Places to visit

Trying to find the 9 straatjes Amsterdam and worried you will burn an afternoon wandering the wrong lanes? Plenty of visitors do. They drift past the boutiques, miss the best cross-streets, and never quite work out how the little grid fits together. I have spent years pottering around these canals, so here is exactly what […]

If you are trying to visit OUR HOUSE Amsterdam, the electronic dance music museum near Rembrandtplein, I have to be straight with you: it is closed. The company behind it went bankrupt in 2024, and the doors have not reopened since. Worse, some ticket sites still list it as bookable, and a few visitors report […]

Planning a trip to NXT Museum and not sure it’s worth crossing the IJ for? It’s easy to write off another Amsterdam “experience” as a pricey photo backdrop. NXT Museum is different: the Netherlands’ first museum built entirely around new media art, where projection, sound and AI fill room-sized installations you actually walk through. Here’s […]

Planning an art day around Amsterdam and wondering if the Cobra Museum in Amstelveen is worth the trip? It’s easy to overlook. It sits outside the city centre, it’s small, and the big names pull crowds elsewhere. But if you love bold, playful, post-war painting, skipping it is a mistake. Here’s an honest local guide […]

Planning a visit to the Anne Frank Museum? Here’s the hard truth: tickets sell out fast, sometimes within minutes of release. Miss the timing and you’re stuck outside one of Amsterdam’s most moving places, wishing you’d read the rules first. But there’s a system to getting in, and once you understand how it works, booking […]

Everyone writes off amsterdam noord as the industrial bit across the water you can safely skip. That’s a mistake. The centre is lovely, packed and expensive; cross the IJ and the crowds thin out, the prices drop, and old shipyards turn into street-art halls and beach bars. Hop on a free ferry behind Centraal and […]

Micropia Amsterdam is easy to walk straight past — it hides behind a modest door beside the city’s zoo, and plenty of visitors never realise it’s there. That’s a genuine miss, because inside is the only museum on the planet devoted entirely to living microbes. If you’re curious about the invisible life crawling across your […]

Ripley’s Amsterdam is that odd building on Dam Square you keep walking past, wondering if it’s worth the ticket. Weird museums can be a gamble: pay too much, run out of things to do in twenty minutes, leave grumpy. Nobody wants a tourist trap. The good news is that this five-floor “odditorium” is genuinely stuffed […]

The Scheepvaartmuseum rewards anyone curious about how a small country ran the seas, yet it slips off most Amsterdam itineraries. That is a shame. Skip it and you miss a full-scale East India ship you can actually climb aboard, plus five centuries of maps and models. Below I will walk you through what to see, […]

The museum you might still know as the Hermitage Amsterdam is now the H’ART Museum — same grand building on the Amstel, a new identity, and some of the best rotating exhibitions in the city. If you’re wondering what happened to the Hermitage, whether it’s still worth a visit, and what’s on now, here’s the […]

Wondering what to do in Rotterdam? The Netherlands’ boldest, most modern city is only about 40 minutes from Amsterdam by direct train, which makes it one of the easiest — and most surprising — day trips you can take. Where Amsterdam is all leaning canal houses, Rotterdam is skyscrapers, a giant arched food hall, tilted […]

The Upside Down Museum Amsterdam looks like chaos in the best way: a private jet stuck to the ceiling, a ball pit that glows, and a living room bolted above your head. If you want playful photos instead of another hushed gallery, this is the stop — but tickets aren’t cheap and it sits out […]

WONDR Amsterdam is the city’s big interactive photo-playground, where instead of looking at the art you climb inside it — jumping into ball pits, floating in foam and posing in room after colourful room. It’s fun, it’s loud, and it isn’t cheap, so the real question is whether it’s worth your time and money. Here’s […]

The Museum of Illusions Amsterdam, set inside a former neo-Gothic church on the Keizersgracht, packs more than 60 mind-bending optical illusions into one of the canal belt’s most photogenic spaces. It is hands-on, family-friendly and endlessly Instagrammable — here is what is inside, what tickets cost, how long you need, and whether it is worth […]

The Torture Museum in Amsterdam, tucked along the Singel canal beside the Flower Market, is one of the city’s cheapest and most morbid curiosities — and one of its most divisive. This honest guide covers what is actually inside, what it costs, how long you need, and whether it is worth your time, or whether […]

Leiden is the perfect day trip from Amsterdam: a one-day itinerary, the best things to do, museum prices, and exactly how to get there by train.

A visitor guide to Vondelpark, Amsterdam’s biggest park: what to see, how to get there, the best time to visit, how long you need, and how to pair it with the museums.

What to eat and buy at Albert Cuyp Market, Amsterdam’s biggest street market: fresh stroopwafels, herring, roti, opening hours, transport and tips.

A local’s guide to the Jordaan: a half-day walking route, the hidden hofjes, the best brown cafes, market days, and how to get Anne Frank House tickets.

A practical 2026 guide to the Rembrandt House Museum: ticket prices, the etching demos, whether it beats the Rijksmuseum, accessibility and how to get there.

What to do in Amstelveen, just south of Amsterdam: the Cobra modern-art museum, the huge Amsterdamse Bos woods, and how to get there in about 20 minutes.

The best things to do in The Hague: Vermeer’s Mauritshuis, the Binnenhof, Scheveningen beach and Madurodam – plus how to day-trip from Amsterdam in ~50 minutes.

Everything about the XtraCold Icebar Amsterdam: what to expect at -10°C, tickets from €22.50 with 3 drinks, how long you get inside, and whether it’s worth it.

Visiting the Amsterdam Tulip Museum: where it is, tickets and opening hours, how long you need, what’s inside – and where to see real tulips near Amsterdam.

Where to see real Dutch windmills near Amsterdam – from Zaanse Schans to mills inside the city – plus history, tickets and how to get there.

Planning 3 days in Amsterdam and worried you’ll either miss the good stuff or spend the whole trip queuing? I’ve watched friends waste half a day wandering with no plan, then hit a sold-out museum. It’s frustrating, and the city is small enough that a bit of structure changes everything. So here’s the exact three-day […]

Got 2 days in Amsterdam and a mile-long list of museums and canals? The fear is real: you’ll blow both days stuck in ticket lines or lost, instead of enjoying the city. I get it. I’ve watched first-timers burn a whole morning on a queue a five-minute booking would have solved. Here’s the honest fix, […]

Planning day trips from Amsterdam sounds simple until you open a map and realise the whole country is within reach. Windmills, canal towns, a North Sea beach, even Belgium. Too many choices, not enough hours, and no idea which trains actually go where. I’ve done every one of these on a cheap NS ticket, and […]

Thinking about the Heineken Experience Amsterdam but not sure it is worth €25 and a couple of hours of your trip? Slots sell out on weekends, door tickets are limited, and the ticket tiers are genuinely confusing. Book the wrong one and you either overpay or miss the rooftop. This 2026 guide gives you the […]