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Amsterdam, Netherlands, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)
▶ Video · Amsterdam on Foot
Video guide · 53:44
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Top 10EuropeNetherlands

Top 10 Things To Do in Amsterdam

Country
Netherlands
Best months
Apr · May · Sep
Population
~936K
Language
Dutch
Budget / day
€130–260
Quick answer

Three days, split by water. Give the first to the canal ring on foot: the Jordaan, the Nine Streets and a boat at dusk, with the Anne Frank House booked weeks ahead because there is no door sale. Give the second to Museumplein, where the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh sit two hundred metres apart. Give the third to De Pijp and a free ferry to Noord.

Amsterdam on Foot

▶ Video guide Open the film page (53:44) →

Amsterdam is a 17th-century business plan you can still walk through. The canal ring was dug from 1613 as a speculative property development, the merchant houses along it were built narrow and deep because frontage was what cost money, and four hundred years later the layout is intact enough that UNESCO listed it.

The 10 best things to do in Amsterdam

Start at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1

Start at the Rijksmuseum

Museum· Museumstraat 1, 1071 XX Amsterdam, Netherlands

The national museum, and the one building that explains why the rest of the city looks the way it does. The Gallery of Honour runs to Rembrandt's Night Watch, with Vermeer and Hals along the way. Below the paintings sit the Delftware and the doll houses that show the same century from the other end of the household.

Time3 hours
CostTicketed
Best atThe first slot of the morning
TipDo the second floor first and work down
Map↗ Website
Book ahead for the Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2

Book ahead for the Anne Frank House

Museum· Westermarkt 20, 1016 GV Amsterdam, Netherlands

The canal house held Otto Frank's business at the front and, from July 1942, eight people hidden in the annex behind it. You climb the same stairs and pass the bookcase that covered the door, into rooms deliberately left unfurnished after the war at Otto Frank's request, because the emptiness is the point.

Time1.5 hours
CostTicketed and timed
Best atThe last slots of the evening
TipTickets go on sale on the museum's own site for dates about six weeks out and sell out fast
Map↗ Website
Take a boat through the canal ring, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3

Take a boat through the canal ring

Canals· Damrak, 1012 LM Amsterdam, Netherlands

The belt of canals laid out from 1613 was inscribed by UNESCO in 2010 as a single piece of urban planning. Seeing it from a boat is not a tourist compromise, it is the level the houses were designed to be read from: the gables, the hoist beams and the waterlines all face the canal.

Time1 hour
CostTicketed
Best atThe hour before sunset
TipSkip the boats that leave from directly outside Centraal
Map↗ Website
See the Van Gogh Museum properly, Amsterdam, Netherlands
4

See the Van Gogh Museum properly

Museum· Museumplein 6, 1071 DJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

The largest collection anywhere, built from what the family kept and hung chronologically so the ten years he painted run past you in order. The letters are what make the difference, because they are the artist explaining the picture on the wall next to them.

Time2.5 hours
CostTicketed with a timed slot
Best atLate afternoon on a weekday
TipIt sits 200 metres from the Rijksmuseum
Map↗ Website
Walk the Jordaan without a plan, Amsterdam, Netherlands
5

Walk the Jordaan without a plan

Neighborhood· Jordaan, 1016 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Built in the 1610s as the workers' quarter outside the grand canals, on a grid that follows the old drainage ditches, which is why it runs at an angle to everything around it. Narrow streets, small canals, and the almshouse courtyards you can still step into if the gate is open.

Time2 hours
CostFree
Best atSaturday morning
TipThe hofjes are private homes
Map↗ Website
Spend an afternoon in the Vondelpark, Amsterdam, Netherlands
6

Spend an afternoon in the Vondelpark

Park· Vondelpark, 1071 AA Amsterdam, Netherlands

Forty-seven hectares of English landscape park, opened in 1865 as a private walking park funded by local residents and then handed to the city. It is where Amsterdam goes when the sun comes out, and the open-air theatre runs free performances through the summer.

