Here some guidance on things to do in the city centre and its immediate surroundings. Time by 🚲 from the apartment is indicated, for time by🚶🏻‍♂️multiply by 3

See also the numerous 📚 guidebooks, books with walking routes, and a restaurant guide in the apartment, in English and Dutch

Click here to download the list “Best of Amsterdam” to your instance of Google Maps. It provides an overview of places that we find practical or interesting in and around the centre of Amsterdam. Most of the places mentioned on this page are included. You can edit the list and add places that you would like to share

• Canal boat tours (video): there are many operators all over Amsterdam. Here is a comparison of various options. Some highly rated tour operators are: Friendship (Oudezijds Voorburgwal 230), Kooij (Oude Turfmarkt 125), Blue (Stadhouderskade 501)
• Hop-on hop-off boat tours stop at various sights; Sightseeing and Stromma both have a stop opposite the Anne Frank House at🚶🏻‍♂️4 minutes
• High tea at The Smallest House, reservation required, video, 🚲 6 minutes, Oude Hoogstraat 22 (Inner City)
• Architecture Talk & Walk, Fridays at 🕜 13:30 h, Amsterdam Centre for Architecture, talk about Amsterdam architectural history and guided tour of modern landmarks, review 🚲 11 minutes, Prins Hendrikkade 600 (Eastern Dock)
• Walk along Art Deco buildings (Canal Ring)
• Artis, zoo, review, video 🚲 12 minutes, Plantage Kerklaan 38 (Plantation Quarter)
• Hortus Botanicus, botanical gardens 🚲 12 minutes, Plantage Middenlaan 2a (Plantation Quarter)
• Klimmuur Amsterdam Centraal, 🧗🏻‍♂️ climbing wall, 🚲 14 minutes, Dijksgracht 2 (Eastern Dock)

• Tuschinski, sumptuous art-deco movie theatre 🍿 review, video 🚲 8 minutes, Reguliersbreestraat 26 (Canal Ring)
• Carré, Rogier’s favourite theatre 🚲 10 minutes, Amstel 115 (Weesperbuurt)
• National Opera & Ballet 🚲 9 minutes, video, Amstel 3 (Jewish Quarter)
• Melkweg (Milky Way), 🎼 pop concerts and performances 🚲 7 minutes, Lijnbaansgracht 234A (Canal Ring)
• Paradiso 🎸pop concerts 🚲 8 minutes, Weteringschans 6-8 (Canal Ring)
• VRGH, virtual reality gamehouse 🚲 6 minutes, Warmoesstraat 155 (Chinatown)
• De Uitkijk, student-run movie house 🚲 8 minutes, Prinsengracht 452 (Canal Belt)

Amsterdam has an amazing collection of museums. See the Neighbourhood section for museums that are close to the apartment, including the Anne Frank House. In this section, you find other museums in the Centre. Some of the major museums, including the Rijksmuseum and the Van Goghmuseum, are in the Museum Quarter, see Outside the Centre

• Het Grachtenhuis (Museum of the Canals), history of Amsterdam’s canals and canal houses, video 🚲 5 minutes, Herengracht 386 (Canal Ring)

• Micropia, microbes museum, video 🚲 13 minutes, Plantage Kerklaan 38 (Plantation Quarter)
• Groote Museum, zoology 🚲 13 minutes, Plantage Middenlaan 41 (Plantation Quarter)
• Rembrandt House, period house, art works, and changing exhibitions, review, video 🚲 9 minutes, Jodenbreestraat 4 (Jewish Quarter)
• Hermitage, art from the St. Petersburg Hermitage collection including 17th century Dutch masters, video 🚲 9 minutes, Amstel 51 (Weesper Area)
• Maritime Museum & 18th Century Ship, video 🚲 11 minutes, Kattenburgerstraat 6A (Eastern Dock)
• Amsterdam Museum, history of Amsterdam, review, video 🚲 6 minutes, Kalverstraat 92 (Inner City)
• Nemo, science museum, video 🚲 10 minutes, Oosterdok 2 (Eastern Dock)
• Willet-Holthuysen Museum, period house, review, video 🚲 9 minutes, Herengracht 605 (Canal Ring)
• Our Lord in the Attic, hidden 17th century Catholic Church, video 🚲 7 minutes, Oudezijds Voorburgwal 38 (Inner City)
• Portuguese Synagogue, video 🚲 11 minutes, Mr. Visserplein 3 (Jewish Quarter)
• Jewish Historical Museum including a Children’s Museum, video 🚲 9 minutes, Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1 (Jewish Quarter)
• Resistance Museum, WW II 🚲 13 minutes, Plantage Kerklaan 61 (Plantation)
  
