Two lovely small historical Dutch towns easily accessible from Amsterdam.

I'll start with Haarlem, my favourite and only a 15 minute train ride from Amsterdam CS. It claims to have the loveliest town square in Europe, I'm not so sure about that but it is certainly a treat to be sat outside at a cafe on a sunny afternoon enjoying a beer. Of course there's a network of canals here - I'm yet to find any town in the country without them. As for action, well surprisingly there's plenty to be found in this backwater. Later I'll post a list of clubs. The places I know well are the Jan Bik club (part of the notorious sleazy chain) and The Penthouse. JB is a favourite of mine and to me epitamises everything a brothel should be about. Small dimly lit sleazy bar, overtly friendly manageress, reasonable selection of good time girls and reasonably inexpensive by Dutch standards. Penthouse is more luxurious and slightly more expensive but I'm yet to find a woman in the house I actually fancy. Nonetheless I've enjoyed popping by for a beer, first beer is on the house whether you choose a girl or not.

As well as the clubs there's a curious little Red Light District quite close to the station, a window set up in true Dutch style. It's in a very tranquil area with a few windows scattered around pedestrian streets. At the heart of the RLD is a private section with a turnstyle. Quite bizarre, you have to pay a few Euro to get in to what resembles a small London Mews complete with tropical fountain and about 20 windows. Begrudgingly I coughed up the Euros just to have a nosey around but was dissapointed to find only 3 girls at home. The justification for payment apparently is the free porno movie being shown continuously in a side room but I think it's just a deterent to keep the riff raff away.

Haarlem is small enough to walk anywhere. Finding your way around is pretty easy. When you exit the station turn right, about 50 metres away you'll find a machine which prints maps (for free) - you can even type in a street name and you'll get a route print-out.

Now a few words about Alkmaar. A bit further afield in the opposite direction from Amsterdam CS, a 45 minute train ride. I visited 2 weeks ago for the first time with a couple of guys from the Ignatzmice site. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was surprised to find the town square bars buzzing, music blaring out and people rolling around. Everywhere else I've been to in The Netherlands, apart from Amsterdam of course, appears pretty dead on a Sunday. Apart from the scenic town centre the other major attraction in Alkmaar is a very active red light district, a street of about 100+ windows including covered indoor areas. A very different vibe to Amsterdam and the RLDs in Den Haag. Firstly the quality of the girls here is exceptional, very beautiful ladies indeed. Most are from Eastern Europe. It appears that the crackdown in The Netherlands on regulating sex workers to EU nationals has yet to reach this corner of the country. By all accounts the quality of service here is also far superior to the lousy Amsterdam window experience. I only dabbled the once on my trip.