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
21 guides so far. They exist because the answer everyone repeats turned out to be wrong when we went and measured it.
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
Everyone compares the boats. We measured the walk to the dock: 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
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
We read the eight lists that rank for this search and counted: 26 different things recommended, and only two appear in all eight.
Planning
Amsterdam to Keukenhof
One guide says 20 minutes, another 40, another an hour and a half. All three are right: the gardens sit at four different distances and nobody says which.
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
Everyone publishes the stops. We measured the order: 74.8 minutes of walking 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
Every guide sends 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 almost nobody says so. 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, priced the same morning. From 78 to 159 euros for much the same three hours, and the best value is the cheapest.
Where to sleep
Where to stay in Amsterdam
Every guide describes the neighbourhoods. We timed the walk: 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
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, never from another guide. If a competitor gives a number we cannot reproduce, we say that they give it and that we have not verified it.
That sounds obvious and almost nobody does it. The most common Amsterdam figures on the web have been copied from guide to guide for years without anyone checking them again. When you go and measure them, the sources stop agreeing.
Two examples from the two guides that exist. Every guide recommends September as the value month: the Dutch daily climate record says it averages more rain than July. Every guide sells Zaanse Schans 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.