Visit Amsterdam

Amsterdam is so… well so Dutch. Think canals and bridges… and wooden shoes with flowers in them in windows framed with lace. (Yes the there are wooden shoes all over the place, but you won’t find many people wearing them in Amsterdam.) It’s a city full of historic buildings, but it’s modern and progressive at the same time.

Back in its golden age of the 17th century, sea trade made it one of the world’s richest cities. It was built up with its iconic tall skinny town houses. Those wily burghers built them skinny because they were taxed by street front footage.

Dam Square is the very center and heart of Amsterdam. It’s a BIG square and not particularly pretty, but it is historic. The Royal Palace dominates the square. If you arrive by train at the Centraal Station, it’s about a five minute walk to the square. The Dam is surrounded by shops, food stalls and restaurants… and it’s crowded with locals and tourists all the time.

The center of the old city is shaped by its canal rings. Walk along these canal streets. Take a boat tour of the canals. If you really want to get into it, rent a houseboat for your stay instead of a hotel. You can also bike along these streets just like the Dutch do.

Yes, the Dutch do ride bikes… Amsterdam is a city where bikes outnumber cars. A bike can be a great way to get around. Avoid walking along the bicycle lanes…. They are clearly marked and bikes rule on them. If you end up in one without thinking and hear a bike bell…, get out of the way!

Spend a morning examining the masterpieces at the Rijksmuseum. (The Rijkamuseum has been undergoing a restoration… check to see how much of it is open.) Jump to the Van Gogh Museum for the afternoon. It has more Van Gogh’s than anywhere in the world… something like 200.

Visit the Anne Frank House. See where Anne and her family hid during the Nazi Occupation of the Netherlands, and where she wrote her diary. The tiny rooms are empty, but they will make you stop and think. The original diary is on display. This is a very popular place to visit, and lines can be long. During the summer, the house is open until 9 at night. Consider a late afternoon or early evening visit to avoid the lines.

Oude Kerk – the Old Church – is the oldest church in Amsterdam. As a quirk of history and geography, it’s in the red light district. Are you ready for another quirk? That’s a popular area for tourists at night.

When you’re ready for some food and drink, there are plenty of restaurants and bars. Beer is the Dutch national drink. Brown cafes are traditional Dutch local pubs with simple meals, coffee or beer. They may seem old and crowded, but people are friendly, and they can be a real bargain. And then there are the coffee shops… which aren’t what you think. Read our page on coffee shops to see how quirky the Dutch really are.

Amsterdam has more canals than Venice. Guidebooks tell us there are 100 canals crossed by 1,200 bridges. You can spend a day or two just wandering along the canals and admiring those tall skinny houses. There are a couple of thousand houseboats… and a couple of hundred agencies trying to rent them to tourists.

A trip to Holland wouldn’t be complete without seeing a windmill. Other than those wooden shoes, what could be more Dutch than a windmill. There are actually still eight windmills in the city, and you can visit two of them. So there you have it… wooden shoes, windmills and all.