Time2 hours
CostFree
Best atLate afternoon in May
TipThe main paths are cycle routes
Map↗ Website
Ride the free ferry to Noord and the EYE, Amsterdam, Netherlands
7

Ride the free ferry to Noord and the EYE

Film museum· IJpromenade 1, 1031 KT Amsterdam, Netherlands

The ferries behind Centraal cross the IJ every few minutes, they are free, and they carry bikes, which makes them the cheapest good thing in the city. One lands beside the EYE Filmmuseum, with a basement of viewing pods where you can pull something up from the archive.

Time3 hours
CostThe ferries are free
Best atSunset
TipTake a bike on the ferry
Map↗ Website
Albert Cuypmarkt, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Wimup)
8

Eat your way down the Albert Cuyp market

Market· Albert Cuypstraat, 1073 BD Amsterdam, Netherlands

A street market since 1905 and the largest daily market in the country. The food is the reason: stroopwafels pressed while you wait, herring with onion and pickle, Surinamese roti, cheese by the wedge. Around it, De Pijp carries the city's densest run of small restaurants.

Time1.5 hours
CostFree to walk
Best atLate morning on a weekday
TipEat a stroopwafel the minute it comes off the iron
Map↗ Website
Go inside the Royal Palace on the Dam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
9

Go inside the Royal Palace on the Dam

Palace· Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 147, 1012 RJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

Built from 1648 as the city hall of a republic at the height of its wealth, which is why the interior is a civic argument rather than a royal one: the Citizens' Hall is laid with maps of the known world in marble. It stands on 13,659 wooden piles driven into the sand under the peat.

Time1.5 hours
CostTicketed
Best atA weekday
TipCheck the palace site before you walk over
Map↗ Website
Step into the Begijnhof, Amsterdam, Netherlands
10

Step into the Begijnhof

Courtyard· Begijnhof 30, 1012 WS Amsterdam, Netherlands

A walled courtyard a few metres off the Spui, founded in the fourteenth century for lay religious women who lived in community without taking vows. It is still housing and still occupied, and stepping through the gate takes the noise of the shopping streets away completely.

Time30 minutes
CostFree
Best atEarly morning
TipPeople live here
Map↗ Website

All 10, mapped

Amsterdam · 10 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Amsterdam travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Amsterdam?+
Three. One for the canal ring on foot and a boat at dusk, one for Museumplein and the Vondelpark, one for De Pijp, the Albert Cuyp market and the ferry across to Noord. A fourth day is worth adding if you want a train out to Haarlem, Utrecht or the windmills at Zaanse Schans.
Do I need to book museum tickets in advance?+
Yes, for the big three. The Anne Frank House sells timed tickets online only, about six weeks out, and none at the door. The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh both work on timed slots. Everything else in this guide can usually be done on the day.
Should I cycle in Amsterdam?+
Only after watching the traffic for a day. The historic centre is about two kilometres across and walks easily. Cycling is genuinely the best way to see Noord and the Amstel, but the bike lanes are fast, the tram rails catch narrow tyres, and locals will not slow down for hesitation.
When is the best time to visit Amsterdam?+
Late April and May, for the bulb season, King's Day and long light, or September, which keeps the terraces open with fewer people on them. Winter is dark and wet, though the Light Festival and the museums are at their best when nobody is queueing. July and August are the busiest and the most expensive.
How do I get from Schiphol into the city?+
Take the train. The station sits directly under the terminal and trains reach Amsterdam Centraal in roughly 15 to 20 minutes, several times an hour and through most of the night. Tap in and out with a contactless card at the gates. A taxi takes longer in traffic and costs several times more.
Beyond the big three

Best museums in Amsterdam

Ten collections that hold up after the Rijksmuseum, from modern art on Museumplein to a church hidden in an attic.
Museumplein

Stedelijk Museum

Modern art

The national museum of modern and contemporary art, in an 1895 building with the white extension locals call the bathtub bolted onto the front.

Map↗ Website
Rembrandt House MuseumJodenbreestraat

Rembrandt House Museum

Historic house

The house Rembrandt bought in 1639 and lost to bankruptcy twenty years later, reconstructed from the inventory the bailiffs made of it.

