Hi,

I'm in Amsterdam next week for two nights.

I've been to Amsterdam a few times already so gonna have a day trip out and decided on either Amersfoort or Utrecht as want to see stuff and take in some culture.

As i'll be there on my own, which place would you recommend?

Or is there anywhere else in Holland you'd recommend, (excluding Rotterdam as i've been there already)

Thanks

Are you mainly interested in culture/architecture/etc or do you want to do some mongering too? I've not been to Amersfoort though there's an excellent thread about it at the top of this forum. I don't know much about Utrecht; I stopped going when they closed the windows, and that's the only place I ever went, so I really don't know the city. :-)

It really depends what you're looking to do. Neither Amersfoort nor Utrecht have window prostitution, although there are of course privéhuizen and escort services. If you want to do some window shopping and see a lovely town with some beautiful buildings/scenery and a nice square full of bars and restaurants, I can recommend Alkmaar. The windows there are on a street called Achterdam (it's on Google maps) and the going rate is €35 for service that, generally speaking, exceeds what you'll encounter in Amsterdam. The train connection is good -- an intercity (you want this and not the "sprinter," which is ironically the slowest service) train to/from Alkmaar every 30 minutes (check the ns.nl website, also available in English.) Don't know what your schedule is but there are more girls working after 8pm so that would be the best time to check out the windows.

Den Haag also has window prostitution (two areas: Geleen/Hunsestraat for the €50 girls & Doubletstraat for a collection of generally somewhat rougher--but sometimes hot!--€25 girls) but it's a longer trip and I don't really like the city that much. I don't think there are very many girls working until the nighttime but can't really say for sure as I've only been a few times.

Thanks BlutoBlutarsky,

I wasn't planning on doing any mongering outside Amsterdam but a bit of window shopping never hurt anyone :)

I just wanted a day away from Amsterdam to see something different.

Cheers for the info on Alkmaar. I'll have a look and see if it's somewhere which would interest me.

Regards

You can find the exact locations noted here and more marked on the map linked below...

I'd agree on Alkmaar very nice scenery in more ways than one, some nice cafés and good bars too. An alternative option would be a beach. Zandvoort aan zee is lovely in good weather also. Trains are plentiful and offer the best way to travel to both destinations.