What is the number one thing to do in Amsterdam?

On this site's list: see the Night Watch and the Milkmaid at the Rijksmuseum. Then follow Vincent from the Potato Eaters to the Sunflowers, and climb to the Secret Annex at the Anne Frank House. The order is this site's own: what a first visit should do first.

What can you do in Amsterdam for free?

4 of the 20 things on this list cost nothing: The Jordaan and the Nine Streets, Begijnhof, Vondelpark and Oude Kerk and De Wallen.

What is there to do in Amsterdam when it rains?

11 of the 20 are under a roof: Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, Canal cruise, Royal Palace and Dam Square, Rembrandt House Museum, Our Lord in the Attic, Stedelijk Museum, National Maritime Museum, Moco Museum and Heineken Experience.

What is there to do in Amsterdam at night?

Canal cruise, A'DAM Lookout, Oude Kerk and De Wallen, Moco Museum and Heineken Experience are all at their best after dark.

How many days do you need in Amsterdam?

The 17 things on this list that are in the city add up to between 23 and 40 hours of visiting, by this site's estimates, without the time to get between them. At about six hours of visiting a day, that is 4 to 7 days for all of them, and three or four days for the first ten.

What are the best day trips from Amsterdam?

Zaanse Schans (north of Amsterdam), The Hague and Delft (South Holland) and Haarlem (North Holland). Each takes a full day.

The 20 best, in orderBest things to do in Amsterdam

What to do in Amsterdam, from the first morning to the last night: the 20 things worth your time, in the order this site would do them, with how long each takes, what it costs and when to go.

