Three tickets decide how a visit to Amsterdam goes. The Anne Frank House sells only online, for a set time, at €16.50 with a booking fee included, and it is open daily from 9 am to 10 pm. Every Tuesday at 10 am CET the slots for the date six weeks ahead go on sale, so set an alarm. The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum are easier, but the best hours go first. The rest of the list is open air or simple to walk into.
1Rijksmuseum
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The national museum of the Netherlands, with more than 8,000 works of Dutch art and history in a brick palace. Rembrandt's Night Watch and Vermeer's Milkmaid hang here, next to Frans Hals, Jan Steen and Van Gogh.
Time
2 h 30 min to 4 h, or an hour for the highlights alone
Setting
Indoor
Best time
At opening, or in the last two hours
Getting there
Tram to Rijksmuseum, or a 10-minute walk from the canal streets
Tip: Go to the Night Watch first and the rest of the building afterwards, since the room fills up by late morning. The garden around the museum is free and has no queue at all, which makes it a fine place to sit between floors. Buy the ticket on the museum's site, because the entrance sells only what is left.
Open every day from 9 am to 5 pm, public holidays included. Adults pay €25, rising to €26.50 in 2027. Visitors aged 18 and under enter free.
A museum given over to one painter, with his paintings, drawings and letters. The Sunflowers and the Potato Eaters are the draws, and the letters explain what he was trying to do.
Time
1 h 40 min to 2 h 20 min
Setting
Indoor
Best time
Friday evening, after the day visitors
Getting there
Tram to the Museumplein, next door to the Rijksmuseum
Tip: Every ticket has a start time, including the free ones, so reserve a slot even if a museum card gets you in. Friday evenings, when the doors stay open late, are often the calmer slot, and the opening hours change with the season, so look them up by date. The Rijksmuseum is next door, so a day with one museum in the morning and the other late in the afternoon works well.
Open every day from 9 am, closing at 5 pm or at 6 pm in busy weeks, and on Fridays at 9 pm. Adults pay €25, €26 from 1 January 2027, students €16 until the end of 2026. Under 18s enter free.
Photo: Travel with Lenses / Pexels, Pexels License
Built in the mid-17th century as the city hall and made a royal palace in 1808. It stands on Dam Square beside the Nieuwe Kerk, and the halls inside are still used to receive guests of the king.
Time
1 h 15 min to 1 h 40 min with the audio tour
Setting
Indoor
Best time
A weekday morning
Getting there
On foot from Centraal, about ten minutes
Tip: The palace is a working building and its opening days can change, so look at the calendar on its site before you plan the day around it. The audio tour is included in the ticket and is worth using, because the halls say little without it.
Open daily from 10 am on more than 230 days in 2026; the calendar lists each date. Adults pay €13.50, students €9, and visitors aged 17 and under enter free.
The Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht were dug in the 17th century and are the reason the city looks the way it does. Seen from the water, the leaning gabled houses and the low bridges make more sense than they do from the pavement.
Time
1 h to 1 h 30 min for a standard cruise
Setting
Both
Best time
After sunset, when the bridges are lit
Getting there
Boats leave from the quays around Centraal station
Tip: Pick a small boat if you can, since big ones with a recorded commentary feel like a bus on water. An evening cruise beats a midday one for light. The canal cruise ticket on the city\'s own site is one way to book.
A former working-class neighbourhood west of the canal ring, now full of galleries, small shops and cafés. Its edge is marked by the Westerkerk, where Rembrandt was buried, and the Anne Frank House stands close by on the Prinsengracht.
Time
2 to 3 h on foot, without museums
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
A weekday morning, or on a market day
Getting there
A 15-minute walk from Dam Square
Tip: Skip the main road and walk the side lanes between the Prinsengracht and the Brouwersgracht, where the crowds thin out. Markets are held regularly at the Noordermarkt, on the Westerstraat and on the Lindengracht, and each has its own character, so look at what is on the day you are there. The Westerkerk site has the hours for visiting the church.
Photo: Vinicius A. Nascimento / Pexels, Pexels License
A public park of 47 hectares, opened in 1865 and named after the poet Joost van den Vondel. It draws around ten million visits a year, and has an open-air theatre, a playground and several places to eat.
Time
45 min to 2 h
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
A dry late afternoon, May to September
Getting there
A short walk west from the Museumplein
Tip: Bring something to eat and take a place on the lawn on the first warm evening of spring, when half the city has the same idea. Entry is free.
The Skinny Bridge, a white wooden drawbridge over the Amstel between the Keizersgracht and the Prinsengracht. The present bridge dates from 1934, and its predecessor of 1691 was so narrow that locals gave it the name.
Time
20 min for photographs and a coffee
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
Dusk, when its 1,200 bulbs come on
Getting there
On foot along the Amstel from the centre
Tip: Only pedestrians and cyclists may cross, and the centre section opens many times a day for river traffic, so a short wait is part of the visit. Lit at night, the bridge looks best from the riverbank rather than from the deck itself.
The only floating flower market in the world, founded in 1862 and strung along the Singel between Koningsplein and Muntplein. Cut flowers, potted plants and bulbs are sold from stalls that stand on the water.
Time
30 to 40 min
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
A weekday morning, before the tour groups
Getting there
On foot from the Munttoren at Muntplein
Tip: Tulip bulbs are the souvenir everyone buys, and they are planted in autumn, so a September or October visit is the practical time to carry some home. Prices vary from stall to stall, so look at two before you commit.
A 15th-century building on the Nieuwmarkt that began as a city gate in the walls of Amsterdam and later served as a weighing house. The towers and the dark brick make it look like a small castle in the middle of the square.
Time
20 min for a look from the square
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
Dusk, when the towers are lit
Getting there
Metro Nieuwmarkt
Tip: The best view is from the middle of the square. Come in the evening when the towers are lit, and walk on towards the Oude Kerk afterwards. The streets around the square have plenty of places to sit.
An observation deck 100 metres up on the north bank of the IJ, with a skydeck inside and outside and a swing that tips you out over the edge. From the top you see the whole city and the harbour in one go.
Time
45 min to 1 h 15 min with the ferry crossing
Setting
Both
Best time
Around sunset
Getting there
Free ferry from behind Centraal to Buiksloterweg, then a short walk
Tip: Reach it by ferry, not by metro: the crossing is free, takes only a few minutes and gives you the skyline for nothing. Book online, as the lookout offers a discount for it. The Eye film museum sits next door on the shore.
Open daily from 10 am to 10 pm. A ticket costs €16.50, and booking online takes €2 off.