Map↗ Website
Het ScheepvaartmuseumEastern Docklands

Het Scheepvaartmuseum

Maritime

The maritime museum, in the Admiralty's 1656 storehouse, with a full-size replica East Indiaman moored alongside. The best explanation of where the money came from.

Map↗ Website
Oudezijds Voorburgwal

Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder

Hidden church

A 17th-century canal house with a complete Catholic church built into the attic, from when Catholic worship was banned in public but tolerated behind doors.

Map↗ Website
Keizersgracht

Foam

Photography

A photography museum in a canal house, four floors of changing exhibitions rather than a permanent hang, and consistently the most current thing on show in the city.

Map↗ Website
Plantage

National Holocaust Museum

History

Opened in 2024 opposite the theatre from which children were smuggled out during the deportations. The permanent exhibition tells the Dutch history in full.

Map↗ Website
VerzetsmuseumPlantage

Verzetsmuseum

History

The Dutch Resistance Museum, which puts you in front of the choices people faced under occupation rather than in front of a timeline.

Map↗ Website
MicropiaPlantage

Micropia

Science

The only museum anywhere devoted to microbes, with live cultures under working microscopes and a scanner that tells you what is living on you.

Map↗ Website
Museum Van LoonKeizersgracht

Museum Van Loon

Historic house

A canal house on the Keizersgracht kept as a family home, with the garden and coach house behind. It answers what is actually inside these buildings.

Map↗ Website
Moco MuseumMuseumplein

Moco Museum

Street art

Modern and street art in a townhouse on Museumplein, heavy on Banksy. Divisive among locals, and the one museum teenagers reliably want to see.

Map↗ Website
Where to eat

Best restaurants in Amsterdam

Ten kitchens that hold their own, from Dutch home cooking to the Indonesian rice table Amsterdam has been serving since the colonial era ended.
Nieuwmarkt

Greetje

Modern Dutch

Modern Dutch cooking taken seriously: regional produce, old recipes rebuilt, and the tasting menu that most convincingly argues Dutch food is a cuisine. Book well ahead.

Map↗ Website
Jordaan

Moeders

Dutch

Dutch home cooking in a room papered floor to ceiling with photographs of customers' mothers, and every plate mismatched because they were donated.

Map↗ Website
Spui

Haesje Claes

Dutch

Traditional Dutch dining rooms behind the Spui, a warren of small wood-panelled spaces serving erwtensoep, stamppot and beef stew.

Map↗ Website
Oud-Zuid

Blauw

Indonesian

The rijsttafel to book if you are going to book one: a spread of Indonesian dishes served together, in the format Dutch colonial households invented.

Map↗ Website
Spuistraat

Kantjil & de Tijger

Indonesian

A long-running Javanese kitchen off the Spui, with rice tables for two and a takeaway counter around the corner that half the neighbourhood eats from.

Map↗ Website
The Seafood BarOud-Zuid

The Seafood Bar

Seafood

Ice counters of North Sea shellfish, fried kibbeling and plateaux, done quickly and without ceremony. The Van Baerlestraat branch is the useful one.

Map↗ Website
Oud-West

Foodhallen

Food hall

Twenty-odd kitchens in a converted tram depot in Oud-West, from Vietnamese to bitterballen, with a bar in the middle. The right answer when a group cannot agree.

Map↗ Website
Oost

De Kas

Garden dining

A restaurant inside a 1926 municipal greenhouse, cooking a set menu from its own kitchen garden. Lunch in the glasshouse is the version to book.

Map↗ Website
Oost

Rijsel

French

A northern French kitchen in a former school in Oost, built around a rotisserie. The roast chicken is the order, and the wine list is better than the room lets on.

Map↗ Website
Jordaan

Toscanini

Italian

An open-kitchen Italian in the Jordaan that has been full every night for decades, cooking regional Italian rather than a greatest-hits menu.

