mac said:
Is Amsterdam actually cool? If you want to smoke why not light up a jay in Paris? Amsterdam sounds like a cultural wasteland.
Well of course you shouldn't visit Amsterdam just to legally light up a joint, that would be a waste of time and money (although the accessibility of drugs are a great plus for myself).
Like ErasureAcer said, the Anne Frank house is pretty incredible if you're interested in it. The canals are really nice and give a great vibe to the city as a whole. There are a number of beautiful parcs, and loads of great clubs to go to.
Then there's the red light district, which is pretty popular among tourists, but I don't really get what the fuss is about. It might be interesting to see and walk through for half an hour, but other than that, it seems to me like a waste of time (never been there).
If you're someone who generally doesn't really plan a lot, and enjoys just strolling through a place, Amsterdam is without a doubt a good choice to visit.
In the end though, I think Amsterdam is a city you'll need to know thoroughly to really enjoy it. For one, there aren't a lot of great things i would consider doing if I was a tourist visiting it. It's basically great to live in, and walk around in, but if you're visiting for a couple of days and you wanna do ten thousand things a day, going from one place to the other, Amsterdam isn't what you're looking for. As Gregory said, Prague might be a better alternative. My brother had nothing but good things to say about it. (Plus the beer is cheap as F*CK)
If you decide to check out Amsterdam though, be sure to pm me about it. I'll let you know what places are cheapest (like the "meander" where beer is only 60 cents on mondays), and overall most fun to go to.