By Chris Taylor

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, has finished greater than his share of touring the globe since turning into the top of the agency again in 2017.

Yet Fogel – who oversees online travel manufacturers like Booking.com, Priceline, KAYAK and OpenTable – says his favourite place to go to is Amsterdam. Here are his prime methods to experience the Dutch capital.

The following interview is edited and condensed.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT AMSTERDAM

I first visited the town in 1983 as a pupil. Amsterdam is a metropolis of contrasts, which is one in every of my favourite issues about it.

It is extremely worldwide, however geographically small. It’s a tourism hub, but additionally a middle for enterprise and tech within the area. There’s a lot taking place, but it surely runs at a extra relaxed tempo than many different main cities.

WHERE TO GO AFTER YOU LAND

If I’m coming within the early morning from New York, I head to my lodging and get a exercise in – both on the lodge gymnasium or, climate allowing, I’ll run in Vondelpark (Amsterdam-Zuid borough). I like to combine up the place I keep.

BEST PLACE FOR TEAM MEETINGS

The Booking.com headquarters (Herengracht) has a few of the greatest views of Amsterdam, and any spot on its out of doors terrace is a good place to meet.

My favourite vantage level is the lookout over NEMO, the architecturally putting science museum (Oosterdok), and Het Scheepvaartmuseum (The Maritime Museum, Kattenburgerplein), which has a line of reproduction and restored ships, courting again to 1818, anchored at its jetty. It’s powerful to beat.

A FUN LOCALE FOR TEAM OUTINGS

The greatest means to see Amsterdam is on the water. Teams throughout the enterprise guide boats for outings, choosing up bitterballen (breaded and fried balls of meaty gravy) or different snacks alongside the best way, and docking at Hannekes Boom (Dijksgracht) for drinks.

SOMETHING ONLY INSIDERS KNOW

Many folks don’t notice that there are seashores simply 20 minutes from Amsterdam. We not too long ago had a crew off-site within the city of Noordwijk, which has huge dunes, flower fields and massive stretches of vast seashore.

On hotter days, the seashore golf equipment are full of folks grabbing drinks and soaking within the (sometimes-rare) solar.

A RECENT FIND

My spouse found a lesser-known museum on a current journey: Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord within the Attic Museum, Oudezijds Voorburgwal), which is a Seventeenth-century canal home that holds a church in its higher three flooring that dates again to the 1660s and the “schuilkerk” interval within the metropolis the place Catholics and different non secular teams weren’t ready to follow brazenly.

BEST DINNER SPLURGE

I’ve had some unimaginable meals in Amsterdam, together with Rijks (Museumstraat), de Kas (Kamerlingh Onneslaan) and Bougainville (Dam). But one in every of my favourite issues concerning the metropolis is the plethora of understated bistros and cafes with excellent meals and wines, into which I can simply stroll with a colleague for a fast chunk.

BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION

Loads is alleged concerning the Red Light District and different well-liked leisure actions, however there’s far more to this metropolis. I typically discover that folks don’t know that Amsterdam is an enormous tech and commerce middle.

The worldwide expertise pool and robust infrastructure connections to the remainder of Europe and the globe, together with the practice community and Schipol airport, are an enormous benefit for international companies.

I’m very proud that Booking.com has maintained its presence within the metropolis, and there are a substantial variety of different main tech corporations, together with Netflix, Uber and lots of extra, which have chosen to prioritize Amsterdam.

BEST WAY TO GET AROUND

Locals will let you know biking is the easiest way to get round, however I counsel that the majority guests depart the bike lanes to the specialists.

KEEP AN EYE OUT

When visiting Amsterdam, one ought to all the time be wanting in all instructions and concentrate on the bike guidelines and tram guidelines to keep protected. But one also needs to look down.

There are tens of 1000’s of brass-plated cobblestones, often known as Stolpersteine, which have been positioned within the sidewalks across the metropolis to commemorate former Jewish residents, and others, who died in Nazi demise camps. The plaques are in entrance of the murdered folks’s properties. More than any museum to me, they’re reminders of the previous, a previous we should always remember.

(Editing by Lauren Young and (*48*) Williams)