Things to do
Heineken Experience
Five euros separates the basic ticket from the rooftop one, and one of the two drinks it adds costs nearly that in any bar. Also: strictly no under-18s.
Photo: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAmsterdam, the Netherlands
The trip you can actually plan from your desk.
Every figure here is checked against the operator, the institution or the national statistics office that produces it, with the date printed next to it. Where we could not verify a number, we say so instead of publishing an estimate.
The guides
Where to begin
30 guides so far. They exist because the usual answer turned out to be wrong once it was measured.
Neighbourhoods
Amsterdam Red Light District
The City bans every guided tour from passing the windows, including groups of four. Seven tours are on sale anyway. What that means for what you buy.
On the water
Amsterdam canal cruise
Pick the dock before the boat: in six of eight areas the wrong one costs more minutes on foot than the cruise lasts.
Planning
Anne Frank House
Tickets appear every Tuesday at 10:00 for six weeks later, and nothing else. 20 of the 46 bookable days were sold out when we counted them.
Planning
Amsterdam coffeeshops
The rule banning tourists is real and national, and has been since 2013. Amsterdam has simply never switched it on. What the law says, and the street rule that costs 100 to 650 euros.
Planning
Amsterdam nightlife
Bars in the centre close at 02:00 by city rule and pub crawls are banned. What runs until six holds a licence, and almost none of it is in the centre.
Planning
Albert Cuyp Market
Monday to Saturday, 09:30 to 17:00, and shut every Sunday and every public holiday. Which Amsterdam markets do open on a Sunday, and what to eat here.
Planning
The sex museums of Amsterdam
There are three, not one, and the famous one shuts at 18:00 while the other two run until 01:00. Prices, hours and the three different minimum ages.
Planning
Volendam, Marken and Edam
The coach tour that visits one village fewer costs more, runs an hour shorter and is rated lower. And what going on your own really gets you: two of the four.
Planning
Amsterdam bike tours
Hiring the same bike for three hours is 13,95 and a guided tour is 29, so the guide costs about fifteen. The three named operators priced side by side.
Planning
NEMO Science Museum
The roof is free and reached by an outside staircase, so one of the best views in the city costs nothing. Inside is 21,50, or free with six different cards.
Planning
Moco Museum
The same ticket costs 14,95 or 24,95 depending on the hour, and the Museumkaart that gets you into the other two for free only takes 30 percent off here.
Planning
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum does not sell out and the Van Gogh, five minutes away and at the same price, does. Both calendars counted on the same morning.
Planning
Van Gogh Museum review
Not another account of the visit. A full day has 31 timed slots and we counted what was left: 16 for today, and none before 12:15.
Planning
Top things to do in Amsterdam
The ten things people come to Amsterdam for, six of which are free, with what the other four cost.
Planning
Amsterdam to Keukenhof
The gardens sit at four different distances depending on where you set off: 45 km from Centraal, 21.6 from Schiphol, 17.6 from Leiden and 16.4 from Haarlem.
Planning
Zaanse Schans day trip from Amsterdam
The village is free to walk into and the train is 4,20 euros. The coach tour that goes only there is 42,50, five times the price.
Planning
2 day Amsterdam itinerary
The order decides the walking: 74.8 minutes across two days, against 141.9 in the worst order of the same ten stops.
Planning
3 day Amsterdam itinerary
Two days are the city; the third is a decision. We costed all ten day trips in daylight, and in December Giethoorn is more train than Giethoorn.
With children
Family things to do in Amsterdam
The famous art museums are free under 18; the science museum and the zoo charge children almost the adult rate. Five attractions priced by age.
Getting in
Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam
Everything points you to Centraal and nobody sleeps at Centraal. The train to Zuid plus metro 52 wins in all eight areas, and reaches De Pijp in 16 minutes.
Planning
The best time to visit Amsterdam
June is the driest, sunniest and least crowded of the warm months, and it is the one that gets overlooked. Twelve months measured from the Dutch climate record and official hotel occupancy.
Getting out
Day trips from Amsterdam
Seven of the ten have a direct train and cost under twenty euros. Only three are worth a tour, and it is the same reason every time: no railway station.
Eating
Amsterdam food tours
Ten tours from seven operators, from 78 to 159 euros for much the same three hours. The cheapest works out at 7,90 a tasting, which is what a whole plate costs at a Jordaan bar.
Where to sleep
Where to stay in Amsterdam
The neighbourhoods, timed rather than described: eight areas to the Dam, the Rijksmuseum, the Anne Frank House and Centraal.
Winter
Amsterdam Light Festival
Fifty-three nights of light art on the canals, and the festival says itself the artworks are free to see on foot. The boat costs four times the app.
Winter
Amsterdam Christmas markets
Four of them, three free, and two that last a single Sunday. The city's own tourist board was still publishing last year's dates in late September.
Winter
Amsterdam on New Year's Eve
Centraal closes entirely and no tram, metro, train or bus runs for five hours over midnight. Plan the night around that, not around the parties.
Getting out
Rotterdam from Amsterdam
The coach is quicker than the direct train and a quarter of the price, and the fast trains add a supplement the planner shows you separately.
Getting out
Giethoorn from Amsterdam
The one day trip where the coach beats the train on price as well as on time, because the train is per person and the boat you came for is per boat.
The rule this site runs on
Primary source or it does not get published. Every price, journey time and opening hour comes from the company or the institution that sets it, always with its date. If a competitor gives a number we cannot reproduce, we say that they give it and that we have not verified it.
It sounds obvious, and it is not how most Amsterdam figures reach you: they have been copied along for years without being checked again. Go and measure them and the sources stop agreeing.
Two examples. September is the usual value recommendation: the Dutch daily climate record says it averages more rain than July. Zaanse Schans is usually sold as a coach excursion: the railway says it is seventeen minutes and four euros twenty from Amsterdam Centraal.
What gets verified, what does not, and what happens when we get something wrong is written down on the how we verify page. Corrections are published, not quietly edited.