Amsterdam is by no means the largest capital in the world, but the amount of culture it manages to pack into its city limits is impressive and incredible.
There are no less than 75 museums in Amsterdam, covering a wide range of topics from marijuana and prostitution to the most famous museums such as the Rijksmuseum or the Anne Frank House.
So, it goes without saying: if you like a bit of art and history, Amsterdam will make your mouth water.
PS: If you are visiting, I highly recommend you buy one city card: It will save you a lot of money. You can also buy the card to visit 5 museums.
If you can't find inspiration among the expensive water bottles and snoozing backpackers at Schiphol Airport, don't worry: this beautiful airport has its own little branch of the Rijksmuseum… right between lounges 2 and 3.
Dating back to 2002, this is in fact the first museum in the world to open in an airport, ideal for those who want to enjoy some Dutch masters for free, 24/24.
Bonus Amsterdam Curiosity: according to Arch Daily, the Holland Boulevard section of the airport that houses the museum was inspired by the Dutch polder landscape. There is also a very good one Drop&Go luggage storage in Amsterdam.
If you thought you had to go in Japan to see the beautiful cherry blossoms in spring, then guess again!
Along with Bonn's famous cherry blossoms, Amsterdam is considered one of the best places in Europe to see these stunning pink flowers, with its cherry blossom park (part of the Amsterdamse Bos, see next section) home to 400 cherry blossom trees cherry blossom.
The trees were donated by the Japan Women's Club and each individual tree has a name; 200 have Dutch names while the other 200 have Japanese names.
Every year a cherry blossom festival is held here when the trees start to bloom (obviously dates vary) and it's a lot of fun to attend. Think Japanese food stalls, taiko drumming and other cultural performances. Even if you can't attend the festival, you can always visit Kersenbloesempark for a picnic under the pink flowers.
The Kersenbloesempark we talked about above is part of the massive Amsterdamse Bos (which translates to Amsterdam Forest), a landscape park full of things to do and see, including (of all things) Highland cows!
Highland cows have been placed in the park to keep some of the vegetation down without the need for mowing. You can really get up close to the cows with no fences between you (don't worry, they were more scared of us) if you head to the Schinkelbos section of the park.
Amsterdamse Bos covers 2.500 acres, which is about three times larger than Central Park in New York, and often hosts concerts, theater or other gatherings.
In addition to the cherry blossom park and the Schinkelbos with cows, there is also a rowing course, several bathing areas, a goat farm, an open-air theater and even a naturist (nudist) area!
If you're looking for more quirky gems, there are some special little "secrets" to discover as you explore the streets of Amsterdam, including a row of tiny houses crammed between two full-sized canal houses in the Jordaan.
According to Atlas Obscura, the miniature houses were placed there as a fun way to explain why the house numbers range from 54 to 70 on both sides.
The real explanation, that there used to be a courtyard leading to the missing houses that was removed and the houses joined together, is not as fun as going and taking a photo with the houses!
PS We strongly recommend that you follow at least one itinerary for two days in Amsterdam.
This isn't specific to Amsterdam, but since most visitors to the Netherlands go there, chances are this is where you'll find yourself if you ever try it.
On the first Monday of every month (unless it coincides with a national or religious holiday or Remembrance Day) at midday, the Dutch test their air-raid sirens. It's a very strange experience the first time you listen to them and you have no idea what's going on, perhaps looking fearfully at the sky for jets.
But there's nothing to be alarmed about, unless the test lasts more than 90 seconds or takes place on another day.
The system originated during World War II to warn of incoming air raids, but nowadays sirens could be used to signal any emergency such as fires, floods or workplace accidents.
Another thing you might notice as soon as you arrive in Amsterdam: there are bicycles… everywhere. It's no wonder why Amsterdam is often called the cycling capital of the world.
For a first-time visitor, it can be quite intimidating trying to figure out where it's safe to walk and where you'll have alarmingly attractive locals on bicycles yelling at you to get out of the way. And the probability of this happening is high!
After all, second The Guardian there are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands (and Amsterdam), and the Dutch are also masters of cycling infrastructure. Which means yes, they get pretty impatient with clueless tourists tripping over their bike paths.
There are a couple of reasons why so many buildings in Amsterdam look crooked: It's not for pretty Instagram photos. The real reason is partly because the ground under Amsterdam is soft, so many of the canal houses have sunk over the years, causing them to tilt sideways (like the famous dancing houses).
Furthermore, the marshy land on which Amsterdam is built requires stilts under the buildings. In the past, these stilts were not of the best quality and were also a factor in some Dutch canal houses starting to sink or lean.
All the canal houses in Amsterdam are also slightly tilted forwards, if you look up you will often see hooks at the top of the houses. This is a deliberate thing though, the canal houses lean forward so that when loading things up to the higher floors, there would be no objects crashing into the building!
There is a reason why Amsterdam is often called “The Venice of the North”. The city is home to 165 canals that cover more than one hundred kilometers and are crisscrossed by 1.753 bridges . Venice, on the other hand, is home to 150 channels and solo a paltry 400 bridges!
Just be careful if you visit Amsterdam, as most of the time there are no fences on the sides of the canals, so it's quite easy to trip over them after one too many beers.
PS: If you want a REALLY great canal destination in the Netherlands, don't miss out Giethoorn. It is a one of a kind village where there are no roads, only canals!
