A Girls' Guide to Travelling Alone by Gemma Thompson

The tour started off very well when we strolled into a shop selling gelato, cakes, macaroons and anything else sweet you can think of. Though how you could call this tour 'traditional' when it involves strolling past sex workers and spending ten minutes chatting to a head shop manager commenting on the current state of business like he was discussing pints of milk and not magic mushrooms, well I think it's fair to say it's no ordinary tour. Instead, I'll tease you with photos and some special highlights from what was a series of unexpected activities blended in with a more traditional walking tour. We met in the shadow of the National Monument in Dam Square and after he friendly introduced himself, asked me some questions about myself and explained what the tour would involve, we set out walking down Warmoesstraat.Īs with my review of Eating Amsterdam, I'm reluctant to go into detail about every single thing we did on the two hour walking tour because much of it is better served up as a surprise. That's pretty much what I knew when I went along to meet Jan my tour guide from Amsterdam Red Light District Tours who reached out to me a while ago and invited me on a private walking tour. In fact, for Amsterdam's earliest centuries, it was the city, and it's where you need to go to dig into the deepest parts of Amsterdam's history, and I finally decided to go and do this on a walking tour of the Red Light District, which I'm going to review for you today.Ī private walking tour of the Red Light District They have no idea what lies outside these narrow streets, much of which feels more like the real Amsterdam to me.īut few of us can deny that De Wallen (the Dutch name which literally translates as 'the ramparts') is an undeniable part of the city.

They leave thinking that only the RLD is Amsterdam. I hate how some tourists are blindsided by it, reluctant to step outside its boundaries, the booze, weed and sex keeping them stuck to just a few small streets like a magnet. As with most Amsterdammers - foreign or born and bred - I have a love-hate relationship with the Red Light District.

A Girls' Guide to Travelling Alone by Gemma Thompson