Tourist attractions Amsterdam

Lying around the Dam, Amsterdam’s main square, and covering the area of the medieval city as delineated in the 16C (before the cutting of the great canals to the west), the historic centre has numerous important buildings: the New Church, The Royal P..

Cut from 1586 onwards, these nobly-named canals (“Emperor’s”, “Prince’s”, “Patricians’”) have majestic quaysides, bordered by narrow gabled façades, opulent patrician residences, old warehouses and houseboats. Venture into the nearby Jordaan district..

The Herengracht or Patricians’ Canal is the principal of the four canals along which the wealthy merchants based themselves. The houses rival each other in decorative richness, especially when it comes to their gables.

Traditionally the aristocratic district, this southern part of the canal belt, between the Leidsegracht and the Amstel, is more refined than the northern part but also more commercial and animated. Culture and nightlife are centred on two squares, ..

Established by the French in The Hague in 1798, the original collection was transferred to Amsterdam in 1808 by Louis Bonaparte, who added The Night Watch by Rembrandt. The collection was initially housed in the Royal Palce and then the Trippenhuis, ..

The Rijksmuseum’s jewels are on the first floor: 17C portraits, still-life paintings and landscapes. Numerous works by Rembrandt include The Syndics of the Clothmakers' Guild , and The Jewish Bride ; four Vermeers including Woman in Blue Reading a..

Opened in 1973, this museum contains hundreds of Van Gogh's paintings, drawings and letters, through which his development can be followed from the Nuenen period (1883-1885) to the Auvers-sur-Oise period (1890). There are also some works by artists w..

The Museumplain is the focus for the city’s cultural life, boasting three of Amsterdam’s greatest museums: the Rijksmuseum , the Van Gogh Museum , and the Stedelijk Museum (covering 1850 to the present day), drawing tourists from around the globe..

Since 1913, this museum has occupied the former hospice for the elderly (1608). Devoted mainly to the work of Frans Hals, paintings of civic guards and regents give visitors a clear idea of his evolution as a painter. The museum also has many work..

These vast expanses of reclaimed land, which until the 1970s were industrial dockyards, were in the early 1990s converted into residential areas. Contemporary interpretations of traditional local housing ( Java-eiland ) border its three vast resident..

Though in the centre of the city, this hofje (sanctuary) is a haven of peace. Each of its tall facades (17th and 18th Centuries) is fronted by a little garden, and the whole is organised around an open space and the ancient church of the Beguines (..

Set up in a 15th Century orphanage, this modern museum uses paintings, objects, sculptures and documents to recapture the great events in Amsterdam's history. It depicts the city's illustrious inhabitants and shows the development of its society over..

Formerly a defensive moat, the Singel is the border between Medieval Amsterdam and the "urban" developments of the 16th Century onwards. Initially focused on the transport of goods, little by little this canal took on a residential aspect. ..

The Prince's Canal is the longest and outermost of the canals girdling the centre of Amsterdam; it is also the least wealthy. Nevertheless, its numerous workshops and warehouses, its old churches, its house-boats and its proximity to the Jordaan make..

In this house Anne Frank and her family, German Jews who had fled to Holland, lived in hiding from the summer of 1942 to August 1944, when they were denounced and transported to the extermination camps. The museum organises exhibitions about the life..

In 1586, the authorities decided to dig a network of concentric canals (Grachtengordel) around the cramped historic centre. The Emperor’s Canal was christened in honour of Maximilian I, who granted the city the right to bear his arms in 1489. The pro..

Built in the 15th Century at the time of the construction of the Nieuwe Kerk, this quarter is not as "new" as all that. Bordered by Spuistraat on one side and the Damrak and the Rokin on the other, the Nieuwe Zijde is criss-crossed by narro..

This large, well-maintained park was created in 1838 by the Natura Artis Magistra ("Nature, mistress of the arts") society, and takes its name from the organisation. The zoo is home to some 6000 animals (nearly 1200 species), including so..

Formerly the Admiralty's principal warehouse, this vast building, erected on 18,000 piles, has housed the Amsterdam Maritime Museum since 1973. The collections present a fairly exhaustive overview of the Netherlands' maritime history, whether trade, ..

The Museum of modern art is constantly being reinvented. Its collections contain work from 1850 to the present day, from the classics of modern art like Manet, Picasso and Mondrian to the most recent developments: minimalist installations and industr..