AMSTERDAM.- Often caricatured as a sex-and-drugs haven, or a kind of continental Las Vegas, Amsterdam was not always an obvious choice for European cultural travel. Its image has undergone a significant transformation in the last decade, with government efforts to shrink its famous red-light district, curb reckless partying and orient visitors to its more honorable attractions. The city has regrettably lost a bit of its formerly funky edge, and the tide of tourists can make it nearly impossible to book tickets to famous attractions, such as the Anne Frank House, at the last minute. Still, there are new, off-the-beaten-track treasures to be found.
ITINERARY
Friday
4 p.m. | Go by boat
Amsterdam essentially emerged from a swamp. The capital was founded along the banks of the Amstel River and built on reclaimed marshlands through an extraordinary feat of water engineering. Take a boat ride to orient yourself to the Canal Belt (the Grachtengordel), the central district with a system of canal rings, water locks and bridges. Pure Boats offers a two-hour Ultimate Canal Cruise (67.50 euros, or around $73) in an elegant wood skiff with an open bar and assorted nibbles. It disembarks from the Keizersgracht, one of the quieter canal rings, traverses the Canal Belt and provides glorious views of the Dutch National Opera & Ballet, and the famous Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge).
6:30 p.m. | Dine in a canal house
Booking dinner reservations in Amsterdam’s center on a Friday night can be tricky; “destination” restaurants such as Restaurant De Kas, Caffé Toscanini and Café de Klepel require forward planning. Instead, cycle less than 10 minutes from the Keizersgracht to a cluster of small islands known as the Westelijke Eilanden (Western Islands), built in the early 17th century, where it feels as if nothing has changed in 400 years. There, find De Gouden Reael (by Caron), an elegant restaurant in a historic two-story canal house marked outside with a gable stone featuring a gold coin. The three- or four-course prix-fixe menus (52 euros or 69 euros) are French-inspired, but may include dishes like a ceviche of delicate raw corvina. After dinner, stroll across one of the city’s oldest drawbridges, Petemayenbrug, just outside the door.
8 p.m. | Laugh a little
Thirty years ago, two brave Chicagoans landed in Amsterdam, got high, and had the bright idea to open a comedy club in a country where they didn’t speak the language. Strangely, it took. Boom Chicago hosts live English-language improv shows several nights a week in the three-story Rozentheater on the Rozengracht, a long avenue, with American and Dutch up-and-coming comedians. The company has helped launch the careers of such notable comedians as “Late Night” host Seth Meyers, “Get Out” filmmaker and comedian Jordan Peele, and comedian Amber Ruffin. Although the improv sets can be hit-and-miss, it’s fun to guess which comics will soon be featured on “Saturday Night Live” or their own “Late Night” sets. Friday night improv tickets, 25.95 euros.
Saturday
9:30 a.m. | Coffee is crucial
If you’re looking for coffee in Amsterdam, ask for a cafe — not a coffee shop (those sell hash and marijuana). Coffee is crucial in Dutch culture: Ten minutes of chit-chat with a cup is de rigueur before any meeting can begin, and they like to drink it strong and tart. (The Dutch version of a café au lait is called a koffie verkeerd, which translates to “wrong coffee,” because it has more steamed milk than coffee.) Drink coffee the right way by stopping at Bruno’s, a take-away coffee bar. Old-fashioned espresso machines take up much of the inside, so the line usually spills onto Tweede Goudbloemsdwaarsstraat, the small side street. The owner Bruno is very chatty, so prepare to wait, but you won’t be disappointed by his delicious cappuccinos (4 euros).
10:30 a.m. | Shop and Sightsee
Walk around the corner to the Lindengracht Markt, where many locals do their weekly shopping for fresh produce, meats and cheeses. Grab some bouquets at wholesale prices, which can be astonishingly cheap (the world’s largest flower auction, in the town of Aalsmeer, is a half-hour’s drive away). Walk east up the street called Lindengracht so that you eventually end up at the corner of the picturesque canalside lane, Brouwersgracht, where you can climb to the top of the bridge known as Lekkeresluis (meaning “tasty sluice,” a gate that controls the flow of canal water). From the bridge, see two four-century-old churches, the Noorderkerk, to the right, and farther in the distance, the lofty tower (topped with a blue ball) of the Westerkerk, and spot the swans floating past.
