In the six years I’ve spent in Amsterdam since moving here, I’ve been to most of the city’s museums, hit up the majority of attractions, and spent a lot of time in its best bars and restaurants. But if I had to choose one single thing that visitors to Amsterdam should do? Well, that’d be simply sauntering around the city, taking it all in.
After all, if there’s one thing that separates Amsterdam from many other European city breaks, it’s how dense and walkable it is. By eschewing public transport and exploring on your own, you’ll discover little secrets that will make the city uniquely yours. But while I’m biased, and think you could spend years meandering Amsterdam’s winding streets, you actually only need about three days to see the lion’s share of the city. That gives you enough time to take in the best sights, have a genever or two, and, yes, do some serious walking. Here are my picks of the absolute best things to do in Amsterdam. –Callum Booth
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Callum Booth and Derek Robertson are writers based in Amsterdam. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.