Luxury hotels in Amsterdam

Amsterdam guide

Amsterdam: the Rijksmuseum and the canal ring

Rembrandt and Vermeer, the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank's house and the canals by private boat.

Amsterdam's seventeenth-century canal ring, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is best seen from a private boat, and the Rijksmuseum, home to Rembrandt's Night Watch and Vermeer's Milkmaid, and the Van Gogh Museum are the most cited visits; both use timed tickets.

The Anne Frank House releases its tickets online, usually weeks ahead, and sells out quickly. The Jordaan's lanes, the flower market and the Nine Streets are lovely on foot or by bicycle, and in April the tulip fields and Keukenhof Gardens are an easy excursion.

The Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House

The Van Gogh Museum, on Museumplein, holds the largest collection of Vincent van Gogh's work in the world, from the Potato Eaters to the Sunflowers, and is one of the most cited museums in Europe. Timed tickets sell out, so we book them early.

The Anne Frank House, on the Prinsengracht, preserves the secret annex where Anne and her family hid during the Second World War. Tickets are released online about six weeks ahead and are only sold for set time slots; the visit is short and deeply moving.

Keukenhof and the tulip fields

Keukenhof, a garden of some seven million spring bulbs near Lisse, is open only for about eight weeks from late March to mid-May and is the most cited excursion from Amsterdam in spring. The surrounding Bollenstreek, the bulb region, has fields striped with colour, best explored by bicycle.

Tickets are sold for timed entry, and weekdays are calmer. At other times of year, Zaanse Schans, with its working windmills, and the fishing villages of Volendam and Marken are the classic day trips.