The four main canals (the Singel, Herengracht, Keizergracht and Prinsengracht) wind their way past the main sights, so in many ways the canal boats give you the best introduction to the city. They may really make you feel like a tourist but they’re cheap during the day. Watch out at night – they can cost up to four times as much for the same trip, herengracht passes the rich seventeenth-century merchants’ houses; at munt on the singel is a colourful flower market.
Dam Square is the heart of the city. It lies at the end of the main shopping thoroughfare, the damrak, but its attraction is often clouded by the litter and the numbers of undesirables who hang around there. Still, it’s always lively, and you can often find buskers and street artists performing. To the east of the Dam lies the old city centre, beautifully preserved in its seventeenth-century splendour.
This area is known as walletjes, and you’ll do best exploring it in daytime as parts of it (Oudezijds, Achterburgwal, Oude Zijds Voorburgwal and their surroundings) have a totally different character at night when they turn into the sex streets of Europe. jordaan is another district worth a wander. This is the Bohemian and working-class quarter bordered by Prinsengracht, Brouwers-gracht, Marnixstraat and Elandsgracht. There’s a good Saturday market on Lindemarkt.
Just west of the Dam, round the back of the Westerkerk, is anne Frank’s house where she wrote her famous diary while in hiding with her family from the Nazis for two years. See the Anti-Semitic Exhibition downstairs. It’s at Prinsengracht 263, open Monday to Saturday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
The rijksmuseum at Stadhouderskade 42 is one of the world’s great art museums and comes top of the list of Amsterdam’s forty museums. It’s really big on Rembrandts (his ‘Night Watch’ is there) and the Dutch masters. Open Tues.-Sat.: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun.: 1 p.m.-5 p.m. The royal palace on Dam Square is held up by 13,659 bits of wood; this led it to be known as the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’. Also there is the nieuwe kerk, though there’s nothing new about this late Gothic church which dates from around 1500. Just behind it is a ‘tasting house’, the three bottles (De Drie Fleschjes), which dates from 1650. Try the Bols and Hoppe liqueurs.
As far as museums are concerned, the favourites are the amstelkring (Our Lord in the Attic) at Oude Zijds Voorburgwal 40, a preserved seventeenth-century house where repressed Catholics used to hide, rembrandts house is at Jodenbreestraat 2-6; the stedelijk museum, modern art, Paulus Potterstraat 13; and the van gogh museum, just along the street at No. 7 (closed Mon.).
Being so flat, the Dutch go in for cycling in a big way. It’s a cheap and fun way to get about and in fact can also be the quickest. You can rent a bike at several places in the city, although the most convenient is next to the station at Stationsplein 6. You can extend this to the canals as well, by hiring a canal bike from four moorings in the city centre. Open from 9.00 a.m. to 11 p.m. in summer and 7.00 p.m. in autumn. You can pick up bikes at the Leidseplein (between the Marriot and American Hotels); between the Rijksmuseum and the Heineken Brewery; Prinsengracht at the Westerkerk, near the Anne Frank House and on the Keizersgracht, near the Leidsestraat.