Map↗ Website
Where to drink

Best bars & brown cafes in Amsterdam

Eight rooms with sand on the floor and tobacco in the ceiling, plus the brewery under the windmill.
Spui

Café Hoppe

Since 1670

Trading on the Spui since 1670, with a standing bar on one side and a sitting one on the other, and a crowd that spills onto the pavement from about five o'clock.

Map↗ Website
Zeedijk

In 't Aepjen

Since the 1500s

A drinking house in one of the two surviving wooden buildings in the city, on the Zeedijk. The name refers to sailors who paid their bills in monkeys.

Map↗ Website
Jordaan

Café Chris

Since 1624

Opened in 1624 and said to be where the builders of the Westerkerk were paid, which makes it the oldest bar in the Jordaan. Unbothered by trends.

Map↗ Website
Jordaan

Café 't Smalle

Canalside

The prettiest terrace in the Jordaan, on a canal corner where the Egelantiersgracht meets the water, with an 18th-century interior behind it. Arrive before six or stand.

Map↗ Website
Dam

Wynand Fockink

Jenever

A tasting room from 1679 behind the Dam, serving jenever poured to the brim, which is why the first sip is taken with your hands behind your back.

Map↗ Website
Jordaan

Café Papeneiland

Since 1642

A corner cafe from 1642 at the top of the Prinsengracht, with Delft tiles, a tiny upstairs room and an apple pie the neighbourhood argues about.

Map↗ Website
Oost

Brouwerij 't IJ

Brewery

An independent brewery in the base of De Gooyer, an 18th-century windmill on the eastern edge, with a tap room and a terrace under the sails. Cycle there.

Map↗ Website
Centraal

Café Karpershoek

Since 1606

Two minutes from Centraal and pouring since 1606, with sand on the floor in the old style. The first and last drink of a trip, by geography if nothing else.

Map↗ Website
Where to walk

Best neighborhoods in Amsterdam

Six districts that each read as their own town, from the market streets of De Pijp to the shipyards across the water.
De PijpDe Pijp

De Pijp

Markets, restaurants

A dense 19th-century grid south of the canals, built for workers and now the city's best eating neighbourhood. The Albert Cuyp market runs through it.

Map
The Nine StreetsGrachtengordel

The Nine Streets

Shopping, canals

Nine short streets crossing the main canals between the Jordaan and the Dam, filled with small shops and vintage dealers. The best stretch to walk.

Map
Oud-West

Oud-West

Food halls, markets

Residential, unglamorous and increasingly where people eat: the Foodhallen in the old tram depot, the Ten Kate market and the Vondelpark below.

Map
Noord

Amsterdam Noord

Ferries, street art

Across the IJ by free ferry. A shipbuilding district that became studio space: the NDSM wharf, the EYE, and a lot of flat, quiet cycling.

Map
OostOost

Oost

Markets, parks

The eastern districts around the Javastraat and the Dappermarkt, where the city is most visibly multicultural, plus the Oosterpark and the botanical gardens.

Map
Oud-ZuidOud-Zuid

Oud-Zuid

Museums, concert hall

Museumplein, the Concertgebouw, the Vondelpark and the wide streets of the early 20th-century expansion. The formal half of the city, and where most of the art is.

Map
Open-air trading

Best markets in Amsterdam

Six markets, each with its own day and its own crowd, from Saturday farmers to a flea market that has run since the 1880s.
Jordaan

Noordermarkt

Sat and Mon

Under the Noorderkerk in the Jordaan: an organic farmers' market on Saturday morning, a flea and fabric market on Monday. The apple pie queue is an institution.

Map
Jordaan

Lindengracht Market

Saturday

The Jordaan's general market, running the length of the Lindengracht on Saturdays with fish, cheese, flowers and clothes, and noticeably more Dutch than Dutch-facing.

Map
Waterlooplein

Waterlooplein

Mon to Sat

The city's flea market since the 1880s, still the place for second-hand clothes, records, bicycle parts and things nobody can identify.

Map
Ten KatemarktOud-West

Ten Katemarkt

Mon to Sat

The neighbourhood market of Oud-West, six days a week, cheaper and less photographed than the Albert Cuyp and about as good for lunch.

