---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Amsterdam, Netherlands | Wimup"
description: "The 10 best things to do in Amsterdam, ranked: the Rijksmuseum, the Anne Frank House, the canal ring by boat and the Jordaan, with maps and dishes."
url: https://wimup.com/city/amsterdam
type: City guide
updated: 2026-10-17
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Netherlands · Europe · By Wimup Editorial, 15 min read

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.

## 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.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Apr · May · Sep
- **Ideal length:** 3 days
- **Budget per day:** €130–260
- **Language:** Dutch, with English spoken almost everywhere
- **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](https://www.iamsterdam.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in Amsterdam

### 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.

- **Time:** 3 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with a timed entry slot booked online. Under-18s go free and still need a slot.
- **Best at:** The first slot of the morning, before the Gallery of Honour fills
- **Tip:** Do the second floor first and work down. Almost everyone does the opposite, and the Night Watch is quietest in the first hour.

Links: [Website](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 1.5 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed and timed, sold online only through the museum. No tickets are sold at the door and no city pass covers it.
- **Best at:** The last slots of the evening, which are calmer than the middle of the day
- **Tip:** Tickets go on sale on the museum's own site for dates about six weeks out and sell out fast. Buy them before you book anything else, then plan the day around the slot you get.

Links: [Website](https://www.annefrank.org/en/museum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 1 hour
- **Cost:** Ticketed. Prices split between large glass-top cruises and small open boats, which cost more per person.
- **Best at:** The hour before sunset, when the bridge lights come on
- **Tip:** Skip the boats that leave from directly outside Centraal. Departure points on Prinsengracht and around the Anne Frank House put you inside the ring from the first minute.

Links: [Website](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1349/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 2.5 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed with a timed slot, sold online. Under-18s go free.
- **Best at:** Late afternoon on a weekday, or a Friday evening when the museum stays open later
- **Tip:** It sits 200 metres from the Rijksmuseum, and doing both in one day is a mistake most people only make once. Split them across two mornings.

Links: [Website](https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Saturday morning, market day on the Noordermarkt and the Lindengracht
- **Tip:** The hofjes are private homes. Read the sign at the gate, go in quietly if it invites you to, and stay out of the ones that ask you not to.

Links: [Website](https://www.iamsterdam.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free. The cafes and the open-air theatre programme are separate.
- **Best at:** Late afternoon in May, when the blossom is out and the terraces fill
- **Tip:** The main paths are cycle routes, not footpaths. Walk on the side and look before you cross one.

Links: [Website](https://www.amsterdam.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 3 hours
- **Cost:** The ferries are free. The museum, the cinema programme and the rooftop lookout are each ticketed.
- **Best at:** Sunset, when the ferry back has the skyline in front of it
- **Tip:** Take a bike on the ferry. Noord is flat, quiet and built for cycling, and the ride out to NDSM along the water is the best half hour in the city.

Links: [Website](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 1.5 hours
- **Cost:** Free to walk. Bring a card, though a few stalls are still cash only.
- **Best at:** Late morning on a weekday, when the stalls are full and the aisle is not
- **Tip:** Eat a stroopwafel the minute it comes off the iron. They are a completely different thing warm.

Links: [Website](https://albertcuyp-markt.amsterdam/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 1.5 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with an audio tour included.
- **Best at:** A weekday, when the Dam outside is at its least chaotic
- **Tip:** Check the palace site before you walk over. It closes at short notice for state occasions, and that is not something the queue outside will tell you.

Links: [Website](https://www.paleisamsterdam.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 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.

- **Time:** 30 minutes
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Early morning, before the Spui fills up
- **Tip:** People live here. Go in through the Begijnensteeg gate, keep your voice down, and do not photograph the front windows.

