Page 29 - De Wallen News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Deserted red light windows during the pandemic last year. Photo: Alex Nicholls-Lee A majority of councillors in Amsterdam will vote for plans to radically change the historic centre, including moving red light windows to an ‘erotic centre’ outside De Wallen. In an online council meeting on Thursday, there was broad support for an overhaul of the centre to reduce the pull of sex and drugs, and attract a ‘better quality’ tourist. Councillor Dennis Boutkan, of the PvdA labour party, described it as an important ‘reset of the visitor economy’. The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, ha...

Join an icy plunge in Helsinki Guide Kati Pankka. On a virtual trip to Helsinki, Intrepid tour leader Kati Pankka will guide you around a private lakeside sauna. Pankka’s insights into traditional Finnish spa rituals include her taking an ice swim which, combined with sauna in winter, locals believe is a mood-booster with potential health benefits. The tour is part of a recent launch of 15 interactive virtual experiences by Intrepid’s Urban Adventures team, intended to help support its cohort of local guides during the pandemic. Sessions are conducted on Zoom in real time, many of them in...

The red light district, deserted during the first lockdown Photo: Alex Nicholls-Lee Amsterdam in 2025 will have a city centre where a ‘different’ kind of visitor and ‘Amsterdammers want to come’, according to new city plans. The coronavirus crisis laid bare how certain areas had become almost totally dependent on low-budget tourism, linked with noise, nuisance and locals chased or priced out. Now, following calls from tourism experts, businesses and local residents to reset the city’s reputation for drugs, sex and lost weekends, the council has proposed 88 far-reaching measures to e...