I've Decided to Travel to Amsterdam later this Year

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Downtown Amsterdam is small enough that you can just walk around

and sightsee. There are a lot of small pubs with all kinds of really great beer. Cafe Belgique is really cool - it's one of the smallest pubs in Amsterdam, and it specializes in Belgian beers. http://www.cafe-belgique.nl/html/About%20Belgique.html The Grand Krasnapolski hotel on Dam Square is sort of elegant and has a nice bar if you like hotel bars, but the little hole-in-the-wall pubs are more interesting. I wish I could remember the name of a restaurant I ate at last time I was there; the food was great.

You can take the train from Schiphol Airport directly to the big downtown railway station. If you want, you can take a ferry (it's free) across the Amstel to the north side of town where there are a lot of middle-eastern (mainly Turkish) restaurants. Don't rent a car - use public transportation if you need to go any distance, but you can get a lot of places on foot. Just walk around and explore the little side streets (and the red light district).