Amsterdam is one among my favourite cities on the planet. I’ve been visiting it often for over a decade and even spent a while dwelling there. It’s a metropolis with a misunderstood fame, usually glossed over as merely a spot to occasion and partake within the illicit Pink Gentle District.
However Amsterdam has a lot extra to supply.
If you wish to discover town, there are actually solely two methods to get round: biking and strolling. And fortuitously, for many who wish to stroll (and/or bike) the Dutch capital presents a legion of picturesque strolls: alongside leafy canals, previous centuries-old church buildings and comfortable canal homes, and down slender cobblestoned lanes.
To actually get a glimpse beneath town’s floor, take a strolling tour. I take them in each metropolis I go to. They’re the easiest way to study concerning the historical past and tradition whereas connecting with an skilled native information who can share their ideas and perception.
Amsterdam, unsurprisingly, presents an array of distinctive excursions: from intercourse worker-led excursions by the famed Pink Gentle District to excursions that discover town’s leisure drug tradition to strolls that concentrate on the historical past of town.
That will help you determine which of them to take, right here’s an inventory of the most effective strolling excursions in Amsterdam!
BEST PAID TOUR
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AmsterBike
This tour with AmsterBike an ideal strategy to join with the native tempo of life. AmsterBike presents just a few several types of excursions, together with a biking tour across the canals and excursions out into the countryside.
For his or her Amsterdam metropolis tour, spend three hours pedaling alongside canals and down slender atmospheric streets of this loveable metropolis, studying the historical past of the place as you go alongside whereas stopping at a number of the metropolis’s most iconic spots.
Finest Free Tour
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Sandemans New Europe
Sandemans does free excursions in lots of large European cities they usually know what they’re doing. With a neighborhood information main the way in which, their three-hour strolling tour hits all the key websites in Amsterdam. Begin on the Nationwide Monument and finish on the Anne Frank Home and in between stroll alongside canals whereas stopping within the Jewish Quarter, numerous church buildings, bridges, and canal-side homes alongside the way in which.
For extra different strolling excursions, right here’s an inventory of what I like the most effective:
1. Free Meals Tour Amsterdam
Dutch gouda cheese, scrumptiously candy and gooey stroopwafels, deep-fried savory bitterballen, and contemporary herring are all on provide throughout this free two-hour strolling tour that explores the meals of Amsterdam. The skilled native guides give a pleasant overview of the historical past and tradition of Dutch delicacies when you nibble on samples of conventional meals. And sure – you actually do get free meals on the tour (simply remember that these are tasting bites, don’t anticipate to get full right here).
On the finish of the tour, your information will depart you with private suggestions so as to proceed consuming your means by Amsterdam lengthy after the tour is over. The catch? You simply have to offer an excellent tip on the finish.
E book your tour right here!
2. Hungry Birds
For practically a decade this female-owned tour firm has been feeding hungry guests with information and meals of Amsterdam. “Mom birds,” as they discuss with their guides, lead food-loving guests round this charming Dutch metropolis for 4.5 hours, snacking on all method of edible Dutch delights. Tour-goers get the possibility to pattern avenue meals, conventional Dutch fare together with herring and stroopwafels, some non-Dutch treats like Surinamese and Indonesian delicacies, in addition to meals at an old-school atmospheric meals market.
Excursions from 89 EUR.
E book your tour right here!
3. HistoryWalks
Regardless of the nation’s neutrality throughout World Conflict II, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1939 shortly after the battle broke out. Led by a retired historical past professor, their “World Conflict II and the Holocaust in Amsterdam” tour takes guests on a whirlwind across the metropolis viewing it by the lens of World Conflict II. It’s an interesting three hours and the guides actually know their stuff. In the event you’re a historical past buff like me — or if you happen to simply wish to study extra concerning the battle from a Dutch perspective — that is the tour for you.
Excursions from 35 EUR.
E book your tour with HistoryWalks right here!
4. Final Celebration Amsterdam
These wild, party-themed pub crawl excursions are festive and enjoyable. Hop on the Pink Gentle District pub crawl the place the tour begins with limitless vodka photographs for the primary half-hour (after which at each cease you get one other free shot of booze). The tour concludes with free entry into Amsterdam’s largest nightclub. This tour isn’t all nearly getting drunk (although that’s a giant a part of it) however is an efficient strategy to discover out some cool occasion spots so you possibly can come again later and discover extra by yourself. it’s a good way to satisfy folks too if you happen to’re touring solo.
Excursions from 25 EUR.
E book your tour right here!
5. Consuming Europe
Began in Italy a decade in the past, Consuming Europe now has excursions in lots of large European cities, together with Amsterdam. The native guides know easy methods to eat — and the place! The meals tour by the hip neighborhood of Jordaan provides a fantastic style of the wonderful meals scene there. The three.5-hour strolling tour hits a number of the coolest spots within the neighborhood, plus avenue meals and meals markets to pattern conventional and artistic takes on Dutch meals in addition to some nice worldwide meals. The educated guides additionally give a fantastic account of the historical past of Dutch delicacies and the historical past and tradition of feasting in Amsterdam.
Excursions from 89 EUR.
E book your tour right here!
6. O My Amsterdam Excursions
Amsterdam is known for its tolerance of leisure drug tradition, notably towards marijuana use. In sure cafes, it’s completely fantastic to gentle up a joint and get greater than a kite. This 2.5-hour tour takes a bong-sized hit of drug tradition and historical past in Amsterdam, main curious guests to hashish develop rooms and the marijuana museum, amongst different spots, all of the whereas explaining drug tradition right here. The information even explains the distinction between dangerous weed and good weed. It’s an actual journey!
Excursions from 35 EUR.
E book your tour with O My Amsterdam Excursions right here!
7. Prostitute Data Middle Excursions
The Prostitute Data Middle, or PIC, in Amsterdam goals to dispel some myths and misconceptions about prostitution, basically, and in Amsterdam, particularly. Each Wednesday to Saturday at 5pm, a present or former intercourse employee leads excursions across the Pink Gentle District, explaining the practices of the commerce and taking tour-goers into an precise room the place prostitutes entertain prospects. And naturally, you possibly can ask plenty of questions. It’s every thing you ever needed to find out about intercourse work however had been afraid to ask.
Excursions from 25 EUR.
E book your tour right here!
8. AllTourNative Amsterdam
This Dutch metropolis has an enormous different tradition scene. And the most effective introduction to it’s to take a guided strolling tour. AllTourNative Amsterdam’s “Avenue Artwork and Different Amsterdam” tour takes guests to see a number of the metropolis’s finest avenue murals, galleries, and coffeehourses that assist and create different tradition in Amsterdam. The two.5-hour tour will certainly take you to spots you wouldn’t usually have heard of as a vacationer.
Excursions from 20 EUR.
E book your tour right here!
9. 360 Amsterdam
360 Amsterdam presents a slew of nice strolling excursions: guided excursions that simply deal with Anne Frank and the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, excursions that take guests to essentially the most Instagrammable spots within the metropolis, food-focused walks, and a Seven Sins of Amsterdam tour — a two-hour guided stroll by the Pink Gentle District, weed-scented cafes, and different “sinful” actions. In brief, they’ve a ton of fantastic excursions which are additionally reasonably priced.