Cute and quirky houseboats are another ubiquitous sight on Amsterdam's canals, with over 2.500 dotted around the city. Amsterdam's houseboats were originally a way to address the housing shortage after World War II, and while some of them are restored sailing ships, many are more modern.
There is also a houseboat museum if you want to get a peek at what the houseboats look like inside.
Besides all those houseboats, there is also one that has been transformed into a floating cat shelter. The Cat Boat (which literally translates to “the cat boat”) is home to approximately 50 cats looking for homes and 14 permanent residents.
Not surprisingly The Cat Boat has become very popular with cat-loving visitors to the city, although you can only visit at certain times and must book in advance.
Originally founded by cat lover Henriette van Weelde in 1968, the shelter started on land but expanded to the boat when van Weelde ran out of space in her home. It's free to visit, but making a donation or purchasing cat-themed souvenirs is a good way to support this non-profit sanctuary.
I Tulips are synonymous with Amsterdam and the Netherlands, so in spring you can see them everywhere. Besides admiring the many free tulip fields in the Dutch countryside, you can also buy flowers or bulbs at the only floating flower market in the world!
Amsterdam's Bloemenmarkt is located on the Singel canal, within the historic canal belt, and has been around since 1862. Before you get too excited, though, the shops are set up in fixed barges, so you'll barely notice you're floating as you browse between the goods, but you can have a good view from behind as in the photo below.
PS: if you like tulips, be sure to visit Keukenhof as a day trip from Amsterdam (if you visit in spring).
Dutch cannabis laws are a bit strange and complicated. Although technically illegal, weed is decriminalized and tolerated if you follow a few rules. So, if you decide to take part, only do so inside a bar, which is licensed to sell five grams per customer per day.
Dutch coffee shops also have other rules they must follow if they want to stay in business, including not selling to under-18s or letting them enter the shop. So it's not exactly a free for all.
While marijuana is illegal but generally allowed, prostitution is completely legal in the Netherlands. Prostitution has been legal in Amsterdam since 1811, according to Iamsterdam's website, meaning prostitutes must have a license and pay taxes. While tours of Amsterdam's red light district have been discontinued as of 2020, it is still possible to stroll the streets and see world-famous women standing in red-lit windows.
Don't take photos or look at them like an idiot though, that's their real job. Visiting the Red Light Secrets museum (which we talked about at the beginning of this post) is a must if you want to learn more about the history and details of Amsterdam's most infamous neighborhood.
Amsterdam: see also
When in Amsterdam, if you want a coffee, go to a bar. If you want to smoke marijuana, go to a bar. There are also “brown cafes” or brown bars, which are more like cozy traditional pubs for enjoying a drink or two. Visiting one is a must when you visit Amsterdam!
While the Heineken Experience is quite famous and popular among beer-loving tourists in Amsterdam, you should also check out Brouwerij 't IJ, which is located next to the largest wooden windmill in Amsterdam.
While the brewery and the windmill (called De Gooyer) are two separate entities, they appear to be together, and if you're sitting on the outdoor terrace drinking a beer, you'll also enjoy a view of the windmill while relaxing.
The coat of arms of Amsterdam features three white crosses on a black stripe with a red background. When it looks extra-fancy and official, there is also an imperial crown of Austria on top and two gold lions on each side (as you can see below) but it is more often seen simply as crosses.
You might notice these crosses as you wander around town and think it has something to do with all the X-rated fun to be had, but plot twist: it doesn't.
The truth is much less exciting: the three crosses are actually St. Andrew's crosses, representing the martyr St. Andrew who was crucified on one of these crosses in the XNUMXst century AD
Saint Andrew was a fisherman and since Amsterdam was originally a fishing village, they took his cross as one of the main symbols of the city.
Conveniently located in Amsterdam's red light district, the Condomerie is a shop like no other, offering a range of condoms from your standard Durex to Ferrari-shaped novelties that (we hope) are just for decoration.
Of course, there's a lot more to this shop than just fancy tires. Originally founded in 1987 to fight taboos around condom sales and safe sex, this Amsterdam institution has been a sexual force to be reckoned with for over three decades.
If you can't visit in person, they also have an online store you can order from!
Along with all the other firsts we've mentioned so far, Amsterdam has also been leading the charge when it comes to gay marriage rights, being the location of the world's first legal gay marriage.
According to Iamsterdam, the Netherlands fully legalized same-sex marriage in 2001, and four couples were the first to get married on April 1 in Amsterdam City Hall.
Amsterdam is incredibly welcoming to gay travellers, hosting an epic canal gay pride event every year (the only floating gay pride in the world!), as well as having a “Homomonument” dedicated to the LGBTQ people who died in WWII and a pink visitors for gay tourist information.
However, Amsterdam has not always been so tolerant, there was a time during the XNUMXth century when Catholics were persecuted and had to hide their beliefs.
An example of this can be seen by visiting the church Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic) which was hidden in the attic of a typical Dutch house in the heart of the city.
As reported in Atlas Obscura, Jan Hartmann transformed the attic of his house into a tiny, but still beautiful, church in 1663. The church became a museum in 1888 (making it the second oldest museum in the city) which is worth a visit for climb the spiral staircase behind a fake door and see the beautiful decorations. You can even attend a service in the attic!
This is by far one of the best Amsterdam food experiences that you need on your list. Scattered around the city are the most magical inventions ever: heated food cubes filled with all sorts of tasty fried treats, waiting for you to unleash them with your hard-earned euro coins.
Burgers, nuggets, fries and more on request? Oof – Amsterdam, you really know how to live.
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