OVER if you step in their way. You might also find that while you are prone on the ground they are wishing a fatal disease on you and riding away.
Why doesn’t anyone wear a helmet? Most of the injuries helmets avoid are already avoided by infrastructure, traffic control, and skill. Most Dutchies are extremely skilled cyclists and most urban areas are built for bike safety. You will see people with helmets out of the city, riding at speed, where the helmets make them much safer. There is also an ongoing discussion about helmets and e-bikes, where less gifted and athletic cyclists are able to go much faster than before. It is in the Dutch consciousness and no one, really, literally not one person, needs to hear the wisdom of bike-illiterate foreigners on the topic.
First, a little history
Cycling in the Netherlands has been popular for transportation and recreation since the inception of the bicycle, and like elsewhere really takes off in the late 19th Century with the advent of the safety bicycle. Like elsewhere Dutch cyclists started advocating for smoother roads to ride their bikes on being less tolerant of potholes and mud than the carriages and horses of the time. ANWB, the Dutch version of AAA, even started as an organization for cyclists and later expanded its ranks to users of all wheeled vehicles, only later narrowing down to automobilists.
Like in many places the advent of the car began a slow and steady decline of cycling in the Netherlands. The trend was briefly retarded by World War II but steadily like much of Europe and North America, increasing wealth and car ownership slowly and steadily increased the risks of riding in a city and decreased the comfort of those on two wheels.
This trend was only halted in the late 60s and 70s with the rise of a protest movement Stop de Kindermoord (Stop the child murder) that rose up after the deaths of 457 children on streets in 1972, equivalent to about 12,000 children in the US today. The movement was successful in changing the direction of Dutch road policy to one of systemic safety, that the system of roads itself should be built to mandate safety rather than relying on best efforts of flawed operators. This lead to all kind of Dutch road innovations including protected bicycle lanes, but also road treatments you’ll see all over Amsterdam from the striped paint on traffic signals and light poles, to the placement of the traffic signals themselves. Dutch law was also changed to make the responsibility of traffic collisions primarily that of the least vulnerable participant. A truck driver is more responsible in the eyes of Dutch law than that of a driver of a small car, who in turn is more responsible than someone on a bike, who is in turn more responsible for road safety than a pedestrian. Dutch cycling safety is not about making the Netherlands a great cycling country, it’s about safety for everyone.
Okay, so, uh, why don’t cyclists stop when I want to cross?
Well, they probably will, but they’re also very used to tourists not knowing what to do. Imagine you’re driving your car at home and you’re approaching a 4 way stop. On the two perpendicular legs there are two other cars and a pedestrian approaching the intersection before you. American traffic controls and training tell you they have the right of way. But you’re in the Midwest and the person on foot isn’t sure you’re going to stop for them, and the drivers of the cars both are overly polite and wave you through. What do you do? Do you stop in and endless faceoff of waving the others through? Maybe once, maybe twice? But every day constantly? Amsterdam cyclists are you in this scenario and endless tourists visiting the city are those polite drivers waving you past, at some point you just stop waiting for the wave and learn to pick out a tourist.
Navigating traffic in Amsterdam is a dance, the Dutch and many locals know the dance moves, the steps, and where they have to keep an eye out for their partner’s missteps. Throw someone in that doesn’t know the difference between a Do Si Do and a Allemande and all of the sudden the Dance is coming to an abrupt uncermonious end.
Our tip here: Keep your eyes out, look for bike lanes when you’re walking around, look both ways like you would with any other traffic lane, and cross deliberately.