Explore Amsterdam

About Amsterdam

Amsterdam is one of the most genuinely charming capital cities in Europe — a UNESCO-listed 17th-century canal town built in concentric horseshoe rings of water around a small medieval centre, with about 165 canals, 1,500 bridges, and one of the most committed cycling cultures in the world (around 900,000 bicycles, more than residents). The Golden Age canal houses with their narrow gables and steep stairs still define the visual character of the entire centre. The headline museum trio sits in a compact cluster at Museumplein: the wonderfully renovated Rijksmuseum (Vermeer's 'Milkmaid', Rembrandt's 'Night Watch'), the Van Gogh Museum (the largest collection of his work in the world, including 'Sunflowers' and the haunting 'Wheatfield with Crows'), and the contemporary-art Stedelijk. The moving Anne Frank House in the canalside hiding annex on Prinsengracht is essential (book months ahead). Beyond the canals, the formerly grungy NDSM shipyard, the green expanse of Vondelpark, the food markets at Albert Cuypstraat and the multicultural Foodhallen are all worth time. Amsterdam is also famously progressive: the De Pijp and Jordaan districts for cafe-bruin culture, the regenerated North bank for galleries and EYE Film Museum, and the lively LGBTQ+ scene around the Reguliersdwarsstraat.