Best Amsterdam Travel Guides

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Amsterdam. Connect with Rick: facebook: Rick Steves. twitter: @RickSteves. instagram: ricksteveseurope.

An endlessly entertaining portrait of the city of Amsterdam and the ideas that make it unique, by the author of the acclaimed Island at the Center of the World Tourists know Amsterdam as a picturesque city of low-slung brick houses lining tidy canals; student travelers know it for its legal brothels and hash bars; art lovers know it for Rembrandt's glorious portraits. “Shorto’s brilliant follow-up to his previous book on Dutch Manhattan ( The Island at the Center of the World ) is an expertly told history of a city of new, shocking freedoms and the tough-minded people that developed them.”. — Publishers Weekly , starred review. Mr. Shorto masterfully describes how Amsterdam was built in only a few generations by reclaiming water from the sea, literally by hand in the 1600s. And he brings to life how the city attracted—with promises of freedom and tolerance—the most energetic people from all over Europe to create a free civic and economic society that became a model for the American Republic a century later.”. —Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner, The Wall Street Journal , Favorite Books of 2013. Eye-opening and entertaining, it's popular history of the best sort.”. —Michael Giltz, Favorite Books of the Year, Huffington Post. An enthralling tale of radicalism and tolerance of strange and otherwise anathema beliefs and ideas.”. —Alex Crowley, Best Books of the Year, Publishers Weekly. “Masterful reporting, vivid history—the past and present are equally alive in this book.”. —James Gleick, author of The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood. “Shorto is an excellent storyteller and rootler of strange facts, and Amsterdam should be issued as standard kit for anyone visiting the city.”. — The Guardian (UK). “Russell Shorto writes engagingly about how a city can engender ideas—order, tolerance, comfort, egalitarianism, entrepreneurship—and in turn be shaped by them. Amsterdam argues convincingly that Western liberalism has been greatly influenced by this small, modest, crazy-yet-conventional place.”. —Witold Rybczynski, author of How Architecture Works: A Humanist’s Toolkit. Shorto is once again revealed as a passionate and persuasive historian of culture and ideas.”. —Joseph O’Neill, author of Netherland. An entertaining history full of deftly drawn characters and intoxicating ideas which have made Amsterdam the birthplace of liberalism in its many and shifting incarnations.”. —Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor & Publisher, The Nation.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Amsterdam will lead you straight to the best attractions this great city has to offer, including the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, and the most scenic canals. Visit the city's finest art galleries, museums, and landmarks, and discover the flavors of Amsterdam — from local cheeses and fresh fish to cozy cafés and gourmet restaurants. With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Amsterdam truly shows you this city as no one else can. "Known… for its four-color maps, photos and illustrations, the [DK] Eyewitness Guides are extremely user-friendly for travelers who want their information delivered in a concise, visual way."

El Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way, is the fabled path that weaves through French and Spanish countryside for 1,000 miles to its hallowed destination at Santiago de Compostella. Thousands attempt to hike its entirety each year: some succeed, many fail. From the pain of blisters and extremes of temperature to encountering kleptomaniacs, fake faith healers and being threatened with arrest in Spain for 'not sleeping', his hike was far from normal. 'Not only does he have astute observations about the people, places and scenery around him, he is adept at translating those observations into words, often making me laugh or nod in understanding. Keith Foskett has hiked over 10,000 miles in recent years and holds a deep respect for the outdoor spaces of this world.

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Amsterdam. Connect with Rick: facebook: Rick Steves. twitter: @RickSteves. instagram: ricksteveseurope.