Must see attractions in Amsterdam

An insight into life at the top of the pile in the 19th century, Museum Van Loon is an opulent 1672 residence that was first home to painter Ferdinand Bol…

From the outside, it looks like a grand canal house, but this is the city's most important photography gallery. Its simple, spacious galleries, some with…

Enchanting chocolate-box prettiness characterises this long, narrow street of wooden Dutch houses, now prime real estate, with hollyhocks nodding beside…

Dating from the early 14th century, this enclosed former convent is a peaceful haven, with tiny houses and postage-stamp gardens around a well-kept…

Entrepreneurship, free thinking, citizenship and creativity are the four cornerstones of the multimedia DNA exhibit at this riveting museum, which splits…

This 15th-century late-Gothic basilica is only ‘new’ in relation to the Oude Kerk – the city's Old Church, dating from 1306. A few monumental items…

Dating from 1306, the Oude Kerk is Amsterdam's oldest surviving building. It's also an intriguing moral contradiction: a church surrounded by active Red…

On the site of the company’s former brewery, Heineken's self-guided 'Experience' provides an entertaining overview of the brewing process, with a…

Within what looks like an ordinary canal house is an entire Catholic church. Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Dear Lord in the Attic) was built in the mid…

Amsterdam's forest is a vast swathe (roughly 1000 hectares) of almost countryside, 20 minutes by bike south of Vondelpark. Planted in 1934 to provide…

During the construction of Amsterdam's 2018-opened Noord/Zuidlijn (North–South metro line), more than 134,000 archaeological finds were unearthed from…

First called Reguliersplein, then Botermarkt for the butter markets held here until the mid-19th century, this somewhat brash square now takes its name…

This building is a magnificent art nouveau beast. The founder of the original hotel, Cornelis Alidus Anne (CAA) Steinigeweg had helped establish a Dutch…

Historic architecture, beer, clubs and steakhouses – welcome to Leidseplein. The square is always busy, but after dark it gets thronged by a mainstream…

Amsterdam's most famous museums cluster around this public square, which has that Amsterdam essential: a skateboard ramp, as well as a playground and ice…

There's a surprise waiting in Kleine Gartmanplantsoen park: 40 huge, lifelike lizards nestled in the grass and sunning themselves on the brickwork. It's a…

The Golden Bend is Amsterdam's swankiest stretch of property. Its handsome mansions are a monument to the Golden Age, when precious goods swelled the…

Crossing Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht canals, this waterway was dug in 1658 to link the Herengracht with the canals further south. The…

At this modernist architectural triumph that seems to balance on its edge on the banks of the IJ (also pronounced 'eye') River, the institute screens…

This former shipbuilding warehouse is filled with over 80 artists studios, with some 250 artists working in the NDSM broedplaats (breeding ground). It's a…