36 Hours in Amsterdam

Booking dinner reservations in Amsterdam’s center on a Friday night can be tricky; “destination” restaurants such as Restaurant De Kas, Caffé Toscanini and Café de Klepel require forward planning. Instead, cycle less than 10 minutes from the Keizersgracht to a cluster of small islands known as the Westelijke Eilanden (Western Islands), built in the early 17th century, where it feels as if nothing has changed in 400 years. There, find De Gouden Reael (by Caron), an elegant restaurant in a historic two-story canal house marked outside with a gable stone featuring a gold coin. The three- or four-course prix-fixe menus (€52 or €69) are French-inspired, but may include dishes like a ceviche of delicate raw corvina. After dinner, stroll across one of the city’s oldest drawbridges, Petemayenbrug, just outside the door.

Walk around the corner to the Lindengracht Markt, where many locals do their weekly shopping for fresh produce, meats and cheeses. Grab some bouquets at wholesale prices, which can be astonishingly cheap (the world’s largest flower auction, in the town of Aalsmeer, is a half-hour’s drive away). Walk east up the street called Lindengracht so that you eventually end up at the corner of the picturesque canalside lane, Brouwersgracht, where you can climb to the top of the bridge known as Lekkeresluis (meaning “tasty sluice,” a gate that controls the flow of canal water). From the bridge, see two four-century-old churches, the Noorderkerk, to the right, and farther in the distance, the lofty tower (topped with a blue ball) of the Westerkerk, and spot the swans floating past.

Exit the Noordermarkt by walking along the Prinsengracht, one of the city’s loveliest canals, completed in 1615, toward the Westerkerk (it’s currently under construction so may be surrounded by scaffolding). Next to that church is the former business address of Otto Frank, a German-Jewish refugee who moved his wife and two daughters, Anne and Margot, into the attic, in a secret hiding place behind a bookcase, which is now the location of the Anne Frank House Museum. It is here that the precocious young writer composed a diary that would become a worldwide sensation. Tickets (€16) are usually sold out months in advance. A good alternative, if you have more time in Amsterdam, is to visit the historic Jewish Cultural Quarter, where a €17 ticket gets you into several sites, including the Jewish Museum and Portuguese Synagogue; in 2024, sites will include the Hollandsche Schouwburg and the new National Holocaust Museum (both are being renovated). Together, these tell a more comprehensive story of Dutch Jewry.

Amsterdam’s three major museums — the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and Design — are on a single square: Museumplein. Although the Rijksmuseum (entry, €22.50) is the national museum, many tourists skip it in favor of the Van Gogh Museum, next door. Devote a single hour here to the city’s greatest star, Rembrandt; the Rijksmuseum has 22 of his paintings. See the “Jewish Bride,” with thick golden impasto that inspired Vincent van Gogh’s use of rich pigments, as well as his monumental group portrait of a civic militia, commonly known as “The Night Watch,” behind glass as it undergoes a multi-year examination and restoration. Take your time with “Old Woman Reading” — glimpse the wrinkles in her hands, which hold a Bible, so lifelike they will take your breath away.

One of Amsterdam’s great treasures is its music culture. Young Dutch people are all about techno, and there are plenty of events with pounding beats that last till dawn. For traditionalists, the premier classical venue is the dazzling Royal Concertgebouw, built in 1888; it was considered by experts to be among the top three concert halls in the world for its acoustics. Even if you don’t love classical, it can be a thrill to sit in the red velvet seats of the Grote Zaal (Great Hall) and read the names of famous composers painted on the walls, or gaze at its massive pipe organ, as the conductor Klaus Mäkelä leads the exceptional Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. For rock and pop, head to Paradiso, a former 19th-century church, which became a squat in the 1960s, and has since been repurposed as a concert venue offering different kinds of spiritual experiences.

Just next to the NDSM ferry station, there are a handful of restaurants with terraces that provide scenic views of the harbor. The newest addition is NEXT, which opened in 2022. The bar serves stellar cocktails, like the Doctor Earth, a concoction of mezcal and yellow Chartreuse topped with a twig of seaweed (€15) and artfully plated small dishes, such as gooseberry piri piri salad, and Korean pancakes (€7 to €19), many of them vegetarian and vegan-friendly. From the glass-walled second-floor dining area, you can even watch the digital signs on the ferry station, letting you know how many minutes you have before your boat back to the center will depart.