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Allard Pierson Museum
Run by the University of Amsterdam, this museum boasts one of the world's richest archaeological collections. You'll find an actual mummy, vases from ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, a wagon from the royal tombs at Salamis (Cyprus) and galleries full of other items providing insight into daily life in ancient times. Each section is explained in a detailed overview via English signage, although most signage on individual items is in Dutch only.
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Amsterdam Tulip Museum
Sponsored by a bulb-growing company, this small, rather clinical exhibit traces the prince of petals from its beginnings in Turkey. Displays cover Tulipmania, bulbs as food in the war years, and present-day scientific methods of growing and harvesting. A highlight is the tulip paintings by 17th-century painter Judith Leijster, a student of Frans Hals. The gift shop is one-stop shop for all your tulip souvenir needs.
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Amsterdams Historisch Museum
Housed in the old civic orphanage, this museum takes you through all the fascinating twists and turns in Amsterdam's convoluted history. Begin with the large-screen TV depicting an aerial view of the evolution of the city from tiny settlement on the mouth of the Amstel, as it was filled in to create the metropolis. You'll find models of old homes, religious objects (including some relating to the Miracle of Amsterdam) and a detailed history of Dutch commerce.
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Anne Frank Huis
It is one of the 20th century's most compelling stories: a young Jewish girl forced into hiding with her family and their friends to escape deportation by the Nazis. The house they used as a hideaway should be a highlight of any visit to Amsterdam; indeed, it gets nearly a million visitors a year. The house itself is now contained within a modern, square shell. Come early or late in the day to avoid the crowds.
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Arcam
The showpiece building of the Amsterdam Architecture Foundation, the Stichting Architectuur Centrum Amsterdam to locals, is a one-stop shop for all your architectural needs. Exhibits vary, but you are sure to find books, guide maps, suggestions for tours on foot, by bike and by public transport, and reference materials on just about anything built in town from early history to the very latest housing development.
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Beurs Van Berlage
Half of the Damrak was filled in for this beurs (exchange) building, constructed in 1903. A landmark of Dutch architecture, it was named after architect HP Berlage, who was still designing it after work began. Though the functional lines and stark, square clock tower contrast with the exuberant designs of the age, there are clever details inside and out.
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Bijbels Museum
This place first gained notoriety thanks to a dedicated minister, Leendert Schouten (1828-1905), who built a scale model of the Jewish Tabernacle described in Exodus. Now on the museum's 3rd floor, the model is said to have attracted thousands of visitors even before it was completed in 1865. Another large exhibit examines the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem from Christian, Jewish and Muslim perspectives.
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Civic Guard Gallery
A captivating subgenre of Dutch painting, the enormous tableaux, here are exclusively of medieval guards in group portraits. Divisions such as voetboog (large crossbow) and kloveniers (hackbut) protected the city and played a large part in deposing the Spanish government. Technically, every man had to serve in these guard units, although participation in the portraits was voluntary, as each member paid his own way.
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De Appel
Despite its location in the antiques street of the Spiegel Quarter, this contemporary arts foundation is anything but old-fashioned. Rather, it's a large art and media space with ever-changing exhibits of contemporary works: installation pieces, painting, sculpture and multimedia. Themes vary, but the aim is always to present something not otherwise readily available to the Dutch public. Phone or check the website to find out what's on.
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Diamond Museum
More of a showroom than a serious gem collection, Amsterdam's diamond museum provides an interesting look at the history of the trade and the sparkling creations that have adorned the world's rich and powerful. Almost all the exhibits are clever re-creations, in glass cases spread over two floors. It's run by Coster Diamonds next door, which kind of says it all.
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Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam
Beyond the southwestern extremities of the park, just north of the Olympic Stadium, is the former Haarlemmermeer Station, which houses the tram museum. Historic trams sourced from all over Europe run between here and Amstelveen, making a great outing for kids and adults. A return trip takes about 1ΒΌ hours (see website for schedule) and skirts the large Amsterdamse Bos recreational area.
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EnergeticA
Housed in a former power station, this quirky museum has a bewildering array of whizz-bang equipment that conjures up visions of mad scientists. Galleries are named for key pioneers (Marconi, Minckelers), and the soaring main hall is filled with steamship engines, gas streetlamps, antique lifts (elevators) from Vienna and Paris and high-voltage generators that send lightning between enormous V-shaped prongs.
