Amsterdam: A City to Love

Amsterdam, city of bicycles, tulips and clogs, attracts millions of visitors every year – a city where you might feel as if you are strolling through an open-air museum. Amsterdam is also a shoppers’ paradise; from vintage fashion to antiques and from tulip bulbs to sexy underwear. No matter how often you have been to Amsterdam a boat trip along romantic canals is one of the best ways to see the city at leisure.

Sniffing up culture is easy because Amsterdam has more than forty museums; Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank House are the top three. Off-beat choices are the Hash Marihuana and Hemp Museum and the Sex Museum. Amsterdam is also the city of gabled mansions, tranquil canals and arched bridges. Canals and waterways crisscross the historic centre. Working barges sail past. Houseboats festooned with flower boxes bob at their moorings.

Hanging out at a sidewalk café and people watching is fun. Be sure to include in your visit to Amsterdam drinking draft beer in a ‘brown café’ and eating herring at the Albert Cuyp Market. Go Dutch and rent a bike and pedal along the bike lanes, safe and fast.

Amsterdam-Now helps you to discover the city: all the hotspots, the best restaurants, the hippest shops, the best out-of-town excursions, secret spots and the finest concerts.

Attractions

Accommodation

Eat and Drink

Shopping

Information

Events

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Westerkerk and Anne Frank

Westerkerk and Anne Frank

Westerkerk and Anne Frank are intrinsically connected. She mentions the chimes of Westerkerk in her diary entry of 11 July 1942. Westerkerk is a relatively young church as it was built between 1620 and 1631. Late 16th and early 17th century Amsterdam expanded and...

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Coffeeshop versus Coffee Bar

Coffeeshop versus Coffee Bar

Do not confuse a coffee bar with a coffeeshop. Coffeeshop means that this place sells weed. This doesn’t mean that weed is the only thing you can buy here. Coffeeshops also sell soft drinks – never alcohol - and snacks. However, if you want a cup of coffee look for...

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Bruin Café is quintessential Amsterdam

Bruin Café is quintessential Amsterdam

What pubs are to London, are Bruine Cafe's (Brown Cafés) to Amsterdam. Café De Eland is where locals from the neighbourhood gather for a drink, a chat and in the old days a smoke. Tables spill out on to the pavement, a pleasant place to sit on a sunny day to see the...

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Amsterdam Centre

Amsterdam Centre

Dam Square, Anne Frank House, Kalverstraat shopping street is what most visitors to Amsterdam want to visit. Yet the city centre has much more to offer. Canals lined with gabled houses mirrored in the water. The charms of Amsterdam are supplemented by a string of...

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Best Amsterdam Street Markets

Best Amsterdam Street Markets

Amsterdam is packed with shops, from multi-level shopping arcades to trendy boutiques. Buying erotic toys proves as easy as stocking up on Edam cheese. Throw in a handful of street markets and you know why Amsterdam is Europe’s shopping capital. Albert Cuyp Market is...

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Eat pancakes during a city trip to Amsterdam

Eat pancakes during a city trip to Amsterdam

Everybody likes pancakes. Try them during your city trip to Amsterdam and eat them as a snack or as full meal. This is an excellent way to sample Dutch cuisine. Pancake restaurants in Amsterdam are plentiful. Dutch pancakes are similar to French crêpes, but the Dutch...

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Tasting Houses

Tasting Houses

Tasting houses in Amsterdam go back to the 17th century. Wine and spirit sellers wanted to boost their sales and invited rich merchants to sample their wares, hoping to strike a deal. Just off Brouwersgracht, on Driehoekstraat, is De Ooievaar, the last remaining...

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Amsterdam Metro

Amsterdam Metro

Like many other metropolises Amsterdam, too, has a metro, but with a difference. The Amsterdam metro was built only in 1977 and has just two underground stations and four lines. The metro fans out from Centraal station to the suburbs, Bijlmer, Amstelveen and Diemen....

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Café Loetje Means Steak

Café Loetje Means Steak

A meal at Café Loetje in Amsterdam will tickle your taste buds. Loetjes filet of steak served with French fries has no rivals. The meat is so tender that you can cut it with a spoon. Try traditional semolina pudding cream smothered in raspberry sauce for dessert. A...

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Skinny Bridge Famous Bridge in Amsterdam

Skinny Bridge Famous Bridge in Amsterdam

Skinny Bridge is one of the 1,200 bridges that span the canals that crisscross Amsterdam. Some are simply a means to cross the water, others are picturesque or true feats of engineering. Many are illuminated at night and offer a romantic backdrop. Magere Brug or...

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Restaurant-Cafe IJ-kantine

Restaurant-Cafe IJ-kantine

Sit back and feast your eyes on a sweeping view of the IJ River while sipping Pouilly Fume with oysters. Or come early for a sumptuous breakfast French style with crispy croissants and 'pain au chocolat'. IJ Kantine is one of those well-kept secrets in Amsterdam; the...

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Waterlooplein Flea Market

Waterlooplein Flea Market

Amsterdam Flea Market at Waterlooplein is a feast for the eyes. Everything goes, from second-hand clothing to antique rugs and from candelabras to hemp growing kits. Browse for hours and rummage through every crate and box, you are sure to go home with a real Van Gogh...

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