Netherlands

Groningen is also a great city to check out. The city's population mainly consists of students so there is a very active nightlife. There is also plenty of sailing opportunities in the north if that is your cup of tea.

As for the rest of the country, Utrecht and Rotterdam are quite fun if you know the right places. Utrecht looks a little like Amsterdam but has a lot less tourists, this means you can see and do a lot of the same stuff you would be able to in Amsterdam but for less money and while being surrounded by Dutch people. Rotterdam on the other hand was almost completely bombed in WWII so has a lot of modern architecture and ditto museums.

Regarding Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum just opened (use the google) and it is supposed to be pretty epic, on par with the Louvre and what not, prepare to queu though.

If you have any specific questions you can always ask them here or PM me. For what is worth I live in Nijmegen which is near the German border, would be happy to grab a beer if you are in town.

Groningen itself is a nice historic city, also a major university there so plenty of night life. Probably best to just look at the tourist board site:http://toerisme.groningen.nl/en
The province itself (also called Groningen) is one of the lesser populated areas so there is plenty of areas to do cycling/walking etc. Windmills in the area (not all are open to visitors though)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...s_in_Groningen

You could drive across thelongest dike in the worldand visit Den Helder, which is a nice city with a rich maritime history. Navy museum there has several ships including a sub:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Navy_Museum

Most of the well known touristy stuff is in the Amsterdam/Rotterdam/Utrecht area which is about two hours from Groningen by train or car. Personally I think Amsterdam is a filthy, tourist filled shithole but I'll throw some stuff out:
-TheRijksmuseumis about to reopen after a ten year renovation, so it's probably going to be really busy but it has some world famous paintings (Rembrandt, Vermeer etc).
-The queen is abidicating and her son taking the crown on April 30 so that is going to be a major, major spectacle with events all over (especially Amsterdam where it takes place).
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waag_%28Amsterdam%29(well know historic building)
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank_House(the actual house, you can go in)
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Wallen(The famous red light district)
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh_Museum

General tips for the American tourist: most people will speak english well enough to help you, if you have a heavy accent try to speak slowly and clearly. We're used to British English and Hollywood movies, not pig farmers from Alabama. Leave the white socks at home unless you want to have girls point and laugh. Try not to run over any bicyclists, they will always run red and generally have total disregard for any rules of the road. Just avoid them.

Any other specific things you want to know, post them.

I always found motorcycle rentals ridiculously expensive in the Netherlands, seriously if you are renting for more than a week you should look into buying second hand almost. That being said, riding a motorcycle is always fun and will give you the chance to actually see the countryside, go for it!

Bikes are around ?3-400 a week. Also note gas is currently at ?1,8/l or close to $9/gal. Yes we like listening to Americans complaining about paying less than half that, /tinyviolin

Don't get screwed with insurance on a rental, the legal minimum coverage on the vehicle liability policy is over ?2,000,000 and that will cover both injuries to people and property. The only sort of extra insurance you could get would be to cover the bike getting dropped or stolen and it's usually some sort of overly expensive deductible waiver.

If you've never driven in Europe I'd probably start with a car to get used to things, it's all a bit different and will take some getting used to. That said, that part of the country has some great (and very stereotypically flat) scenery that would be great on a bike.

Weather's going to be hit or miss april-may. Could be 70s and sunny or low 50s and permanent rain.

That's only Britain and Ireland though, mainland Europe all drives on the right side of the road. If you're tackling Britain it might be slightly easier but it'll hurt a lot more when you eventually look left when you should have looked right at a roundabout

At least the weather is improving, hope you have a great trip!

Ahh, 9 posts and only one casual mention of the red light district in Amsterdam... Guess I'll be "that guy"

(1) The RLD is actually well worth visiting just for sight-seeing. I believe in the evenings, the ladies will all open up their windows and just sit there, beckoning people in. From what I can tell, each little alley has its own theme, blonde, african, asian, etc... I remember some street was just full of fat nasty women in the windows, it was disgusting. The whole thing sounds pretty gross - you just go in and do it right there after they close the curtain. No shower, no problem... blech. If you wander around at night you might get approached for hard drugs - I'd stay away from those.

(2) Coffeeshops - there was a chance the government was going to ban foreigners from these for a while, but looks like that hasn't happened. The weed is pretty good - at some places you can order weed off menus as if it were red wine. Try the shrooms too, just not anywhere with too much stimulation.

(3) Anne Frank House - tickets are like 10 Euros or something. Always worth a visit if you're into the history.

(4) Heineken Experience - if you like Heineken at all you can go see how it's made. I remember you don't get very much beer for what you pay though.

(5) Rijksmuseum - it may be closed for renovation right now, but if you are interested in Dutch art, should be worth a visit.

I remember the Indonesian food is pretty good there, I guess with the former colonies and all. It's not like the Indo food in Indonesia, more European-ized, but can give it a shot if you're tired of the regular food.

I've never seen any shrooms in any coffeeshops in Amsterdam.

The girls work 24/7, not just in evenings. If you go at 11am you'll see the girls that don't work nights. If all you want to do is look around the RLD then it's much better going in the daytime. During the night-time it's so crowded with tourists and really packed, yes there's more girls in the windows but the general crowds are annoying.

Don't take pictures of the girls in the windows btw, the pimps used to come out and throw your camera in the canal. Not sure if that still happens.

April 30 is Queen's day and it's a national holiday, special occasion because the queen is abdicating and her son taking the crown. Last time we had a change was in 1983 so this year is definitely special. There will be parties and fairs all over the country. Think 4th of july but instead of eagles you have living people as a national symbol.

Wear something orange and get drunk.

Sorry, shrooms aren't in coffeeshops, they are in special shroom stores. The shop I went to was in the RLD though. This was 6 years ago so not sure if anything's changed.I only spent 2 days there so will defer to the more knowledgeable ones here on RLD protocol

Didn't Amsterdam pass a law a couple years ago that banned foreigners from drug shops? Or was that just a proposal that never passed into law?

Officially you now need to be a Dutch resident to enter coffeeshops but it's only enforced in cities along the Belgian and German border. Amsterdam currently has a policy of non-enforcement of this law, they're not about to kill one of their trademark tourist attractions. Possession is still technically illegal too (and always has been) but non-enforcement makes it de facto legal.

IMHO all the noise about banning tourists is just a smoke screen to shut up the EU, who aren't too keen on the Dutch position on soft drugs. Dutch government has no serious plans to go back to prohibition, they'll move in the other direction if anything because the growing (which is illegal and enforced) causes a lot of trouble. About half of all housefires are now because of weed farms, and law enforcement basically feels they have better stuff to do than waste time clearing someone's attic.

Was in Amsterdam for work last week and I can confirm they sell magic mushrooms in certain stores - the kind that sell weed paraphenalia, seeds, bongs, grinders etc rather than the coffeshops