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Erotic Museum
Ho hum. Your usual assortment of bondage exhibits, erotic photos and cartoons. Although this museum has the advantage of location, it's less entertaining, not as well laid out, more expensive and a little seedy when compared with the Sexmuseum Amsterdam on the Damrak.
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Filmmuseum
Not a museum with displays as such, the Filmmuseum has a large collection of memorabilia and a priceless archive of films that are screened in two theatres, often with live music. One theatre contains the Art Deco interior of Cinema Parisien, an early Amsterdam cinema. The information centre (589 14 35; Vondelstraat 69-71; admission free; ; - Mon-Fri) has loads of books and DVDs that can be viewed in booths.
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FOAM (Fotografie Museum Amsterdam)
Two storeys of exhibition space create a great setting for this impressive museum, with changing exhibits from photographers of world renown: Sir Cecil Beaton, Annie Leibovitz and Henri Cartier-Bresson (to name a few). Simple but roomy galleries, some with skylights or huge windows for natural light, display the works to their best advantage.
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Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis
East of the mayor's residence at No 502 stands this 17th-century house with stylish rooms, a formal garden and art in the carriage house. Though not quite as impressive as Museum Van Loon or Museum Willet-Holthuysen, it's more serene, and definitely worth a look, especially if you can organise a private tour for your group on a weekday. Note: the entrance to the museum is around the back at Keizersgracht 633.
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Hash & Marijuana Museum
Did you know that the first recorded use of marijuana was in ancient China? Or that Queen Victoria is said to have used marijuana for menstrual cramps? Just a couple of essential facts we learned at this simple exhibit, which feels like the back annex of a devoted user. Learn the basics of pot botany, the link between cannabis and religion, and the history of Amsterdam's coffeeshops.
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Hermitage Amsterdam
The long-standing ties of Russia and Holland - remember Czar Peter learned shipbuilding and Dutch cursing here - led to an Amsterdam branch of the State Hermitage Museum of St Petersburg. Prestigious exhibits, such as of Persian art or the Art Nouveau, change about twice per year, and they're as stately as you'd expect.
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Het Oranje Voetbal Museum
Here you'll find out why, for many Dutch, football isn't a matter of life or death; it's more important than that. Spread over four hallowed floors, this museum tells the story of orange maestros including Cruyff, Van Basten and Gullit, and the revolution that was Total Football. A tiny cinema shows a 20-minute film with some immortal footage, and hard-core fans can listen to recordings of 100 orange songs.
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Hollandsche Schouwburg
Originally home to the director of Artis Zoo, this building became the Artis Schouwburg (Artis Theatre) in 1892. In WWII the Germans made it a detention centre for Jews awaiting deportation. After the war people felt it unseemly to reopen the site as a theatre; in 1961 it was demolished except for the facade and the area just behind it.
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Hortus Botanicus
Established way back in 1638, this venerable garden became a repository for tropical seeds and plants brought in (read: smuggled out of other countries) by Dutch trading ships. From here, coffee, pineapple, cinnamon and palm oil plants were distributed throughout the world.
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House Of Bols
Wanted to know what was slipped into your drink? This is the place to find out. An hour's self-guided tour takes you on a journey that will leave you stirred but not shaken - that is, until you try the Tom Cruise moves on a TV monitor here for your friends. The visit includes a confusing sniff test, a distilled history of the Bols company and a cocktail made by one of its formidable bartenders, who train at the academy upstairs.
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Houseboat Museum
This quirky museum, a 23m-long sailing barge from 1914, offers a good sense of how gezellig (cosy) life can be on the water. The actual displays are minimal, but you can watch a slide show of houseboats pretty and ghastly, and inspect the sleeping, living, cooking and dining quarters with all mod cons. In case you were wondering, houseboat toilets used to drain directly into the canals, but now most have sewage hook-ups.
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Huis Marseille
This well-curated photography museum stages large-scale, changing exhibitions, drawing from its own collection as well as from travelling shows. Themes might include portraiture, nature or regional photography, spread out over several floors and a 'summer house' behind the main house.
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Joods Historisch Museum
Impressive in scale and scope, the museum is housed in a beautifully restored complex of four Ashkenazic synagogues from the 17th and 18th centuries. The enormous Great Synagogue is home to two exhibitions - the history of the Jews in the Netherlands, 1600-1890; and Religion, about Judaism and Jewish traditions.