Map
DappermarktOost

Dappermarkt

Mon to Sat

A long-running street market in Oost that reads as the most multicultural in the city: Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese and Dutch stalls in the same row.

Map
BloemenmarktSingel

Bloemenmarkt

Daily

The flower market on the Singel, floating on barges in principle and largely a bulb shop in practice. Buy the certified bulbs if you need them to clear customs at home.

Map
Green space

Best parks in Amsterdam

Five parks beyond the Vondelpark, including a forest three times the size of Central Park on the southern edge of the city.
Westerpark and WestergasWest

Westerpark and Westergas

Culture, food

A park wrapped around a former municipal gasworks, now a cultural quarter of cinemas, breweries, bakeries and event halls in the old brick buildings.

Map
Amstelveen edge

Amsterdamse Bos

Forest, rowing

A forest of roughly 1,000 hectares laid out as a work-creation project in the 1930s, with a rowing course, a goat farm and enough paths to lose an afternoon.

Map
OosterparkOost

Oosterpark

Monuments, festivals

The city's first large public park, opened in 1891, with the national slavery monument and a summer festival programme. The obvious green stop in Oost.

Map
SarphatiparkDe Pijp

Sarphatipark

Small, central

A small English-style park in the middle of De Pijp, and the place the neighbourhood takes its market lunch. Ten minutes end to end.

Map
AmstelparkZuid

Amstelpark

Gardens, maze

Laid out for a 1972 horticultural exhibition on the southern edge, with a rosarium, a maze and a rhododendron valley, and the Amstel path back into town alongside it.

Map
Out of the city

Best day trips in Amsterdam

Eight trips within an hour or so by train, from working windmills to the bulb fields that only exist for two months of the year.
HaarlemNoord-Holland

Haarlem

15 min by train

Fifteen minutes by train: a compact old town, the Frans Hals Museum and the Teylers, the oldest museum in the country and it looks it in the best way.

Map↗ Website
UtrechtUtrecht

Utrecht

30 min by train

Half an hour south, with wharf cellars at canal level that Amsterdam does not have, the Dom tower to climb, and a student city's worth of places to eat.

Map↗ Website
Zaanse SchansZaanstad

Zaanse Schans

20 min by train

Working windmills on the Zaan, sawing timber and grinding pigment as they did in the eighteenth century, plus green timber houses moved here to save them.

Map↗ Website
Keukenhof and the bulb fieldsLisse

Keukenhof and the bulb fields

Spring only

A bulb garden at Lisse open for roughly eight weeks from mid-March, with the commercial fields around it in colour for part of that.

Map↗ Website
Marken and VolendamWaterland

Marken and Volendam

Bus and ferry

Two former fishing villages on the old Zuiderzee, with a ferry between them in season. Wooden houses, smoked eel and a lot of coach parties.

Map↗ Website
LeidenZuid-Holland

Leiden

35 min by train

Thirty-five minutes: a canal town with the oldest university in the country, the national antiquities museum and a fraction of Amsterdam's crowds.

Map↗ Website
RotterdamZuid-Holland

Rotterdam

40 min by train

Forty minutes by intercity to the opposite argument: a city rebuilt from 1940 in glass and steel, with the Markthal, the Kunsthal and Europe's largest port behind it.

Map↗ Website
MuiderslotMuiden

Muiderslot

30 min by bus

A moated brick castle from 1285 at the mouth of the Vecht, half an hour east by bus, with a walled garden and a falconry. The best short trip with children.

Map↗ Website
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Amsterdam (2026)

Time your trip around the dates the city closes the canals for.
Apr

King's Day

The King's birthday on 27 April, and the one day the whole city is orange. Anyone may sell anything without a permit.

May

Liberation Day

5 May marks the end of the German occupation in 1945, with free festivals across the country.

Jun

Open Garden Days

One weekend in June when about thirty private canal-house gardens open to ticket holders.

Aug

Grachtenfestival

Ten days of classical and jazz concerts staged on the canals, in courtyards and private houses across the city.

