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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 1¼ 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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Entrepotdok
The area east of the Plantage was the stomping grounds of the VOC, aka the Dutch East India Company, who grew rich on sea trade in the 17th century. Some of the original façades have been preserved, and the facility has been converted into desirable offices, apartments and nice cafés, with tables at the water's edge.
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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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Felix Meritis Building
This centre for the performing arts was built in 1787 by Jacob Otten Husly for an organisation called Felix Meritis (Latin for 'Happy through Merit'), a society of wealthy residents who promoted the ideals of the Enlightenment through the study of science, arts and commerce.
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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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Frankendael
As early as the 18th century, wealthy Amsterdammers would spend their summers in plush country retreats south of Plantage on a tract of drained land called Watergraafsmeer. The last survivor of this era is Frankendael, an elegant Louis XIV-style mansion; at the time of writing it was due to reopen in mid-2008 after a sweeping restoration.
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Gassan Diamonds
A short walk from Waterlooplein, this vast workshop demonstrates how a rough, ungainly clump of rock is transformed into a girl's best friend. You'll get a quick primer in assessing the gems for quality, and ample opportunities to buy. The one-hour tour is the best of its kind in town.
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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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Gijsbert Dommer Huis
Look closely, ladies and gentlemen, at the façade of this sober residence known locally as the 'House with the Blood Stains'. As he lost his marbles, six-time mayor and diplomat Coenraad van Beuningen scribbled graffiti here in his own blood, and his unfathomable message - including Hebrew letters and obscure cabal symbols - from the 17th century is still faintly visible. Well-to-do businessman Gijsbert Dommer commissioned this house from 1671, but the mad mayor is better known today.
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Golden Bend
The Golden Bend is about the most prestigious stretch of real estate in Amsterdam, a monument to the Golden Age, when precious goods swelled in cellars of homes already stuffed valuables. The earliest mansions date from the 1660s, when the Canal Belt was expanded south. Thanks to some lobbying at city hall, the gables here were twice as wide as the standard Amsterdam model, and the rear gardens were deeper.
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Guan Yin Shrine
Europe's first Chinese Imperial-style Buddhist temple is dedicated to Guan Yin, the Buddhist prophet. The ornate 'mountain gate' - an intriguing concept in the narrow confines of the Zeedijk, let alone in horizontal Holland - refers to the traditional setting of Buddhist monasteries. The middle section set back from the street was designed along principles of feng shui.
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Haarlemmerpoort
Once a defensive gate to the city, the Haarlemmerpoort marked the start of the busy route to Haarlem, a major trading route. The structure was finished just in time for King William II's staged entry on his 1840 coronation, hence its little-known official name of Willemspoort. Traffic no longer runs through the gate since a bypass was built over the Westerkanaal.
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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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Heineken Experience
Right on the site of the old Heineken brewery you can take a self-guided tour that's tantamount to brew-worship. You can learn the history of the Heineken family, find out how the logo has evolved, and follow the brewing process from water all the way through to bottling. Along the way you can watch Heineken commercials from around the world, join a Heineken bottle on its life's journey and drive a virtual dray horse.
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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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Het Schip Housing Estate
This remarkable housing estate (1920) is a flagship of the Amsterdam School of architecture, located west of Amsterdam harbour. The triangular block, loosely resembling a ship, was designed by Michel de Klerk for railway employees. The museum shows workers' apartments and the ex-post office with the original interior. It is now home to the Documentation Centre for Social Housing, with a permanent display of architecture called Poste Restante.
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Holland Experience
Situated next to the Rembrandthuis, this multimedia hype-fest tries to cram all of this little land's big attractions into an overpriced mishmash of sights and sounds. The audience dons 3-D glasses and sits on a rotating platform that lurches along with a plotless half-hour film from tulips to windmills to threatened dykes. Oh dear.
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Hollandsche Manege
Just outside the Vondelpark is the neoclassical Hollandsche Manege, an indoor riding school inspired by the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Designed by AL van Gendt and built in 1882, the building was fully restored in the 1980s. There's aslo a cafe where you can sip a beer or coffee and, from the balcony, watch the instructor put the horses through their paces.
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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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Homomonument
Behind the Westerkerk, this 1987 cluster of three 10m x 10m x 10m granite triangles recall persecution by the Nazis, who forced gay men to wear a pink triangle patch. One of the triangles actually steps down into the Keizersgracht, and is said to represent a jetty from which gays were sent to the concentration camps. Others interpret the step-up from the canal as a rising symbol of hope.
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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.