20
Things to do, in order: 4
Cost nothing: 11
Are under a roof, for a wet day: 11
Take two hours or less

Show

All 20

1Museum
See the Night Watch and the Milkmaid at the Rijksmuseum
Museum, Museumplein
The national museum of the Netherlands: Rembrandt's Night Watch, Vermeer's Milkmaid, Frans Hals and Jan Steen, in Pierre Cuypers's building of 1885 on Museumplein.
Time to allow
2.5 to 5 hours
Cost
Ticket with a start time
Best time
At opening, or late in the afternoon
4.7116,592 Google ratingsFrom €27
Read the guide
2Museum
Follow Vincent from the Potato Eaters to the Sunflowers
Museum, Museumplein
The largest collection of Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings anywhere: the Sunflowers, the Potato Eaters, the Bedroom and Almond Blossom, with his letters, on Museumplein.
Time to allow
2 to 3 hours
Cost
Ticket with a start time, sold online only
Best time
The first time slot of the day, or a Friday evening
4.6110,344 Google ratingsFrom €27
Read the guide
3Museum
Picture: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0
Climb to the Secret Annex at the Anne Frank House
Museum, Prinsengracht
The canal house on the Prinsengracht where Anne Frank, her family and four others hid for two years during the German occupation, and where she wrote her diary.
Time to allow
1 to 1.5 hours
Cost
Ticket sold only on the museum's own site
Best time
Book six weeks ahead, the Tuesday tickets are released
4.576,714 Google ratingsFrom €18.50
How to do it
4On the water
Picture: HJ Mitchell, CC BY 4.0
Cruise the canal ring by boat
On the water, Canal ring
An hour on the water through the seventeenth-century canal ring, under bridges and past the gabled houses of the Herengracht, the Keizersgracht and the Prinsengracht.
Time to allow
1 to 1.5 hours
Cost
Ticket for the boat
Best time
Late afternoon, or after dark when the bridges are lit
From €14.36
How to do it
5Walk
Picture: A. Bakker, CC BY-SA 3.0
Wander the Jordaan and the Nine Streets
Walk, Jordaan
Narrow canals, hidden almshouse courtyards and brown cafés in the old working quarter west of the Prinsengracht, and the small shops of the Nine Streets across the canal ring.
Time to allow
1.5 to 3 hours
Cost
Free to walk
Best time
A weekday morning, or Saturday for the market at the Noordermarkt
From €109
How to do it
6Monument
Picture: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0
Walk through the city hall that became a palace
Monument, Dam Square
The great city hall of the Golden Age on Dam Square, a royal palace since 1808, with its marble Citizens' Hall, and the Nieuwe Kerk and the National Monument beside it.
Time to allow
1 to 2 hours
Cost
Ticket for the palace, the square is free
Best time
A weekday morning, after checking that the palace is open
4.627,086 Google ratingsFrom €13.50
How to do it
7Museum
Picture: Fred Romero, CC BY 2.0
Visit the house where Rembrandt lived and painted
Museum, Jodenbreestraat
The house Rembrandt bought in 1639 and lost in his bankruptcy, furnished again from the inventory of 1656, with his studio, his cabinet of curiosities and almost all his etchings.
Time to allow
1 to 2 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
Late in the afternoon, when the house is quieter
4.515,461 Google ratingsFrom €19.50
Read the guide
8Museum
Picture: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0
Climb to the hidden church in a canal house
Museum, Oudezijds Voorburgwal
A Catholic church hidden in the top three floors of a merchant's house of 1630, made in the 1660s when Catholics could not worship in public, and a museum since 1888.
Time to allow
1 to 1.5 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
In the morning, before the groups
4.74,610 Google ratingsFrom €18
Read the guide
9Museum
Picture: A. Bakker, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl
See Malevich, Mondrian and Warhol at the Stedelijk
Museum, Museumplein
Amsterdam's museum of modern and contemporary art and design: Malevich, Mondrian, Matisse, Chagall, Karel Appel, Pollock and Warhol, in a brick building of 1895 and its white wing of 2012.
Time to allow
2 to 3 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
A weekday afternoon, after the morning crowds at the Van Gogh
4.415,742 Google ratingsFrom €22.50
Read the guide
10Walk
Picture: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0
Step through a doorway into the Begijnhof
Walk, Spui
A hidden courtyard of tall houses round a lawn, founded in the Middle Ages for a community of religious women, with one of the city's two wooden houses and a church hidden behind a front door.
Time to allow
20 to 45 minutes
Cost
Free
Best time
Early in the morning, when it is quiet
From €16.92
How to do it
11Garden
Cycle or stroll through the Vondelpark
Garden, Oud-Zuid
Amsterdam's best-loved park, forty-seven hectares of lawns, ponds and winding paths laid out in the English style from 1865, a few minutes from Museumplein.
Time to allow
45 to 120 minutes
Cost
Free
Best time
A sunny afternoon, or a summer evening
4.761,574 Google ratingsFrom €31.03
How to do it
12Monument
Look over the city from the A'DAM Lookout
Monument, Amsterdam-Noord
An observation deck a hundred metres up on the roof of the old Shell tower across the IJ, with a swing over the edge, a short free ferry ride from Central Station.
Time to allow
1 to 2 hours
Cost
Ticket, the ferry across is free
Best time
Before sunset on a clear day
4.631,058 Google ratingsFrom €20.50
Read the guide
13Church
Picture: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0
Visit the Oude Kerk and walk the old red-light quarter
Church, De Wallen
Amsterdam's oldest building, a church of the thirteenth century with a painted wooden vault, standing in the middle of De Wallen, the oldest and best-known of the city's red-light quarters.
Time to allow
1 to 2 hours
Cost
Free to walk, a ticket for the church
Best time
The church by day, the streets in the early evening
4.412,361 Google ratingsFrom €22.62
How to do it
14Museum
Picture: Fernando, CC BY-SA 4.0
Board an East Indiaman at the Maritime Museum
Museum, Kattenburg
Four centuries of Dutch seafaring in the Admiralty's storehouse of 1656, with ship models, sea paintings and the atlases of the Blaeus, and a full-size replica of an East Indiaman moored outside.
Time to allow
2 to 3 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
A weekday, and a rainy one is fine
4.513,627 Google ratingsFrom €20
Read the guide
15Museum
Picture: Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0
See Banksy and Warhol in a villa on Museumplein
Museum, Museumplein
A private museum of modern and contemporary art in Villa Alsberg, a house of 1904 on Museumplein: Banksy, Warhol, Basquiat, Haring and Kusama, with rooms of digital and immersive work.
Time to allow
1 to 1.5 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
In the evening, when Museumplein's big museums have closed
4.228,822 Google ratingsFrom €17.49
Read the guide
16Museum
Picture: Mtcv, CC BY-SA 3.0
Tour the old Heineken brewery and taste the beer
Museum, De Pijp
The first Heineken brewery, built in 1867 and brewing until 1988, now a visitor centre with the story of the beer, the brewing hall's copper kettles, the stables of the dray horses and tastings at the end.
Time to allow
1.5 to 2 hours
Cost
Ticket, with tastings
Best time
A weekday afternoon, adults only
4.215,152 Google ratingsFrom €24.95
Read the guide
17Walk
Picture: Nan Palmero, CC BY 2.0
Ride through the city as the Amsterdammers do
Walk, Across the city
Amsterdam is built for bicycles: flat, compact and laced with cycle paths. A ride takes in the canals, the Jordaan, the Vondelpark and the quieter streets beyond the centre in a morning.
Time to allow
2 to 4 hours
Cost
Bike hire or a tour
Best time
A dry morning, when the paths are calmer
From €36.50
How to do it
18Day trip
See the windmills of the Zaanse Schans
Day trip, Zaandam, north of Amsterdam
Working windmills and green wooden houses on the banks of the Zaan, brought together from across the region in the 1960s and 70s, under twenty minutes by train from Amsterdam.
Time to allow
4 to 7 hours
Cost
Free to walk, tickets for the mills and museums
Best time
A dry morning, early, before the coaches
From €33.49
How to do it
19Day trip
Picture: Hubertl, CC BY-SA 4.0
See Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring in The Hague
Day trip, South Holland
The Mauritshuis in The Hague, with Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft, then Delft itself: its market square, its blue pottery and the tomb of William of Orange.
Time to allow
A full day
Cost
Train or a tour, tickets for the museums
Best time
A full day, the Mauritshuis in the morning
4.720,059 Google ratingsFrom €60
How to do it
20Day trip
Picture: Wolfgang Moroder, CC BY-SA 4.0
Spend a day with Frans Hals in Haarlem
Day trip, North Holland
A handsome old town a quarter of an hour by train from Amsterdam, with the great church of St Bavo on its market square, the Frans Hals Museum in an almshouse of 1609 and Teylers, the oldest museum in the country.
Time to allow
A full day
Cost
Train, tickets for the museums
Best time
A Saturday, for the market on the Grote Markt
4.53,402 Google ratingsFrom €28.50
How to do it

