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Amsterdam is known throughout the world for its Red Light District.
Throngs of visitors head to this area of the city for various reasons. Some are curious and want to discreetly gaze at the sex workers posing in the windows wondering what brought them to this profession. Some want to “engage” with these workers and still others want to have a few cocktails and visit the sex shows or sex shops.
Many years ago, my friend and I visited Red Light Secrets, the museum about prostitution. Located in a building that was once a brothel, the museum’s mission is to educate and demystify its guests about sex work in Amsterdam. (Check it out here: https://snappingtheglobe.com/?p=1266). It was an interesting and informative stop with a fun bit of posing in the museum’s own upstairs “window”.
Recently, on a trip to Amsterdam, I was perusing the internet, searching for something interesting to fill my afternoon. Something called Tour de Bonton caught my eye. Advertised as an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of one of the most famous high-end strip and sex clubs of Amsterdam, it claimed to answer any of “your burning questions” about how things work at this particular club. At first glance, it seemed similar to the Red Light Secrets museum, but not located in the Red Light District.
Yes, I had lots of burning questions! I needed to do this tour!
After a quick metro ride from Central Station, during which I purchased my on-line ticket for three-thirty, I arrived about forty minutes early to find the door locked. Assuming that I needed to return closer to the entry time, I headed to the Irish pub around the corner to have a small pint which I assumed would help me to overcome my hesitancy of arriving alone.
At the appointed time, I returned to find the door open and a young lady seated behind a desk, just inside the opening. Showing her my on-line ticket, I was instructed to ascend the narrow staircase to the next floor where I discovered a well-appointed bar area. Two small platforms with stripper poles were located in the center and surrounded by lush, red-velvet banquettes. The walls were covered in a rich, teal and gold wallpaper, the ceiling in an etched copper tin and the floor in a herringbone patterned wood. It was not the typical, grungy strip club you would normally envision and seated in the banquettes were two couples and three older English ladies on holiday. Not the lot you would normally expect to find in a grungy strip club…but of course, they were also there for the tour as the club doesn’t actually open for regular business until 9:00pm.
After a few minutes of waiting, the lady who had greeted us downstairs came in to take our drink orders, which were included with the purchase price…I guess it helps to loosen up the tour-goers, but I wish I had realized this before I paid a visit to the Irish pub!
Taking a seat in front of the bar, Felicia, proceeded to explain how things work in the club. Girls, are paid per dance on the poles as well as for lap dances and engage customers as they congregate in the bar area. We spotted the champagne bottles lining the bar and she related how lucrative the selling of one of these bottles, preferably the most expensive (bottles range from $160-$2500), is for their pay. Finally, she went on the the part that most of us were interested in, the VIP rooms upstairs.
After a steep climb to the top floor for a quick tour to each of these uniquely decorated rooms (plus the dressing room), she explained how these VIP rooms are “rented” to the customers for a half hour or hour’s time, for $300 or $500 respectively. This is for the room only…any other interactions with the girls in these rooms are extra and at the discretion of the girl. The burning question for me, however, was how these customers made it up (and back down) the steep, narrow staircase, after a few drinks, to begin with???!!!
A bit of quick addition led me to believe that after the $50 entrance fee per person, one would definitely expect to spend A LOT of money in a night’s time! Which led to another burning question…are many of these customers on expense accounts?
Felicia was an open book and answered all of our questions without any inhibition. She was funny and interesting and had some amazing stories! I won’t reveal her secrets…its up to you to visit for yourself and discover what makes this place so exclusive in a city full of sex.
Were all of my burning questions answered? You bet!
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Tour de Bonton
- https://tourdebonton.com/
- Address: Stadhouderskade 64, Amsterdam, NL
- Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 1230-1930. Last tour starts at 1830 and tours last approximately 1 hour.
- Admission: At the door, €21.00 per person, Online €19.50 per person.
- Getting There: Metro 52 to Vijzelgracht (exit Vijzelgracht), Tram 1, 7, 19 (stop Vijzelgracht), Tram 24 (stop Marie Heinekenplein)
One museum, the Sexmuseum Venustempel, located on busy Damrak Street, has been around since 1985, welcoming curious visitors by the thousands. With its convenient location near Amsterdam’s Central Station and many of the city’s hotels, plus its relatively cheap admission, it has evolved into one of the most visited museums in the Netherlands, with 675,000 visitors in 2015 alone.
As you make your way up the stairs, plastic body parts line the stairwell and each floor offers encounters with various exhibits including Asian Art, Sex Through the Ages, Sex and Artists (with a depiction of Rembrandt painting a nude subject, Demons and Sex and numerous phallic representations, displayed singularly and in groupings. In the architecturally compelling atrium, which houses the Venus Gallery, make sure to look up at the window where a leather clad sex worker perches asymmetrically atop a stool.
Though not for those easily offended, the museum is both amusing at times and quite compelling. Judging from people’s reactions when I mentioned that I visited, it is also probably not what most people imagine it to be. You’ll definitely get your five euros worth (and maybe more!).