Amsterdam beyond the canals: museums, markets and quiet streets

3 days Netherlands 4 min read

Amsterdam is a small city with a seventeenth-century plan that still works: concentric canals lined with gabled houses, bridges every few hundred metres and streets built for bicycles and feet rather than cars. Three days lets you see the two big museums, the Anne Frank House, a market and a park, and still have time for the thing the city does best, which is unhurried wandering along the water.

The canal ring is the centre of everything, with the museum quarter just south of it, the Jordaan to the west and the harbour and its free ferries to the north. Book the museums before you arrive, rent a bike if you are confident in traffic, and give at least one evening to walking the canals after dark when the bridges are lit.

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Top places to see

1
Rijksmuseum
The national museum of Dutch art and history, with Rembrandt's Night Watch at the end of the Gallery of Honour, Vermeer's Milkmaid, and floors of ship models, Delftware and dollhouses. The building itself, restored in 2013, is part of the draw. Book a timed ticket online, come at opening or after three in the afternoon, and allow at least three hours. The gardens outside are free.
2
Van Gogh Museum
The largest collection of Van Gogh's work anywhere, arranged chronologically so you can follow him from the dark Potato Eaters to the sunflowers and the wheatfields of his last months, alongside letters and work by his contemporaries. Tickets are only sold online with a fixed time and sell out days ahead in season. It sits on Museumplein a few minutes from the Rijksmuseum, so pair the two across one day.
3
Anne Frank House
The canal house on Prinsengracht where Anne Frank and her family hid for two years, preserved with the bookcase that concealed the secret annex and rooms left empty as her father wished. It is a quiet, affecting visit. Tickets are released online six weeks ahead on Tuesdays and go within hours, so plan this before anything else. There are no walk-up tickets. Allow about an hour.
4
Jordaan
The old working-class quarter west of the canal ring, now the most charming part of the city, with narrow streets of small houses, hidden courtyards called hofjes, independent shops and brown cafés. Walk the Egelantiersgracht and Bloemgracht canals, look for the open gate of a hofje, and visit the Noordermarkt on Saturday for the farmers' market, or Monday for the flea market.
5
Canal Ring
The three main canals, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, form a UNESCO-listed half-circle around the centre, lined with merchants' houses, houseboats and leaning gables. Walk them in any direction and you will find the Nine Streets of boutiques crossing between them. A boat tour at dusk from near Centraal station or Rijksmuseum shows the bridges from below; smaller open boats are better than the big glass ones.
6
Vondelpark
The city's main park, a long green strip of ponds, lawns and winding paths just behind the museum quarter, where locals run, cycle, picnic and gather around the open-air theatre in summer. It is the natural place to rest after the museums. Enter from the Stadhouderskade end near the Rijksmuseum, walk its full length to the western gate and you are close to the quieter neighbourhoods of Oud-West.
7
Albert Cuyp Market
The city's biggest daily street market, running the length of Albert Cuypstraat in De Pijp from Monday to Saturday, with stalls of cheese, fish, fruit, fabric, flowers and hot stroopwafels made in front of you. De Pijp around it is a lively, diverse neighbourhood full of cafés; Sarphatipark at the end of the street is a good place to eat what you bought. Go late morning when everything is set up.
8
NDSM Wharf
A former shipyard across the IJ river, reached by a free ferry from behind Centraal station in about fifteen minutes. The huge halls now hold studios, murals, a Sunday flea market in season and bars in old shipping containers along the water. The ferry ride alone is worth it for the view of the harbour. Stop at the EYE film museum, the first ferry stop, for its terrace over the water.

Good to know

The GVB day and multi-day passes cover trams, buses, metro and the ferries. Check in and out with the card on every ride. Walking is often as quick as the tram in the centre.
Cycle lanes are for bikes, and cyclists expect pedestrians to stay off them. Look both ways before crossing, and if you rent a bike, use hand signals and lock it to something solid, as theft is common.
The Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House require online tickets with no sales at the door. Book these first and build your days around them. Museums are quietest on weekday mornings.
Day trips are easy by train: Haarlem in fifteen minutes, Zaanse Schans windmills in twenty, Utrecht in thirty. Keukenhof tulip gardens open only from late March to mid-May and need advance booking.

Best time to visit

April to May brings tulips and the King's Day celebrations with cool, bright days around 15 degrees. June to September is the warmest and busiest period, with long evenings and the canals full of boats. October and November are quieter and often damp. Winter is cold, grey and short on daylight, but museum queues disappear and the Light Festival runs along the canals from December to January.

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