Links: [Website](https://hetbegijnhof.nl/?lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best museums in Amsterdam

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

1. **Stedelijk Museum** (Modern art · Museumplein): The national museum of modern and contemporary art, in an 1895 building with the white extension locals call the bathtub bolted onto the front. [Website](https://www.stedelijk.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Rembrandt House Museum** (Historic house · Jodenbreestraat): The house Rembrandt bought in 1639 and lost to bankruptcy twenty years later, reconstructed from the inventory the bailiffs made of it. [Website](https://www.rembrandthuis.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Het Scheepvaartmuseum** (Maritime · Eastern Docklands): 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. [Website](https://www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder** (Hidden church · Oudezijds Voorburgwal): 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. [Website](https://www.opsolder.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Foam** (Photography · Keizersgracht): 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. [Website](https://www.foam.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **National Holocaust Museum** (History · Plantage): Opened in 2024 opposite the theatre from which children were smuggled out during the deportations. The permanent exhibition tells the Dutch history in full. [Website](https://jck.nl/en/location/national-holocaust-museum?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Verzetsmuseum** (History · Plantage): The Dutch Resistance Museum, which puts you in front of the choices people faced under occupation rather than in front of a timeline. [Website](https://www.verzetsmuseum.org/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Micropia** (Science · Plantage): The only museum anywhere devoted to microbes, with live cultures under working microscopes and a scanner that tells you what is living on you. [Website](https://www.micropia.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
9. **Museum Van Loon** (Historic house · Keizersgracht): 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. [Website](https://www.museumvanloon.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
10. **Moco Museum** (Street art · Museumplein): Modern and street art in a townhouse on Museumplein, heavy on Banksy. Divisive among locals, and the one museum teenagers reliably want to see. [Website](https://mocomuseum.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## 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.

1. **Greetje** (Modern Dutch · Nieuwmarkt): 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.
2. **Moeders** (Dutch · Jordaan): Dutch home cooking in a room papered floor to ceiling with photographs of customers' mothers, and every plate mismatched because they were donated. [Website](https://www.moeders.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Haesje Claes** (Dutch · Spui): Traditional Dutch dining rooms behind the Spui, a warren of small wood-panelled spaces serving erwtensoep, stamppot and beef stew. [Website](https://www.haesjeclaes.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Blauw** (Indonesian · Oud-Zuid): 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. [Website](https://restaurantblauw.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Kantjil & de Tijger** (Indonesian · Spuistraat): 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. [Website](https://www.kantjil.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **The Seafood Bar** (Seafood · Oud-Zuid): Ice counters of North Sea shellfish, fried kibbeling and plateaux, done quickly and without ceremony. The Van Baerlestraat branch is the useful one. [Website](https://theseafoodbar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Foodhallen** (Food hall · Oud-West): 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. [Website](https://www.foodhallen.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **De Kas** (Garden dining · Oost): 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. [Website](https://restaurantdekas.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
9. **Rijsel** (French · Oost): 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. [Website](https://rijsel.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
10. **Toscanini** (Italian · Jordaan): An open-kitchen Italian in the Jordaan that has been full every night for decades, cooking regional Italian rather than a greatest-hits menu. [Website](https://restauranttoscanini.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best bars & brown cafes in Amsterdam

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

1. **Café Hoppe** (Since 1670 · Spui): 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. [Website](https://www.cafehoppe.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **In 't Aepjen** (Since the 1500s · Zeedijk): 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. [Website](https://www.iamsterdam.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Café Chris** (Since 1624 · Jordaan): 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. [Website](https://www.cafechris.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Café 't Smalle** (Canalside · Jordaan): 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. [Website](https://www.t-smalle.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Wynand Fockink** (Jenever · Dam): 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. [Website](https://www.wynand-fockink.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Café Papeneiland** (Since 1642 · Jordaan): 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. [Website](https://www.papeneiland.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Brouwerij 't IJ** (Brewery · Oost): 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. [Website](https://www.brouwerijhetij.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Café Karpershoek** (Since 1606 · Centraal): 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.

## 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.

1. **De Pijp** (Markets, restaurants · De Pijp): 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.
2. **The Nine Streets** (Shopping, canals · Grachtengordel): 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.
3. **Oud-West** (Food halls, markets · Oud-West): Residential, unglamorous and increasingly where people eat: the Foodhallen in the old tram depot, the Ten Kate market and the Vondelpark below.
4. **Amsterdam Noord** (Ferries, street art · Noord): 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.
5. **Oost** (Markets, parks · Oost): The eastern districts around the Javastraat and the Dappermarkt, where the city is most visibly multicultural, plus the Oosterpark and the botanical gardens.
6. **Oud-Zuid** (Museums, concert hall · Oud-Zuid): 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.

