Amsterdam travel guides & articles
All 36 in-depth pieces we’ve published on Amsterdam — newest first.
Tours & tickets
Inside the Royal Palace on Amsterdam's Dam Square
A working royal building that opens about 230 days a year. What €13.50 gets you inside, how long to allow, and the closures nobody warns you about.
Tours & tickets
Eating Your Way Along Amsterdam's Brouwersgracht
A kilometre of Amsterdam canal with apple pie, herring, brown cafés, jenever and a Michelin star on it: what to eat, what it costs and what you have to book.
Tours & tickets
Buying Tulip Bulbs at Amsterdam's Floating Bloemenmarkt
The Singel's flower stalls are free, small and half souvenir shop. Here is which ones still sell real bulbs, how long to give it, and what to eat within five minutes.
Tours & tickets
Driving the Afsluitdijk from Amsterdam Across 32 km of Sea
An honest run along the dike that turned a tidal sea into a lake: what is open, what is a building site, what it costs and which day of the week to go.
Tours & tickets
An October Afternoon Inside Amsterdam's Venustempel
The world's oldest sex museum costs €10 at the door, takes about 45 minutes and turns away anyone under 16. Slot it into a grey October afternoon on Damrak.
Tours & tickets
Amsterdam's Westerkerk in September Without the Tower Climb
The bells and Rembrandt's grave are free on weekday mornings, but the Westertoren stairs are shut, and the queue outside belongs to someone else's ticket.
Tours & tickets
Inside Muiderslot on an October Day Trip from Amsterdam
A moated castle from the 1280s, half an hour east of the city, seen in the stretch of the year when it still opens seven days a week and the boat to the fort island is still running.
Three Amsterdam Days Around The Strokes on 11 October
The Ziggo Dome is on the metro, so you can build an Amsterdam weekend around a Sunday-night arena show and still plan the rest of it calmly.
Two Days of Food and Art in Amsterdam's Westerpark
A flat, walkable weekend around the old Westergas sheds, with the prices, the opening hours and which places can actually seat a group.
Your First Amsterdam Weekend Without the Museum Queue
Forty-eight hours in Amsterdam spent on free ferries, in morning markets and in brown cafés instead of ticket queues, with the prices, the closing days and the door rules.
Your First Amsterdam Lunch Belongs in a Market Hall
Nineteen counters in Oud-West, a herring stall by a bridge and six street markets that only exist on certain days: how to eat lunch in Amsterdam without wasting an afternoon.
Working Out What Is On in Amsterdam This Weekend
Amsterdam has no single events listing. About fifteen venues each publish their own, and four rules decide whether you get through the door.
Amsterdam by Tram When You Don't Want a Bike
Fifteen tram lines run in Amsterdam. Make one fare decision, learn a handful of stops, and you can reach the door of most things you came to see.
A First-Timer's Unhurried October Weekend in Amsterdam
Three bookings need doing early: the museums, the boat and the small dining room. Everything else in Amsterdam gets easier once those are done.
Amsterdam Canal Cruises and How to Pick the Right Boat
Fourteen operators, one set of canals. What each boat costs, how many people it takes, and which one suits the trip you're on.
An Amsterdam Weekend Built Around Jill Scott at AFAS Live
Jill Scott plays AFAS Live on Saturday 10 October 2026, and the two days around it go much better if you book in this order: the museum slot, then the dinner, then the ticket.
What to Book Before an October Trip to Amsterdam
The Anne Frank House releases tickets six weeks ahead to the minute, and a dance festival reprices the whole city for five days. Almost every museum now sells timed slots only. This is the order a first-timer should book in.
Building an Amsterdam Night Around Erykah Badu at Carré
Erykah Badu brings her improvised IMEHO set to Koninklijk Theater Carré on 13 October 2026. Here is the seat to buy, the table across the river, and where the music carries on once the theatre empties.
