Amsterdam is hands down one of my favorite cities and destinations in general. It is a city that is tough not to fall in love with at first sight. In this article, I cover the top things to do in Amsterdam and the practical travel tips that will make you enjoy your time there even more.

🙌 Is Amsterdam worth travelling to? Whys and why-nots.

👍 Why go:

• Incredible combination of history, beauty, unique city character, and just a really cool vibe. There is something inexplicably magical about it.
• It is relatively compact and easy to explore due to great infrastructure, and the city’s character and atmosphere are not isolated to just the historic city center.

👎 Why not go:

• Expensive – especially accommodation and food.
• If you want to enjoy nice warm weather on your trip. You might… or it might be the complete opposite of nice and warm.
• Not a city for gastro tourism (but there are some gems!)

Overall: YES! YES! YES! It is an absolute must-visit, one of a kind, gem of a city.

🏫 Top Things to Do in Amsterdam

#1 Get lost in the city on foot

Amsterdam is the perfect city to explore on foot without a pre-defined plan. Just go to any part of the historic center (on Google Maps those areas are normally highlighted in light yellow) and get lost along the beautiful canals and charming side alleys. Enjoy both the historic architecture and the modern city planning solutions that make this city so pleasant to be in and move around.

In my opinion, the Red-Light district and the walking streets with shopping in the center are not where it’s at. Take a quick peek and get out of there to get a feel for this amazing city without fighting for elbow room. You will enjoy yourself so much more just a few streets over! There are still the canals, the flowers, the cool houses, the bikes, but a lot fewer people. If you look at the map, you’ll see the canals looking like concentric circles – so you’d want to move from the center out, towards the larger “circles”.

If you are near the Central Station, check out this enormous bike parking built under the river. It’s impressive. There is an OV-fietz rental located there as well (see “Transportation” for details)

Alternatively, if you like a bit of structure, look up free walking tours of Amsterdam.

#2 Rent a boat to explore the canals on your own – the top thing I recommend to do in Amsterdam.

Once you orient yourself by wandering around, taking a free walking tour, or maybe doing a canal tour excursion on a big boat, it is time to rent your own boat and roam the canals like a real Amsterdamer.

You will notice a lot of locals going around on boats, having snacks and drinks, especially on the weekends if the weather is good. You can have this authentic experience too.

• No, there won’t be a hired driver.
• Yes, you will be driving the boat.
• No, it’s not too hard.
• They will give you a map with recommended routes that fit into the time you rented for. Click “Open in Maps” to track your location along the route on the phone, it’s super easy to navigate that way.

I recommend this boat rental (nice electric boats, good service, and price).

🛶 Tips for a good time on a private rental boat in Amsterdam:

• Bring snacks, beverages, and, if that’s your jam, some light alcohol, like wine or beer.
• Decide on who will be driving and who will be navigating:
  • Driver aka Captain: while it is not too difficult, the person driving will not be relaxing like the rest of the crew and needs to be engaged and attentive, especially in the busier parts of the route. Make sure your captain is not hungry and tired, and don’t forget to serve them those snacks and beverages.
  • Navigator aka a person bossing the Captain around: this person will be following the map and calling out turns. You will get a paper map but the easiest way is to open the digital map from the boat rental and follow it since you can see your position relative to the route. Make sure your phone has an internet connection (here is a cheap e-sim option).
• Two hours did not feel like enough; I would go for 3 or more next time.

#3 Museums

PRO TIP: Most popular museums require a booking ahead of time. Books as soon as you make your plans to go, the most popular ones may be booked up for weeks ahead.

There are a ton of museums in Amsterdam for every taste, but here are some classics and alternative ideas:

• Van Gogh Museum – a very moving experience, not just famous paintings (if you get the audio guide, so it’s a must). Must be booked 2-3 weeks ahead of visit. ~2 hours visit, € 20 for adult
• Anne Frank House – I was not able to book it when checking a month in advance. €16 for adults
• Rijksmuseum – National Arts and History Museum, highly recommended by other people (I did not go because it seemed like a full-day endeavor). €22.5 for adults

Here are some awesome museums that do not take as much time to visit and are likely to have availability on short notice:

• My favorite! Our Lord in the Attic Museum (Former Hidden Catholic Church) – a lesser-known, small, atmospheric museum. You get to learn about Amsterdam’s history and Dutch culture from an interesting perspective. Grab an audio guide, it’s free and a lot of context will be lost without it. ~1-1.5 hours visit, €16.5 for adults
• Moco Museum – a modern art museum with great temp exhibitions – when we were there they had Banksy, Dali, and Warhol. There is a ticket that bundles the museum and a canal boat tour.

#4 Day trips out of Amsterdam

• 🌷 Tulip fields: these bad boys are only there from late March to May. Rent a bike and ride out to the countryside (there is a great network of bike lanes and roads).

• 🍫 Zaanse Schans in Zaandam: a town that permanently smells like chocolate and has several historic windmills, a rich history, great vistas, and a quaint 18th/19th-century style village. All that beauty is pretty overcrowded by tourists. There is also a museum and multiple workshops for things like wooden shoe making or chocolate making, which we skipped in exchange for hanging out at the village taking pictures of lily pads, and watching sheep, ducks, and chickens. Remarkably, people still live in that neighborhood, and it feels like time stopped there, if you can escape the crowds.

Getting there: 30 min by car, an hour by bike, 20 min by train

• 🏖️ North Sea: a few nice beaches are within an hour of driving and can be reached by bike as well). We went to this lovely super dog-friendly beach to dip in the cold North Sea, and just people and dog-watch. There is a nice restaurant at the entrance near the parking lot to grab breakfast or lunch.