How long each one takes

The time to allow for each, shortest first, so you can see what fits into a spare hour and what needs a day. These are this site's estimates for an unhurried visit.

Begijnhof20 to 45 minutes
Anne Frank House1 to 1.5 hours
Canal cruise1 to 1.5 hours
Our Lord in the Attic1 to 1.5 hours
Moco Museum1 to 1.5 hours
Vondelpark45 to 120 minutes
Royal Palace and Dam Square1 to 2 hours
Rembrandt House Museum1 to 2 hours
A'DAM Lookout1 to 2 hours
Oude Kerk and De Wallen1 to 2 hours
Heineken Experience1.5 to 2 hours
The Jordaan and the Nine Streets1.5 to 3 hours
Van Gogh Museum2 to 3 hours
Stedelijk Museum2 to 3 hours
National Maritime Museum2 to 3 hours
Amsterdam by bike2 to 4 hours
Rijksmuseum2.5 to 5 hours
Zaanse Schans4 to 7 hours
HaarlemA full day
The Hague and DelftA full day

The track is eight hours long. The bar ends at the longest visit, and the line inside it marks the shortest.

What visitors say

Each place's overall rating on Google, and how many people have given one. The longer the bar, the more people have been and said so.

Rijksmuseum4.7116,592 Google ratings
Van Gogh Museum4.6110,344 Google ratings
Anne Frank House4.576,714 Google ratings
Vondelpark4.761,574 Google ratings
A'DAM Lookout4.631,058 Google ratings
Moco Museum4.228,822 Google ratings
Royal Palace and Dam Square4.627,086 Google ratings
The Hague and Delft4.720,059 Google ratings
Stedelijk Museum4.415,742 Google ratings
Rembrandt House Museum4.515,461 Google ratings
Heineken Experience4.215,152 Google ratings
National Maritime Museum4.513,627 Google ratings
Oude Kerk and De Wallen4.412,361 Google ratings
Our Lord in the Attic4.74,610 Google ratings
Haarlem4.53,402 Google ratings

Read on Google Maps. Ratings change, and so will this.

Things to do in Amsterdam: common questions

What is the number one thing to do in Amsterdam?: On this site's list: see the Night Watch and the Milkmaid at the Rijksmuseum. Then follow Vincent from the Potato Eaters to the Sunflowers, and climb to the Secret Annex at the Anne Frank House. The order is this site's own: what a first visit should do first.
What can you do in Amsterdam for free?: 4 of the 20 things on this list cost nothing: The Jordaan and the Nine Streets, Begijnhof, Vondelpark and Oude Kerk and De Wallen.
What is there to do in Amsterdam when it rains?: 11 of the 20 are under a roof: Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, Canal cruise, Royal Palace and Dam Square, Rembrandt House Museum, Our Lord in the Attic, Stedelijk Museum, National Maritime Museum, Moco Museum and Heineken Experience.
What is there to do in Amsterdam at night?: Canal cruise, A'DAM Lookout, Oude Kerk and De Wallen, Moco Museum and Heineken Experience are all at their best after dark.
How many days do you need in Amsterdam?: The 17 things on this list that are in the city add up to between 23 and 40 hours of visiting, by this site's estimates, without the time to get between them. At about six hours of visiting a day, that is 4 to 7 days for all of them, and three or four days for the first ten.
What are the best day trips from Amsterdam?: Zaanse Schans (north of Amsterdam), The Hague and Delft (South Holland) and Haarlem (North Holland). Each takes a full day.

Where to eat in Amsterdam

All 20 restaurants in Amsterdam, ranked

Where to stay in Amsterdam

All 9 hotels in Amsterdam, ranked

How the list is made

The choice and the order are this site's: what a first visit to Amsterdam should do first. Nobody has paid to be on the list or to be higher on it. The times are estimates for an unhurried visit, not measurements.

Where a row shows a price, it is the lowest price of the ticket or tour its page links to, as its seller showed it on the day the page was checked. The ratings are Google's and change over time.

Museums and attractions in Amsterdam Things to do, by city

Best things to do in Amsterdam