Noon | Enjoy street food
Between the Lindengracht Markt and the neighboring Noordermarkt, a pricier, organic market that also has antiques, handmade jewelry, artisanal pickles, soaps and honey, there are plenty of street-food stalls. (Walking while eating is frowned upon in Dutch culture, so grab a picnic table). On the Lindengracht side, try a sabich (7.50 euros), a stuffed vegetarian pita at Abu Salie, or go for the speciaal beenham and braadworst (a sandwich piled high with sausage, ham and sauerkraut, 6 euros) at Fluks & Sons. Stalls also sell raw herring, sometimes covered in onions. Join locals at the Noordermarkt for fresh oysters (from 3.50 euros each; find them beside the entrance, next to the church tower). Dutch sweets also abound, including the ever-popular poffertjes (mini pancakes in powdered sugar or syrup) or warm and gooey stroopwafels.
12:30 p.m. | Amble along a canal
Exit the Noordermarkt by walking along the Prinsengracht, one of the city’s loveliest canals, completed in 1615, toward the Westerkerk (it’s currently under construction so may be surrounded by scaffolding). Next to that church is the former business address of Otto Frank, a German-Jewish refugee who moved his wife and two daughters, Anne and Margot, into the attic, in a secret hiding place behind a bookcase, which is now the location of the Anne Frank House Museum. Tickets (16 euros) are usually sold out months in advance. A good alternative is to visit the historic Jewish Cultural Quarter, where a 17-euro ticket gets you into several sites, including the Jewish Museum and Portuguese Synagogue; in 2024, sites will include the Hollandsche Schouwburg and the new National Holocaust Museum (both are being renovated).
1 p.m. | Explore special streets
The streets that radiate from the Prinsengracht form the Jordaan (pronounced your-dan), a district of little houses where workers and servants lived during the Dutch Golden Age (in the 17th century, Amsterdam emerged as a jewel of Europe, thanks to the enormous wealth accrued during the century of global shipping and colonial expansion). Today, the section of the Jordaan bounded by two long commercial avenues — Raadhuisstraat and Leidsestraat — is known as De 9 Straatjes (Nine Streets), and is a stylish shopping district. Don’t miss the housewares shop the Frozen Fountain, and pop into galleries Ron Mandos or Annet Gelink for contemporary art, and Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen for photography. Find colorful Belgian fashion at Essentiel Antwerp, reasonably priced clothing and fanciful housewares at Things I Like Things I Love.
2:30 p.m. | Look at Rembrandt
Amsterdam’s three major museums — the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and Design — are on a single square: Museumplein. Although the Rijksmuseum (entry, 22.50 euros) is the national museum, many tourists skip it in favor of the Van Gogh Museum, next door. Devote a single hour here to the city’s greatest star, Rembrandt; the Rijksmuseum has 22 of his paintings. See the “Jewish Bride,” with thick golden impasto that inspired Vincent van Gogh’s use of rich pigments, as well as his monumental group portrait of a civic militia, commonly known as “The Night Watch.”
3:30 p.m. | So Many by van Gogh
The Van Gogh Museum has the world’s largest collection of the Dutch post-Impressionist painter’s works. It is also a major research center. One thing its researchers learned, for example, was that the red pigment that van Gogh used had faded over time, leaving the paintings more blue than he’d originally intended. Imagine what his “Bedroom” in Arles would have looked like if the walls were purple and not blue; or how his blossoming fruit trees might have been pink, rather than white. (Make sure you book tickets, 20 euros, in advance online.) Head back out onto Museumplein and restore your energy in the Rijksmuseum Gardens (free) among the flowers, sculptured shrubs and art works.
6:30 p.m. | Carnivores, rejoice
The Dutch eat dinner on the early side, and you’ll want to follow their lead to be able to catch a show later. Conveniently just to the south of the Museumplein, you’ll find Café Loetje, one of Amsterdam’s classic Dutch restaurants, where you can get a cut of beef tenderloin (24.50 euros to 38.50 euros) in a sea of buttery brown sauce, along with other Dutch bites like shrimp croquettes (12 euros) and smoked eel on toast (18 euros). This is the original location of a popular franchise that now has more than a dozen locations in the Netherlands, and though it is essentially a meat-and-potatoes place, it’s quintessential Dutch eating. It is traditional in almost every respect, except one: It now offers a vegetarian “steak” made with a 3D printer.
