Amsterdam Vacation Rental Apartment a short term holiday duplex apartment with roofterrace

Things to do in Amsterdam

Places to See

Here is a list of some of the major attractions in Amsterdam. Several places including the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum allow you to book online and print your tickets out. This is worth doing, since it allows you to jump the queue for tickets and go straight in, but bear in mind that some only allocate a fixed number of tickets per day, so book early if you can.

The Anne Frank House, Prinsengracht 263 (Westerkerk), 09:00-19:00(summers 21:00), €7.50. The wartime hiding place of the young Jewish girl and her family, finally caught by the Nazis, made famous by Anne Frank's diaries. Not to be missed. Go early, or late, to avoid the queues.

Begijnhof, Spui. Amsterdam has many 'hofjes', courtyards hidden away between houses. The Begijnhof is one of the largest, and well known, but also one of the more surprising: that such an oasis of peace can be so close to the bustling heart of the city. There is a doorway in the row of houses on the Spui that leads you there (if it is closed go right, around the corner to the entrance in the Gedempte Begijnensloot). It has a lovely English church (AD 1400) with pulpit panels designed by Mondriaan, and the oldest house in the city (1475), one of Amsterdam's few surviving wooden houses. Turn left out of the Gedempte Begijnensloot entrance, and it leads you to the Amsterdam Historical Museum and its free gallery of old paintings of city guards in the style of the Nightwatch.

Artis Zoo, Plantage Kerklaan 38-40, 09:00-17:00 (18:00 in Summer), €16. Good aquarium. Also planetarium.

Hortus Horticultural Gardens Plantage Middenlaan 2a (Waterlooplein), 6259021, 09:00(weekends 10:00)-17:00 (21:00 in July/August); €6. Small but nice.

Heineken Brewery, Stadhouderskade 78; 10:00-18:00 (closed Mondays); €10. Used to be a brewery until a few years ago, now a museum and visitors' centre. No unaccompanied children. No reservations. Free beer!

Museums

There are three major museums, the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk (modern art) and the Van Gogh. All three are situated around the Museumplein. The Museumsquare is only a few minutes by foot from the apartment. See also the following list of distances from the vacation rental apartment to Amsterdam sights.

Rijksmuseum, Jan Luijkenstraat 1, 9:00-18:00 (Fridays to 20:30); €11 (under 19 free). Large museum containing paintings by some of the Netherlands' great 17th century painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Hals. The Nightwatch by Rembrandt is their prize piece. Contains many artefacts as well as paintings. (Currently being renovated, so some parts are closed.) There is also a small branch of the Rijksmuseum at Schiphol airport.

Stedelijk, astonishingly, still closed for renovations. But there is a second location: Stedelijk Museum‎: Oosterdokskade, 1011 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Van Gogh, Paulus Potterstraat 7, 10:00-18:00 (Friday 22:00); €12.50, 13-17 €2.50, under 13 free. Surprisingly spacious, dedicated to Van Gogh and his contemporaries. An absolute must.

There are many other museums, too many to list here. Interesting ones include:

Rembrandt's House, Jodenbreestraat 4 (Waterlooplein), 10:00-17:00, €8. The 17th century house where Rembrandt lived and worked, restored to its former state. Of particular interest is the ability to buy etches made from copies of Rembrandt's original plates, at quite reasonable prices (about €35).

Amsterdam Historical Museum, Kalverstraat 92 (Spui); 10:00(weekends 11:00)-17:00; €10.

Maritime Museum, Kattenburgerplein 1. Astonishingly, closed for renovations until the end of 2010. However the full-size replica of an old ship, with actors on board acting out the sea life (which is particularly fun for kids) is still open at Nemo, the big green building that looks like a ship just east of Central Station.

Amstelkring Our Lord in the Attic, Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40; 10:00(Sunday 13:00) - 17:00; €7. A 'hidden church' in a canal house in the middle of the red-light district.

Canal trips

Damrak by Central Station, and Rokin by the Spui or in front of the Rijksmuseum. It's worth taking one of the canal boat tours to see Amsterdam from the water. They last about 90 minutes, and take you around the city and through the harbour. If you're feeling energetic, you can hire a Canal Bike from one of the several points through the city (Westerkerk, Leidseplein, Leidsestraat, Rijksmuseum), and choose your own route (€8 per person per hour).

Some things to do for free

• Take the free ferry behind central station to the other side of the IJ and go for a walk along the North Holland Canal.
• Walk up the roof of the New Metropolis and admire the view (follow the rail lines east from Central Station, and cross the footbridge to the big green building that looks like a ship).
• Go to the Begijnhof (entrance from the Spui, or round the corner in the Gedempte Begijnensloot)
• Visit the Historical Museum gallery (take the Gedempte Begijnensloot exit from the Begijnhof and turn left).
• Wander along the Flower Market (on the Singel).
• Browse the Waterlooplein market (at the Waterlooplein).
• Visit the Albert Cuyp market (tram 10 to Frederiksplein, or 4, 16, 24, 25 to Albert Cuyp). Or  by foot just 2 minutes from the apartment
• Go to a free lunch concert in the Concertgebouw (Museumplein), 3 minutes from the apartment

• Go up the tower to the cafe in the Kalvertoren shopping mall, and admire the view (Kalverstraat near the Munt).
• Go to the cafe in Metz and admire the view (corner of Leidsestraat and Keizersgracht).
• Visit the West Indies House: in 1609 Henry Hudson, an Englishman working for a Dutch company, discovered the island of Manhattan. The Dutch decided to set up a colony there, and named it Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam, now of course New York). The company that ran the colony, the Dutch West India Company, had its headquarters in Amsterdam. You can see that building, the West Indies House, at the point where the Herengracht meets the Brouwersgracht (behind the children's playground). There is a statue of the first commander of New Amsterdam, Pieter Stuyvesant, in the courtyard. (More details in the great book The Island at the Center of the World).

More ideas

Tourist offices in the Netherlands are called VVV. The main one in Amsterdam is opposite the Central Station (and with a second office on Platform 1), with a smaller branch at the Leidseplein. There are a number of tour organisers on the Damrak, near Central Station, or visit their site.