• Cromhout House, period house and art collections, plus biblical museum in the attic, review, video 🚲 5 minutes, Herengracht 366 (Canal Belt)
• City Archives and De Bazel building, permanent ‘treasure room’, small changing exhibitions, tour of the building on Sundays at 🕑 14 h, review, video 🚲 7 minutes, Vijzelstraat 32 (Canal Ring)
• Allard Pierson Museum, archaeology, video 🚲 6 minutes, Oude Turfmarkt 127 (Inner City)
• Museum Van Loon, period house, review, video 🚲 7 minutes, Keizersgracht 672 (Canal Ring)
• FOAM, photography, review 🚲 9 minutes, Keizersgracht 609 (Canal Ring)
• Pipe Museum, history of pipe smoking 🚲 7 minutes, Prinsengracht 488 (Lower Canal Belt)
• Holocaust Museum, closed for renovation until September 2022, Plantage Middenlaan 27 (Jewish Quarter)
• Marseille House, photography exhibitions, review 🚲 5 minutes, Keizersgracht 401 (Canal Ring)
• Video: Amsterdam Calling Small Museum Challenge
• https://www.amsterdamtips.com/top-10-amsterdam-museums
  

• Cat Cabinet, art museum for cat lovers, video, 🚲 7 minutes, Herengracht 497 (Lower Canal Belt)
• Luther Museum, Nieuwe Keizersgracht 570
• Max Euwe Centre, world champion chess, 9 minute bike ride, Max Euweplein 30 (Lower Canal Belt)
• Cacao Museum, chocolate shop with free display area, also workshops and tastings, Czaar Peterstraat 175 (Eastern Islands/Czar Peter Area)
• Madame Tussaud’s, wax statues of celebrities 🚲 5 minutes, Dam Square 20 (Inner City)
• Ripley’s Believe-It-or-Not, oddities 🚲 5 minutes, Dam 21 (Inner City)
• Torture Museum, medieval horrors 🚲 6 minutes, Singel 449 (Lower Canal Belt)
• Amsterdam Illusions, take selfies amid optical illusions 🚲 6 minutes, Oudezijds Voorburgwal 143 (Red Light District)
  
• Red Light Secrets, prostitution museum, review 🚲 6 minutes, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 60 (Red Light District)
• Erotic Museum, dildos 🚲 6 minutes, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 54 (Red Light District)
• Venus Temple/Sex Museum, more dildos 🚲 6 minutes, Damrak 18 (Inner City)
• Hash, Marihuana & Hemp Museum 🚲 7 minutes, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 148 (Inner City)
• Cannabis Museum 🚲 5 minutes, Damstraat 6 (Inner City)
• For the Houseboat Museum, the Tulip Museum, Body Works, and Electric Ladyland, see the Neighbourhood section 
• http://museumomdehoek.nl/deelnemers/

See also the book The Amsterdam Gourmet in the apartment, and the restaurant suggestions in the Neighbourhood section. We are particularly fond of Asian food

• Bambino, modern French cuisine with vegetarian choices, reservation required, review 🚲 9 minutes, Vijzelgracht 5 (Canal Belt)
• Full Moon Garden, Chinese (Dim Sum & Cantonese) 🚲 7 minutes, Leidsestraat 95 (Canal Belt)
  
• Nam Kee, Chinese (Cantonese), review, video 🚲 7 minutes, Zeedijk 111 (Chinatown), no reservations. If it is full there is a close-by second location at Geldersekade 117; at the Geldersekade location they do take reservations via telephone
• China Si Chuan, Chinese (Sichuan, also some Tibetan dishes), review, video 🚲 7 minutes, 3 locations: Lange Niezel 24, Warmoesstraat 17, Zeedijk 103 (Chinatown)
• Puri Mas, Indonesian, review 🚲7 minutes, Lange Leidsedwarsstraat 37 (Leidseplein Area)
  
• Bird, Thai restaurant with Thai snack bar across the street, review 🚲 7 minutes, Zeedijk 72 (restaurant), Zeedijk 77 (snack bar) (Chinatown)
• Ramen Kingdom, Ramen/Japanese, review 🚲 6 minutes, Prins Hendrikkade 83 (Inner city)
• Video: Best Restaurants

• Hanneke’s Boom, waterfront café and restaurant with view over the Oosterdok, easier to reach by boat than by foot/bike (route changed), video 🚲 9 minutes, Dijksgracht 4D (Oosterdok)
• De Jaren, huge café and restaurant with large reading table and terraces with view over the Amstel River, can also be reached by boat, video 🚲 7 minutes, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 20 (Inner City)

• De Slegte, second hand books, 🚲 8 minutes, Vijzelstraat 53 (Canal Ring)
• Kok Antiquariaat, prints, maps and books, 🚲 6 minutes, Oude Hoogstraat 18 (Inner City)
• Toko Dun Yong, Asian products and produce, 🚲 7 minutes, Stormsteeg 9 (Chinatown)
• Fromagerie Abraham Kef, cheese store, 🚲 5 minutes, Marnixstraat 192 (Jordaan)
• Athenaeum, bookstore 🚲 6 minutes, Spui 14 (Inner City)
• American Bookstore
• Chimera, fantasy and Asian goods and gifts, 🚲 6 minutes, Damstraat 7 (Inner City)
• Søstrene Grene, kitchen utensils, art supplies and household goods, 🚲 6 minutes, Nieuwendijk 219 (Inner City)
• Dille & Kamille, kitchen utensils, plants and cookbooks, Nieuwendijk 16 (Inner City)

• Iyengar Yoga Center Amsterdam 🚲 5 minutes, Molenpad 15 (South Canal Belt)

The map shows areas that are nice for shopping (dark yellow) and for going out in the evening (purple). The red dot is the apartment