#5 Have a picnic

This may seem benign, but it is a good way to experience local culture when traveling to Amsterdam. If you are lucky and there is a sunny day while you’re there you will observe a heap of locals hanging out in the parks, on the grass near canals (and of course on the boats, see #2), at the picnic tables in front of the apartment buildings. Join in and enjoy a picnic in one of the many beautiful parks in the city.

If you prefer organized tours, here are a few great options:

🦀 Food in Amsterdam

Local specialties to try

• French fries, or rather friet/patat – locals take this dish seriously, so you got to try it (I recommend it with the truffle mayo….omnomnom)
• Bitterballen and Croquettes (Krokets) – breaded finger food with cheesy or meaty filling. Not my jam but it’s always worth trying the popular local thing!
• Herring – I missed out on this undeniably Netherlands thing to try, but maybe you won’t.
• For coffee look for Koffie or Koffiehuis, a Coffeeshop is that other thing Amsterdam is famous for (wink-wink).

Restaurants

IMHO Amsterdam is not a gastro tourism destination. Of course, there are extremely nice restaurants and some gems to discover, but they are sort of far and few between. Here are a few recommendations that won’t break your bank:

• Fabel Friet – great place to try the local fries in the historic center.
• The Seafood Bar (three locations) – great mixed grill plates to share and try a bit of everything.
• Park Café-Restaurant – modern international cuisine. It’s part of a cool hotel in a former church building on the right on the side of the beautiful Oosterpark.
• Foodhallen – if you can’t decide where to eat, especially as a group, there are dozens of different cuisines in this food court (not fast food).

🚎 Transportation tips

🚗 Renting or using a car

Not worth it unless you are planning to do a lot of out-of-town day trips and aren’t staying close to the old city or have accommodation with an assigned parking spot. If you have a car, it may still be better to use public transport or walk/bike to the city center, driving and especially finding parking will be expensive and a major pain in the butt.

🚊Public transport

It is convenient and reliable. Use Google Maps to see the routes and schedules, as well as live locations of the next tram/bus.

• You can pay with a credit card or phone when getting on, or you can buy a pass in a kiosk at some (not all) stops or online.

PRO TIP: If paying for transport via credit card, you have to scan it as you go in AND as you get off. It will charge based on the distance traveled. If you do not scan your card on the way out, it will charge you till the end of the route (can be 2x amount). Look for the signs on the doors – some are exit-only or entry-only. If you try to get out of an entrance-only door and scan your card on the way out, you will get an error and get charged till the last stop.

• You can also choose to buy an I Amsterdam city card that includes both transport access and attractions

🚲 Biking (rent one, but not right away)

Biking culture in Amsterdam is like no other place, so it is both one of the fastest ways to move around and a way to experience local culture. Every time we took public transport while our friend rode a bike, he arrived way faster, even though the public transport was pretty fast and smooth.

Renting a bike:

• If you have a local friend, ask them if they could help you rent a bike with OV-fietz service. It’s the cheapest way, but you must have a local’s OV-chipkaart, and there is a 2-bike limit per cardholder.
• If the above is not an option just look up bike rentals near you.

PRO TIP: Give yourself a couple of hours (or days) of walking around and observing the signs and markings for bikes, as well as how people bike. The signage on the roads is busy and takes a second to get used to, and the bike traffic is quick and relentless. Take some time to figure it out before you get on the bike.

At all times: Do not linger in bike lanes, BE SUPER ATTENTIVE when crossing one. There is a joke that the bike lanes are red in Amsterdam because of the blood of the tourists. There will be no mercy, stay alert.

🎥 Watch the highlights in our YouTube video

💶 Money and its quirks

This may be changing fast but as of August 2023 Amsterdam was the weirdest place we traveled to when it comes to credit card usage:

Bottom line: have both some cash and a credit card ready (and always use a card with no foreign fees). Different places might take:

• Cash only (currency is Euro).
• Credit cards only (in which case your Visa and Mastercard should be ok, American Express may not work).
• Cash or Maestro cards only, or even a Maestro debit card only.
• All of the above.

🥷 Practical tips for travelling to Amsterdam

• Language: Almost everyone speaks English. Most local websites will have a choice of Dutch (“Netherlands”) or English, look around for the language option. Use the Google Translate function to translate text on a photo to translate signage in Dutch.
• Cost: Amsterdam is not cheap, but you don’t have to stay in the historic center and can save a bit that way. Public transport is easy to use, Uber works well and costs from around $10 depending on the distance.
• Packing: bring a rain jacket (a non-negotiable item to pack!) and also sunglasses. The weather can change quickly and drastically.
• Stores and supermarkets: Many stores close early in the evening (e.g.6-8 pm) and do not work on Sundays. In supermarkets, you have to scan your check to get out after self-checkout. You will need to pay for plastic bags in supermarkets, just bring your own. Also see the “Money” section.

🎴 Cool curiosities to notice

These are examples of small, delightful, novel things I love to notice when traveling the world! Hope you find your own list of things that delight and inspire you in Amsterdam:

• The tall and narrow stairs inside the buildings, even the newer ones. It’s a whole thing.
• Most of the historic and even newer buildings are leaning forward and have a big hook hanging at the top. That’s to get things up because the ladders are a whole thing.
• There is not a lot of extra space but the people of Amsterdam loooove flowers and greenery. Check out how they are finding and using space efficiently to plant flowers, trees, and even vegetables.
• You will sometimes see tall grass and other plants growing in a special section on the side of the channel. These are made to recreate endemic plant life and the natural habitat for insects, birds, and fish within the city.
• Pay attention to the little year signs on the buildings – you will see plenty from the 1600s!
• Check out the cool boat houses parked on the sides of the canals.

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