## 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.

1. **Noordermarkt** (Sat and Mon · Jordaan): 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.
2. **Lindengracht Market** (Saturday · Jordaan): 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.
3. **Waterlooplein** (Mon to Sat · Waterlooplein): The city's flea market since the 1880s, still the place for second-hand clothes, records, bicycle parts and things nobody can identify.
4. **Ten Katemarkt** (Mon to Sat · Oud-West): The neighbourhood market of Oud-West, six days a week, cheaper and less photographed than the Albert Cuyp and about as good for lunch.
5. **Dappermarkt** (Mon to Sat · Oost): 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.
6. **Bloemenmarkt** (Daily · Singel): 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.

## 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.

1. **Westerpark and Westergas** (Culture, food · West): A park wrapped around a former municipal gasworks, now a cultural quarter of cinemas, breweries, bakeries and event halls in the old brick buildings.
2. **Amsterdamse Bos** (Forest, rowing · Amstelveen edge): 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.
3. **Oosterpark** (Monuments, festivals · Oost): 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.
4. **Sarphatipark** (Small, central · De Pijp): 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.
5. **Amstelpark** (Gardens, maze · Zuid): 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.

## 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.

1. **Haarlem** (15 min by train · Noord-Holland): 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. [Website](https://www.visithaarlem.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Utrecht** (30 min by train · Utrecht): 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. [Website](https://www.visit-utrecht.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Zaanse Schans** (20 min by train · Zaanstad): 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. [Website](https://www.dezaanseschans.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Keukenhof and the bulb fields** (Spring only · Lisse): 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. [Website](https://keukenhof.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Marken and Volendam** (Bus and ferry · Waterland): 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. [Website](https://www.laagholland.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Leiden** (35 min by train · Zuid-Holland): Thirty-five minutes: a canal town with the oldest university in the country, the national antiquities museum and a fraction of Amsterdam's crowds. [Website](https://www.visitleiden.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Rotterdam** (40 min by train · Zuid-Holland): 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. [Website](https://en.rotterdam.info/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Muiderslot** (30 min by bus · Muiden): 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. [Website](https://www.muiderslot.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Festivals & annual events in Amsterdam (2026)

- **King's Day** (Apr): The King's birthday on 27 April, and the one day the whole city is orange. Anyone may sell anything without a permit.
- **Liberation Day** (May): 5 May marks the end of the German occupation in 1945, with free festivals across the country.
- **Open Garden Days** (Jun): One weekend in June when about thirty private canal-house gardens open to ticket holders.
- **Grachtenfestival** (Aug): Ten days of classical and jazz concerts staged on the canals, in courtyards and private houses across the city.
- **Pride Amsterdam** (Aug): A week of events ending with the Canal Parade, the only pride parade in the world staged on water, with about eighty boats.
- **TCS Amsterdam Marathon** (Oct): A fast, flat course that starts and finishes inside the 1928 Olympic Stadium and runs out along the Amstel.
- **Amsterdam Dance Event** (Oct): Five days in October that turn the whole city into a venue, and the largest electronic music event in the world.
- **Amsterdam Light Festival** (Dec): Light installations along the canals from late November into January, designed to be seen from a boat.

## Must-try dishes in Amsterdam, Netherlands

- **Haring**: Raw herring, brined rather than pickled, with chopped onion and pickles.
- **Bitterballen**: Crumbed, deep-fried balls of beef ragout, served with mustard and always with a beer.
- **Stroopwafel**: Two thin waffle discs with caramel syrup between them, pressed to order on the market and eaten warm.
- **Rijsttafel**: The Indonesian rice table: rice with a dozen or more small dishes served at once.
- **Patat met**: Thick-cut fries with mayonnaise, ordered at a counter and eaten from a paper cone.
- **Kibbeling**: Battered chunks of white fish, fried and served with garlic or tartare sauce, from the market fish stall.
- **Appeltaart**: Dutch apple pie: tall, spiced, packed with fruit and served with an unreasonable amount of whipped cream.
- **Poffertjes**: Small, spongy pancakes cooked in a dimpled pan and served under butter and icing sugar.