8 p.m. | Catch a concert
Young Dutch people are all about techno, and there are plenty of events with pounding beats that last till dawn. For traditionalists, the premier classical venue is the dazzling Royal Concertgebouw, built in 1888; it was considered by experts to be among the top three concert halls in the world for its acoustics. Even if you don’t love classical, it can be a thrill to sit in the red velvet seats of the Grote Zaal (Great Hall) and read the names of famous composers painted on the walls, or gaze at its massive pipe organ, as conductor Klaus Mäkelä leads the exceptional Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. For rock and pop, head to Paradiso, a former 19th-century church, which became a squat in the 1960s, and has since been repurposed as a concert venue offering different kinds of spiritual experiences.
Sunday
10 a.m. | Discover a district
Take a free ferry from behind Central Station to Noord, the northern part of Amsterdam, crossing IJ-harbor (pronounced “eye”). The harbor was the city’s lifeblood for four centuries before Central Station was built in the 1880s, and the shipping industry was rerouted to Rotterdam. Get off at NDSM, an abandoned shipyard transformed in the last decade into a lively artistic hub. It is also home to the new Straat Museum (entry, 18.50 euros), a massive warehouse on the wharf with a colorful Anne Frank mural on the side. It has more than 160 large-scale murals by about 150 international street and graffiti artists, including Farid Rueda from Mexico, all painted on site by contemporary artists, making it one of the biggest “legal walls” anywhere in the world.
12:30 p.m. | Drinks by the harbor
Just next to the NDSM ferry station, there are a handful of restaurants with terraces that provide scenic views of the harbor. The newest addition is NEXT, which opened in 2022. The bar serves stellar cocktails, like the Doctor Earth, a concoction of mezcal and yellow Chartreuse topped with a twig of seaweed (15 euros) and artfully plated small dishes, such as gooseberry piri piri salad, and Korean pancakes (7 euros to 19 euros), many of them vegetarian and vegan-friendly. From the glass-walled second-floor dining area, you can even watch the digital signs on the ferry station, letting you know how many minutes you have before your boat back to the center will depart.
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KEY STOPS
The Canal Belt (the Grachtengordel), a central district comprising four canals that form a horseshoe, is the picturesque heart of historic Amsterdam.
The Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum, contains many of the country’s treasures, including works of Rembrandt and Vermeer, and a vast collection of Asian art.
Boom Chicago, an English-language comedy club on the Rozengracht, offers live improv with up-and-coming comedians in a cabaret-style setting.
The Straat Museum, in the NDSM district, displays graffiti art and murals painted on site by internationally renowned street artists.
WHERE TO EAT
De Gouden Reael (by Caron) is a French restaurant in a canal house in the quieter Western Islands.
Café Loetje, known for its steaks and fries, offers a variety of classically Dutch dishes.
NEXT, at the NDSM dock, offers great cocktails and small plates for sharing, including vegan-friendly options.
Fluks & Sons, for its sausage-and-ham sandwiches, and Abu Salie, for its vegetarian sabich, are two excellent street-food options at the Lindengracht Markt.
WHERE TO STAY
The Dylan is a 41-room boutique hotel in a historic mansion in the Canal Belt. It also houses the Michelin-starred Restaurant Vinkeles. Rooms start from about 570 euros, or about $619.
The Ambassade Hotel, also centrally located in the Canal Belt, has hosted many famous visiting literary figures and features a special collection of Dutch art from the postwar avant-garde Cobra movement. Rooms start from 230 euros per night.
Stayokay Hostel Amsterdam Vondelpark, in the center of the city’s main park, is a budget option near many major attractions. A private room with two beds starts from around 130 euros, while a bed in a shared room starts from about 52 euros.
For short-term rentals, consider something in the walkable Jordaan district, cultural Museumplein, or quiet, residential Oud-West.
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times.
