Author: Balliett & Fitzgerald

Publisher: *Frommers

Published: 2002-03-15

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9780764565687

Looking for a travel guide that goes where other guides fear to tread? One that rides roughshod over ad-copy puffery to smartly deliver the real scoop on a destination's sites and attractions? One that dares to be honest, hip, and fun? Look no more. Frommer's Irreverent Travel Guides are wickedly irreverent, unabashedly honest, and downright hilarious, and provide an insider's perspective on which attractions are overrated tourist traps and which are the secret gems that locals love. You'll get the lowdown on restaurants, lodging, and shopping, and even find out what the locals think of you. Like being taken around by a savvy local," said the New York Times. "Hipper and savvier than other guides," concurred Diversion magazine. Never shy about confronting the issues, the Irreverents are guides to real travel in the real world. The one-dimensional Amsterdam of tulips, wooden shoes, and 17th-century architecture is the stuff of many a standard guidebook, but with its booming economy, legalized prostitution, and tolerant attitude toward recreational drug use, the city is much more than that. For savvy travelers who want to fully experience the place as the locals live it, Frommer's Irreverent Guide to Amsterdam is the way to go, offering the lowdown on this hip, cultivated city, where old and new sunnily coexist. You'll discover the proper way to knock back genever (Dutch gin--the potent national spirit), why Amsterdam is considered the Gay Capital of Europe, plus the inside scoop on the red-light district, complete with advice and warnings.