Cheap flights to Amsterdam.

A mate is after organising a stag do to Amsterdam. Flying from Manchester who are the cheapest for a return journey ?

Thsi is going to sound daft, but bare with me....

If you are having luggage in the hold, then check out the prices with KLM. I have flown with them last couple of times due to having hold-luggage, and they have worked out far cheaper than Easyjet. Also with KLM you can choose your seats 30 hours before flying and you also get a packet of chocolate chip cookies with a drink - all inlcuded in the price.

If just using a hold-all/rucksack which can be carried on board and not bothered about choosing your seat before you board then Easyjet is the one.

KLM now fly to/from Terminal 3 whereas Easyjet now fly to/from Terminal 2 at Manchester where at Schipol KLm fly to/from D gates and Easyjet fly to/from H gates.

KLM - 23kg hold-luggage, check-in online, choose seat before boarding, something to eat and drink on board, and land/take from from D gate at schipol (closer to Passport Control and the baggage carousel than the H gates.) No hidden extras - no extra surcharge for using Visa/Mastercard etc...

Easyjet - 8 or 10kg hand luggage, check-in online. Extra's are speedy boarding, hold luggage, food and drink on board, using credit cards.

Both check with both airlines as they both do discounts on group bookings.



When get to Schipol, depending on where the hotel is, it could actually work out cheaper to use the bus - bus from schipol to Leidseplein (Amsterdam) is about EUR4 per person; taxi from schipol to Most places in Amsterdam is EUR50; train from schipol to Amsterdam is about EUR7 per person and then possible tram journey which will cost about EUR3 per person.

10 kg hand luggage is fine, it's only for the weekend.

Can you recommend any cafes where you can relax with a coffee and a joint without waking up with your jockey shorts inside out ?

Grasshopper (not the big one at the start of the RLD but a small on on the main tram route from Centraal Station - very close to the Nieuwezijds Kolk tram stop - 1 stop away from Centraal). One of my friends is a manager of the coffee shop side of things there....

Just around the corner from Teasers Cafe is another coffee shop called 365. Go there every now again with the other half.

Other one is of course The Bulldog - there are 3 in Amsterdam with 2 in the RLD. Bulldog hostel has a decent bar where between 7pm and 9pm pitchers of beer only cost EUR5!

Apart from them, there are numerous coffee shops, but I dont really frequent them, to be honest, as I am more of a beer person than a wacky backy person!

A lot of places I know allow smoking of weed, but don't sell it - due top the complex law system. If a place sells alcohol it isn't allowed to sell weed but is allowed for people to smoke weed, whereas if a place sells weed, its not allowed to sell alcohol.

Now if its bars , I have a wide variety of bars where you can go to and they are good and decent....

Leidseplein (and Max Euweplein):-
Aran Bar (pint costs EUR5.60 - my firt regular bar I knew when I first started going to Amsterdam 10 years ago)
Hard Rock (pint costs EUR5.20 - and yes you can just visit the bar area if you want - quite a few friends work here)
Bulldog Bar
Satellite Sports Cafe (pint costs EUR5.00 - yep, its where I watch the majority of Bolton games - and on Saturdays a group of us usually takeover a corner of the bar for the whole afternoon for footie, chat, and a laugh, normally about 7 of us))
The Last Waterhole (happy hour between 2pm and 9pm where pints cost EUR3, then thereafter EUR4.50 - plus 3 pool tables and live bands from 9pm)
Mokem
Dan Murphy's

Rebrandtplein:-
Coco's Australian Bar (pint EUR5.00)
St James' Gate - some decent beers on offer and actually have a Sunday roast!!!
3 Sisters
Rain bar

STAY AWAY FROM DAM SQUARE a pint can cost up to EUR10!!!
Fort a laugh though where the staff "try" to dance every now and again but its definitely not sedy or sexist or anything like that (due to new licence they have) is Teasers (pint costs EUR6.50)

Other bars....
Gollem (both in Pijp area and at the Spui)
a true dutch bar - Prince bar (close to Anne Frank's House)
there is an Irish bar which actually sells a good range of beers behind the Royal Palace (near a large Albert Heijn) and another one behind the Heineken Experience


But have to admit most groups stay around either Leidseplein or Rembrandtplein.

The price of beer looks quite reasonable so will probably head for the Leidseplein. Thanks for the information. Plenty to go at ta very much.

P.S. Are the knocking shops all they are cracked up to be ? And if so, do you know if they do discounts for over 50's?

Reebok Trotter wrote:The price of beer looks quite reasonable so will probably head for the Leidseplein. Thanks for the information. Plenty to go at ta very much.

P.S. Are the knocking shops all they are cracked up to be ? And if so, do you know if they do discounts for over 50's?

Never used the windows so dont know if they are any good or not. But i do know that it costs EUR50 for about 20 to 30 minutes, as for a discount I have no idea. But if you do decide to use one, becareful as some of them are not actually women!

It's not actually for me. I am very particular about where I point Percy. One of the older chaps in the group happened to let slip that he was having a spot of bother with erectile dysfunction.

We thought a visit to one of the Amsterdam knocking shops might put a bit of lead in his pencil but if he thought he was having a bit of hanky panky with a bloke in drag, his erectile dysfunction would be even worse.

We are trying to cure him not kill him.