Goldens

I don't know about off the beaten path but for variety check out www.dosomethingdifferent.com.
You don't have to book through them but it will give you ideas about some different activities.
For example, we have gone horseback riding outside Florence and Vespa touring.
We used them to hot air balloon in Morocco.
You didn't list a budget, some of these can be expensive.

In Spain you can visit Zaragoza and the town of Belchite.

hetismij2

You topic is off the beaten track, then you ask for must dos in a list of very well visited, on the beaten track European cities. Something of a contradiction.

The problem in Amsterdam is the parts that are off the beaten track are off for a reason. They are areas you would not want to visit. You cannot have must sees and be off the beaten track in most of those cities.

If you are prepared to travel out of the cities, even a short way, you can find delightful places, which few people bother to go to.

You could for instance consider something like this; http://www.holyboot.nl/index-english.html

PalenQ

Berlin - I enjoyed - well not the right word perhaps - the Sauchenhausen Camp Memorial - a Zazi concetration camp about 15 miles or so north of Berlin - on an S-Bahn line. The gas chambers can still be seen and visited. Sachenhausen images:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sach...=1600&bih=1099

kerouac

I always have a lot of suggestions when people say where they have already been and what they have already seen.

That allows me to determine what is off their beaten track.

menachem

I second hetismij. Amsterdam is so on the beaten track that off the beaten track is either hard to find, of off the path for a reason.

I guess the phrase means: the things that other tourists generally do not know about.

Maybe visit Utrecht instead of Amsterdam, or Rotterdam even? That's immediately off the beaten track where the Netherlands are concerned.

if you want to insider's view on many European cities, check out spottedbylocals.com