18 Best Performing Arts Venues in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The city's official website is a one-stop guide to all that's happening in Amsterdam and will link you to the cultural venues where you can purchase tickets.

After burning down and being rebuilt several more times, the current Neo-Renaissance facade that dominates Leidseplein, with its lushly baroque-style horseshoe interior, was created in 1894. Dutch theater is dynamic, strongly physical and visual, often with a hilarious, absurdest sense. Although the majority of the programming is in Dutch, there’s also a constant stream of visiting theater and dance companies plus, a selection of English-language performances and subtitled screenings. In 2018, the historic Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg merged with Toneelgroep Amsterdam to create the newly formed Internationaal Theater Amsterdam.

Although increasingly focused on commercial and large-scale musicals, this former circus theater (that still houses the annual World Christmas Circus) also schedules acclaimed Eastern European ballet and opera companies. International stars can be seen, too: Tom Waits, Idina Menzel, Dionne Warwick, and David Sedaris have all performed here.

Step back in time and catch a flick at one of Amsterdam's oldest cinemas. In operation since 1912, it now includes three additional screening rooms, each decorated with classic Art Deco ambience that perfectly sets the stage for art-house, indie, and international flicks.

This globally acclaimed concert hall has been home to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, one of the world's greatest, since 1888, and has welcomed an endless stream of top international artists. With a Viennese classicist facade and golden lyre at its peak, this sumptuous example of Neo-Renaissance style, designed by A. L. van Gendt, is a music mecca to more than 700,000 visitors per year. There are three concert halls (each with its own entrance), and you can attend a free lunchtime concert in one of them (usually Wednesday, September through June) while taking in the atmosphere. 

Just 500 meters from Centraal Station and built on a peninsula on the IJ, this spectacular building's design (compliments of Danish architects 3XN) was based on the shape of a ship. Since opening in 2005, it has become a main concert hall for both classical and jazz fans: the black box jutting out is the legendary jazz venue, Bimhuis. The glass building is architecturally stunning with its ship's ramp entrance and the Zen-like simplicity of its three natural colors (concrete, black, and light maple wood). The floor-to-roof glass walls provide spectacular views into the building and out onto the IJ, and the interior atmosphere changes naturally with variations in weather—clouds, rain, sunshine, and light. There are regular exhibitions, and workshops for kids (ages seven-plus) in the educational Klankspeeltuin (Sound Garden). Pay a lunchtime visit to chill out in café-restaurant 4'33 and enjoy the waterfront terrace.

Sleek, modern decor fills the lounge of this arthouse theater opposite the Melkweg, while four screens downstairs play independent, international films, and documentaries including some expat-friendly screenings with English subtitles.

For many years, this riverside theater has been the city's most vibrant venue for cabaret and comedy, mostly in Dutch but not always.

In 1912, this small canalside "lookout," as its name means in Dutch, transformed from a store to a cinema, ranking it as the city's oldest. Red velvet seats and a small viewing balcony nod to its 1920s heyday. Today, the theater is run by a small group of students with a diverse program featuring documentaries, Hollywood classics, and the odd mainstream film.

This center for innovative and experimental theater has five venues where it puts on plays, often with an eye toward international audiences.

This cinema has been run by students since the end of World War II and reflects their world-embracing tastes (especially during the showings of cult, arthouse, and foreign language films). The adjoining café is always buzzing with chatty humanities types, but that's not to say that the long-graduated among us are unwelcome.

Former industrial shipyards have been reinvented as, quite possibly, the city's largest broedplaats, or "breeding ground" for the arts, where regular theater performances and festivals take place. And with a ferry departing from behind Centraal Station, getting here could not be easier.

The former squat (in what was once a horse-drawn tram depot) and cultural center, just beyond the gates of the Vondelpark's western exit, has stayed true to its punky vibe over the years. In addition to the alternative, experimental, underground programming for adults, there's also an artsy kids' program that is well worth checking out.

Since 1921, this eclectic Art Deco reverie has been the most dazzling place for moviegoers to escape from reality. Owned by the country's main movie distributor, the theater has six screens showing the latest Hollywood blockbusters and the occasional art-house number. Before the lights go out, enjoy the beautiful interior of the main room.

Away from the madding crowds, this little old-worldly 1920s theater is noted for showing art-house cinema and more highbrow film classics. If you're looking to see a non-English language film, the best time to visit is on Monday evening when it's Expat Night and all subtitles are in English. At Realto VU ( De Boelelaan 1111), which opened in 2021, you'll find foreign films with English subtitles daily.

The Amsterdam foundation Kriterion, which has been promoting student-run business ventures since World War II, added this Indische Buurt-based venue to its résumé in 2007. This two-screen theater shows not only art-house and foreign films, but with a club, theater, open stage, and a restaurant-bar, it's a multidisciplinarian's dream come true.