## Amsterdam transport & airports

- **Amsterdam Schiphol** (AMS): 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. [Website](https://www.schiphol.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Rail** (NS): 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. [Website](https://www.ns.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Tram, metro, bus and ferry** (GVB): 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. [Website](https://www.gvb.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Bikes** (Fiets): 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. [Website](https://www.amsterdam.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Amsterdam at a glance

- **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

## 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.

## Watch

[Amsterdam Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/amsterdam.md), 25:05

## 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.

## Nearby guides

- [Nijmegen](https://wimup.com/city/nijmegen.md): Day trip · 10 picks
- [Groningen](https://wimup.com/city/groningen.md): Netherlands · 10 picks
- [Ghent](https://wimup.com/city/ghent.md): Belgium · 10 picks
- [All of Europe →](https://wimup.com/europe): 158 cities

Part of the [Netherlands guide](https://wimup.com/country/netherlands.md) · [Europe](https://wimup.com/europe.md)

## Sources

- [Amsterdam tourism board](https://www.iamsterdam.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Start at the Rijksmuseum (official site)](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Book ahead for the Anne Frank House (official site)](https://www.annefrank.org/en/museum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Take a boat through the canal ring (official site)](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1349/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [See the Van Gogh Museum properly (official site)](https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Spend an afternoon in the Vondelpark (official site)](https://www.amsterdam.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Ride the free ferry to Noord and the EYE (official site)](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Eat your way down the Albert Cuyp market (official site)](https://albertcuyp-markt.amsterdam/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Go inside the Royal Palace on the Dam (official site)](https://www.paleisamsterdam.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Step into the Begijnhof (official site)](https://hetbegijnhof.nl/?lang=en&utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Stedelijk Museum (official site)](https://www.stedelijk.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Rembrandt House Museum (official site)](https://www.rembrandthuis.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Het Scheepvaartmuseum (official site)](https://www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (official site)](https://www.opsolder.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Foam (official site)](https://www.foam.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [National Holocaust Museum (official site)](https://jck.nl/en/location/national-holocaust-museum?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Verzetsmuseum (official site)](https://www.verzetsmuseum.org/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Micropia (official site)](https://www.micropia.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Museum Van Loon (official site)](https://www.museumvanloon.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Moco Museum (official site)](https://mocomuseum.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Moeders (official site)](https://www.moeders.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Haesje Claes (official site)](https://www.haesjeclaes.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Blauw (official site)](https://restaurantblauw.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Kantjil & de Tijger (official site)](https://www.kantjil.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [The Seafood Bar (official site)](https://theseafoodbar.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Foodhallen (official site)](https://www.foodhallen.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [De Kas (official site)](https://restaurantdekas.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Rijsel (official site)](https://rijsel.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Toscanini (official site)](https://restauranttoscanini.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Café Hoppe (official site)](https://www.cafehoppe.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Café Chris (official site)](https://www.cafechris.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Café 't Smalle (official site)](https://www.t-smalle.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Wynand Fockink (official site)](https://www.wynand-fockink.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Café Papeneiland (official site)](https://www.papeneiland.nl/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Brouwerij 't IJ (official site)](https://www.brouwerijhetij.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Haarlem (official site)](https://www.visithaarlem.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Utrecht (official site)](https://www.visit-utrecht.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Zaanse Schans (official site)](https://www.dezaanseschans.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Keukenhof and the bulb fields (official site)](https://keukenhof.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Marken and Volendam (official site)](https://www.laagholland.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Leiden (official site)](https://www.visitleiden.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Rotterdam (official site)](https://en.rotterdam.info/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Muiderslot (official site)](https://www.muiderslot.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Amsterdam Schiphol (official site)](https://www.schiphol.nl/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Rail (official site)](https://www.ns.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Tram, metro, bus and ferry (official site)](https://www.gvb.nl/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.