Aug

Pride Amsterdam

A week of events ending with the Canal Parade, the only pride parade in the world staged on water, with about eighty boats.

Oct

TCS Amsterdam Marathon

A fast, flat course that starts and finishes inside the 1928 Olympic Stadium and runs out along the Amstel.

Oct

Amsterdam Dance Event

Five days in October that turn the whole city into a venue, and the largest electronic music event in the world.

Dec

Amsterdam Light Festival

Light installations along the canals from late November into January, designed to be seen from a boat.

Getting around

Amsterdam transport & airports

How to arrive, and how to move around a city where the bike has priority.
AMS

Amsterdam Schiphol

About 15 kilometres southwest, with the railway station directly under the terminal. Trains run to Centraal in 15 to 20 minutes, several times an hour and through most of the night.

Map↗ Website
NS

Rail

Amsterdam Centraal is the hub of the Dutch network, with intercity trains to Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague several times an hour and no need to book. International services do need reservations.

Map↗ Website
GVB

Tram, metro, bus and ferry

GVB runs the trams, four metro lines, the buses and the IJ ferries. Tap a contactless card on the reader when you board and again when you get off. The ferries to Noord are free.

Map↗ Website
Fiets

Bikes

Cycling is the default here, not a novelty, and the traffic is unsentimental about visitors. Lights after dark are compulsory, and locking the frame to something fixed matters.

Map↗ Website
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Amsterdam, Netherlands

What to order here, from the herring stall to the rice table.
Bitterballen, Amsterdam (Wimup travel guide)

Bitterballen

Crumbed, deep-fried balls of beef ragout, served with mustard and always with a beer.

Stroopwafel, Amsterdam (Wimup travel guide)

Stroopwafel

Two thin waffle discs with caramel syrup between them, pressed to order on the market and eaten warm.

Rijsttafel, Amsterdam (Wimup travel guide)

Rijsttafel

The Indonesian rice table: rice with a dozen or more small dishes served at once.

Kibbeling, Amsterdam (Wimup travel guide)

Kibbeling

Battered chunks of white fish, fried and served with garlic or tartare sauce, from the market fish stall.

Poffertjes, Amsterdam (Wimup travel guide)

Poffertjes

Small, spongy pancakes cooked in a dimpled pan and served under butter and icing sugar.

Haring

Raw herring, brined rather than pickled, with chopped onion and pickles.

Patat met

Thick-cut fries with mayonnaise, ordered at a counter and eaten from a paper cone.

Appeltaart

Dutch apple pie: tall, spiced, packed with fruit and served with an unreasonable amount of whipped cream.

Amsterdam fact sheet

Amsterdam at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Netherlands
Region
North Holland province, in the Randstad conurbation in the west of the country
Population
About 935,800 in the municipality (Statistics Netherlands, 2025)
Founded
First recorded in a toll privilege of 1275 as the settlement by the dam on the Amstel, and granted city rights around 1306
Nickname
Mokum, from the Yiddish for place, and the Venice of the North to everyone else
Language
Dutch, with English spoken almost everywhere
Currency
Euro (EUR, €)
Time zone
Central European Time, UTC+1, moving to UTC+2 for summer time from late March to late October
Calling code
+31, with 020 as the city code
Airports
Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS), about 15 km southwest, with a rail station under the terminal
Power
230V, 50Hz, type C and F plugs
Emergency
112 for police, fire and ambulance
Ideal length
3 days
Getting around
Walk the canal ring, trams and metro for everything outside it, free ferries to Noord, and a bike once you have watched the traffic for a day
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • The municipality counts 165 canals and 1,281 bridges, roughly three times as many as Venice.
  • The city is built on wooden piles driven through peat into the sand. The Royal Palace alone stands on 13,659 of them.
  • Canal houses lean forward on purpose: staircases were too narrow for furniture, so a hoist beam lifts it up the outside.
  • Roughly a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, and Schiphol sits four metres under it, on a lake bed pumped dry in 1852.
  • The north-south metro line opened in 2018 after fifteen years of tunnelling under a city standing on wooden piles.

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