Watching the Amsterdam Marathon from Park, River and Track
Where to stand, eat and drink on 18 October 2026: the two Vondelpark passes, the Amstel hours, the Wibautstraat wall and a free seat in the stadium for the finish.
How Long to Stay in Amsterdam Without Wasting a Day
A day-by-day breakdown of what one, two, three, four and five days in Amsterdam actually buy you, with the ticket rules that decide it.
Amsterdam on €80 a Day, Museums Included
Three days in Amsterdam for roughly the price of one restaurant week. The booking order does most of the work, and the free ferries and market plates do the rest.
Where to Sleep in Amsterdam on Your First Solo Trip
Sixteen tested beds across Noord, Oost, Oud-West and the old centre, with real prices, honest noise levels and which ones make arriving alone easy.
Walking Amsterdam's Canals in October Between Museum Slots
The canal ring looks best in low October light and the big museums are finally manageable, but only if you book them weeks ahead.
Amsterdam in September for Milder Days and Shorter Queues
The crowds thin, the light goes low and gold, and the terraces still work. Plan around the month's real hours, prices and booking traps.
Five Days of Amsterdam Dance Event, Room by Room
ADE 2026 runs 21 to 25 October, five days that work best if you plan them in advance. Here is which room suits which kind of group, what it costs, and how you get home.
Day Trips from Amsterdam Worth Building a Week Around
Fourteen verified trips by train and boat — with honest 2026 prices, opening dates and the closures the brochures skip — that turn an Amsterdam city break into a full week.
Brick by Brick: Amsterdam's Hidden Expressionist Facades
A walking route through the sculptural brickwork, worker housing and one glorious cinema interior that make up Amsterdam's home-grown 1920s architecture movement.
Amsterdam's Houseboat Families Who Never Left the Water
Inside the canal-side world where roughly 2,500 licensed houseboats are still real family homes, and where a visitor can tour, eat or sleep aboard one in 2026.
Stalls, Stroopwafels and the Art of the Bargain: Amsterdam's Street Markets, Ranked
A working portrait of Amsterdam through its market stalls — what to eat, what to actually buy, and which stallholders have been at it for decades.
Amsterdam's Indonesian rijsttafel — the elaborate rice-table feast born in colonial Indonesia that became Amsterdam's most distinctive dining tradition. The tokos, the family-run restaurants, and the dishes that tell a complicated history.
Twelve tables, one contested history: how to eat Amsterdam's rice-table tradition honestly, from Michelin-starred dining rooms to a toko with two chairs.
Amsterdam's Hidden Hofjes: The Courtyard Almshouses the Canal Tours Skip
Seven Golden Age courtyard almshouses hide behind unmarked doors across Amsterdam's Jordaan and city centre in 2026 - free to enter, still lived in, and skipped by every canal-tour script.
The Free Fleet: Amsterdam's IJ Ferries and the North Bank That Opened Overnight
Five routes cross the IJ for nothing at all, day and night — the cheapest way into Amsterdam's most interesting district, and the best free ride in the city.
The Water That Built Amsterdam: Inside the Grachtengordel
A calm, practical guide to seeing Amsterdam's canal ring the way it was meant to be seen — from the water, from a brown café terrace, and from inside the houses the canals paid for.
Amsterdam on Two Wheels: Ferries, Free Routes, and the Unwritten Rules of the Bike Lane
How to hire the right bike, decode the etiquette of the fietspad, and find the free ferries and car-free loops where cycling Amsterdam is a pleasure, not a nerve test.
Inside Amsterdam's Proeflokalen: Where Jenever Is Still Poured the Old Way
A calm, honest guide to the tiled tasting rooms, brown cafés and modern bars where Amsterdam still serves its native spirit brim-full — and how to drink it without spilling a drop.
Amsterdam's Best Brown Cafés That Locals Actually Drink In
A calm, honest walk through fourteen genuine bruine kroegen — which suit a quiet pair, which swallow a group whole, and the exact tram stop and pint price for each.