Tourist attractions Edam

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.

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..

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..

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, ..

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, ..

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..

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. ..

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..

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..

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 (..

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..

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..

This quay is lined with a fine collection of restored houses. For the most part old merchants' houses, they have façades typical of Hoorn with carved wooden pillars. Some, which have fine stones on their façades, are topped with stepped or bell-shape..

This picturesque square is overlooked by the Museum of Western Friesland and by the public weighstation. It owes its name to the blood which frequently flowed during public executions (Rode Steen = red stone). To the center, you will notice a statue ..

This is the original heart of the town. Among the successive old façades, many are decorated with fine stone carvings, most of which are connected with sailing.

Just before reaching the town of Durgerdam, stop and enjoy the pretty view of its houses, painted in all the colours of the rainbow, some of them with wooden gables, and one funny square building with a pyramid-shaped roof topped by a bellturret; all..

Historically an industrial mill district (with around 600 in operation in 1760). The developments in woodworking brought about by sawmills meant huge leaps forward in shipbuilding. Many mills still remain. Sitting atop huge storerooms, most were invo..

Completed in 1916, "Navigation House" contains the offices of six maritime companies. It was built by J. M. van der Mey, with the help of P. L. Kramer and M. de Klerk. Scheepvaarthuis is considered to be the first true example of the Amster..