How to get to us
Alkmaar is about a 50-minute train trip from Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport. The train station is an integral part of the airport. Stop at a train ticket window and buy a one-way ticket to Alkmaar. The price is about 10 euros per ticket. (While waiting for your baggage, use the bank office in the baggage hall to buy euros. It’s open day and night.)
Trains leave for Amsterdam roughly every 20 minutes starting at about 5 AM, less often in the small hours of the night.
If you happen to catch a train that stops at Amsterdam-Sloterdijk, a station on the west edge of Amsterdam, change there, go to platforms 1 and 2 on the lower level of the station, and catch the train to Alkmaar. (Some trains will go no further than Alkmaar, others will go several stops further to Den Helder.)
If your train doesn’t stop at Amsterdam-Sloterdijk, then change at Amsterdam Central Station. Intercity trains for Alkmaar normally leave four times per hour from Amsterdam Central Station, usually from platform 7A-8A. There are also two “stop trains” per hour — meaning they stop at all stations along the way. On the intercity train, it’s just over a half-hour ride from Central Station. The “stop train” takes about 45 minutes. (Note that the final destination for the train will be Alkmaar in some cases Den Helder, the northernmost town in North Holland, in others.)
Most Dutch people speak English. If you get confused, ask for help from anyone at hand. Many people will also be willing to let you make a quick call on their mobile phone.
Once in Alkmaar
Exit in the direction most people are going, that is toward the front of the station, not the back. As you leave the station, cross the street and walk to the right along Stationsweg. Recently yellow-brick tiles were placed along the route into the town center — just follow the yellow-brick road!
In two minutes you’ll be at a light on a “T” intersection. Go to the left along Scharlo. In the distance straight ahead you’ll get a glimpse of the Grote Kerk (the Great Church; in pre-Reformation times Alkmaar’s cathedral). Walk on 200 meters or so to the bridge, the Bergerbrug. This takes you across the Singel, the canal that surrounds the old town. Once across, walk onto the first street to your right, Geest (the Dutch word for ghost, spirit or sandbar). Kanisstraat is the first right off Geest — a short, no-traffic lane with a park at one end and the Geest at the other. We live in house number 5.
Carrying too much? Or it’s raining?
There’s a taxi stand in front of the train station. The price of the ride to our address will be less than 10 euros.
Rent a bike?
There is a bike shop just to the right as you leave the train station — Fietspoint Stoop at Stationsweg 43. You can rent a three-speed bike for 7.50 a day. (www.fietspointstoop.nl)
Contact details
Jim & Nancy ForestKanisstraat 5
1811 GJ Alkmaar
the Netherlands
tel: (00) 31-72 - 515-4180; within Holland: (072) 515-4180
mobile: 06 - 510 11 250
Jim’s e-mail: jhforest@gmail.com
Nancy’s e-mail: forestflier@gmail.com
page updated 18 May 2009
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