Noon looks like four in the afternoon
Grey arrives twice, out of the sky and off the water, so midday carries the same low glow as six in the evening. On the canal bridges the bicycles come in shoals, and they do not slow down for a hire car that has stopped to read a sign. Directness is the local manners: if you're in the wrong place, a stranger says so.
A brewery that stopped brewing, and €27 at the door
Heineken Experience lists €24.95 for the self-guided tour, €29.95 with the rooftop, at the time of writing. Beer hasn't been brewed in that building since 1988. You get two hours of brand museum, one beer at the end, and no under-18s. Eight minutes away the Rijksmuseum is €25, free under 18. I'd spend it there.
Madame Tussauds on Dam Square is the same wax franchise as London or Berlin, and its own price list gives it away: €19 online, €27 at the door. Buying it on the square costs €8 more than buying it on your phone while standing there. I'd keep the €27 and look at the Palace, which is real and outdoors.
Two hundred stalls on the Dapperstraat
The Dappermarkt runs the length of the Dapperstraat in Oost, about 200 stalls, and the city's own listing gives it Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 17:00 at the time of writing. Not a postcard market.
Go on a weekday morning; Saturday is shoulder to shoulder. Household goods before food: pillowcases, phone cases, bolts of fabric, then fruit by the bowl not the kilo. The eating is Surinamese, Turkish and Moroccan, and a roti from a Surinamese counter is my lunch. Bring cash and a debit card, because not every stall takes both.
Open the door with your far hand
The red strip beside the kerb is a road, and its traffic is quiet, fast and doesn't expect you. Visitors land on it stepping out of the car, or backing up to photograph a gable. A bell isn't a greeting. It means brake.
Open the door with the hand furthest from it, the way Dutch drivers do: the shoulder turns, the head follows, and you see what's coming before the door does. On a canal street the bikes run between you and everything else.
Rent a bike and the national tariffs land on you too: at the time of writing, €170 for a phone in your hand and €75 for riding without lights, each plus €9 in costs.
From Dam Square to the Skinny Bridge
The Royal Palace on Dam Square. Built as the town hall on 13,659 wooden piles. Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, made it a palace and knocked down the weigh house next door because it spoiled his view. You're now enjoying the view he demolished a building for.
The Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum. Not a night scene; the darkness is centuries of varnish. In 1715 it was moved to the town hall and trimmed on every side to fit between two columns. The columns won.
Centraal Station. Cuypers designed it and the Rijksmuseum, which bookend the old centre. It stands on 8,687 piles on artificial islands. I like it best from the back, where the ferries leave.
The Begijnhof. An unmarked door off the Spui, and the noise switches off. The courtyard holds Amsterdam's oldest wooden house, from around 1420, and entry is free. People live here, so keep your voice down; of the free things in the centre it's my pick.
The free ferries. Behind Centraal, GVB ferries cross the IJ free for pedestrians and cyclists. My choice is the F4 to NDSM, a former shipyard covered in street art.
Magere Brug. The "Skinny Bridge" over the Amstel is lit by 1,200 bulbs, so come after dark. The two sisters called Mager are charming and probably invented.
Herring, held by the tail
Raw herring comes with chopped onions and pickles. Locals hold it by the tail and lower it in, head tilted back. Tourists use the flag-topped cocktail stick. Try Stubbe's Haring on the Singel near Centraal.
Bitterballen are deep-fried balls of meat ragout that leave the fryer at the temperature of the sun. Wait. Have them with a beer in a brown café.
Stroopwafels are only worth it warm. Get them at Rudi's stall on the Albert Cuyp Market in De Pijp.
Appeltaart here is tall and dense, under a mountain of cream. Winkel 43 on the Noordermarkt has the queue, and I'd join it.
On a rainy evening my pick is Foodhallen in Oud-West, an old tram depot full of stalls. Or rijsttafel, the Indonesian "rice table" of many small dishes, left over from the colonial era.
King's Day is not a driving day
On King's Day, 27 April, the whole city wears orange and anyone can sell anything on the street. The canals fill with party boats. It's the worst day of the year to drive in. Take the train.
In August, the Pride Canal Parade sends decorated boats along the Prinsengracht while hundreds of thousands watch from the bridges; in 2027, Saturday 7 August. In October, the Amsterdam Dance Event takes over the clubs. From late November, the Amsterdam Light Festival puts art installations along the canals, best seen from a boat, not through a windscreen.
What's on
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 27 Apr 2027 (Tue) | King's Day: the whole city turns orange and becomes a flea market. Don't drive in. |
| June | Holland Festival (theatre, music, dance) |
| 7 Aug 2027 (Sat) | Pride Canal Parade on the Prinsengracht |
| 21–25 Oct 2026 | Amsterdam Dance Event, 30th edition |
| 12–22 Nov 2026 | IDFA documentary film festival |
| Late Nov 2026 – mid Jan 2027 | Amsterdam Light Festival: art installations along the canals |