10 Best Sights in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The old stock-exchange building is revered as Amsterdam's first modern building and the country's most important piece of 20th-century architecture. Built between 1898 and 1903 by H. P. Berlage, its design became a template for the style of a new century. The new Beurs, with its simple lines and the influence it had on the Amsterdam School architects who followed Berlage, earned him the reputation of being the "Father of Modern Dutch Architecture."

A staunch socialist, Berlage designed the building as a "public palace," a function it truly fulfills today with room for conferences, collaborative workspaces, exhibitions, and events. Or just stop by Bistro Berlage for coffee, lunch, or dinner. There was a major redesign of this former Grand Café in 2017, but you can still admire the stunning symbolist mosaics by Jan Toorop inside. Weather permitting, the new Beursplein terrace is a pleasant place to watch the world go by.

Do also take the time to check out the colorful Tony's Chocolonely Super Store and Chocolate Bar on the north side of the building.

Built in 1488, the Waag functioned as a city gate, Sint Antoniespoort, until 1617. It would be closed at exactly 9:30 pm to keep out not only bandits but also the poor and diseased who squatted outside the city's walls. When Amsterdam expanded, the structure began a second life as a weigh house for incoming goods. The top floor of the building accommodated the municipal militia and several guilds, including the stonemasons, who did the evocative decorations that grace each of the seven towers' entrances. One tower housed a teaching hospital for the Surgeons' Guild. The Theatrum Anatomicum (Anatomy Theater), with its cupola tower covered in painted coats of arms, was the first place in the Netherlands to host public autopsies; for obvious reasons, these took place only in the winter. The building is now occupied by Restaurant-Café In De Waag and the Waag Society (institute for art, science, and technology).

This Neoclassical ceremonial gateway was built in 1840 as an excise post to replace one of the former city gates, which had to be demolished. It has been variously used as a police station, fire station, and public works office; in 1986 it was restored and converted into apartments. It's a useful landmark to find your way to the Westerpark.

Rembrandt loved to sketch this slightly leaning redbrick tower, which was built in 1516 as part of the city's defenses. In 1606, the Dutch sculptor and architect Hendrick de Keyser oversaw the addition of an octagonal brick superstructure and spire complete with clockworks that was known as Malle Jaap (Crazy Jaap) by locals because the bells pealed at odd times. The year 1610 saw the tower embark on a lean too far, and with lots of manpower and ropes it was reset on a stronger foundation. From 1878 to 2006, it housed the City Water Office. Today it's the office of a company that rents out classic saloon boats (captain included).

Just 200 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.

Landmarked by its now-famous pair of chiseled spectacles set over the Oudezijds Achterburgwal pediment—a sweet reference to old age—this passage led to an Oudemannenhuis, or pensioners' house, founded in 1602. Today bikes (not canes) are in evidence here, as this former almshouse is now part of the University of Amsterdam. One charming relic from its 18th-century days is the covered walkway, which was once lined with traders selling luxury items, whose rents helped subsidize the elderly. Adorned with red shutters, the stalls now house an array of antiquarian booksellers. Atop the Kloveniersburgwal end stands a group of allegorical figures, sculpted by Anthonie Ziesenis in 1786, representing Mercy with the attributes of Abundance (a horn), Enlightenment (a lamp), and Wisdom (a book) flanked by Old Age and Poverty.

With its extravagantly phantasmagoric lead-roof detail spilling over various sculpted sea horses, boat anchors, sea gods (Neptune and his four wives), dolphins, and even shoals of fish, this is one of Amsterdam's most delightful early 20th-century structures. Built in the 1910s with a suitably prow-shape front, it was used as the headquarters for the major shipping firms operating in Java and the Spice Islands during the final Dutch colonial years. Today it's the five-star Grand Hotel Amrâth Amsterdam. Twentieth-century master architects Piet Kramer, Johan van der Mey, and Michel de Klerk all contributed to the design of the building; their structure was one of the opening salvos by the fantastic Amsterdam School. After you admire all the ornamentation on the facade, amble around the sides to take in the busts of noted explorers, such as Barentsz and Mercator, along with patterned brickwork and strutting iron tracery. Wander inside to check out the design of the Seven Seas restaurant and have a drink at the classically restored bar. You can book a private tour of the building and its lavish interiors (Sunday only, in combination with a rather expensive high tea or lunch, via Museum Het Schip www.hetschip.com).

Amsterdam's only surviving defense tower began life around 1487 as the end point of the city wall. The term schreier suggests the Dutch word for wailing and as lore would have it, the "Weeping Tower" was where women came to cry when their sailor husbands left for sea and to cry again when they did not return (there's a commemorative stone from 1569 of a woman and a boat on the Gelderskade side). However, the word schreier actually comes from an Old Dutch term for "sharp," and because the old city wall made a sharp corner here, this is a more accurate derivation for the tower's name. It's also famous as the point from which Henry Hudson set sail to America. A plaque on the building tells you that he sailed on behalf of the Dutch East India Company to find a shorter route to the East Indies. In his failure, he came across Canada's Hudson Bay and later—continuing his unlucky streak—the New York harbor and the Hudson River. He eventually landed at what is now Manhattan and named it New Amsterdam. The attached VOC café has a lovely view and serves jenever, veal croquettes, and other local delights. On the next floor up, there's a nautical shop for modern-day sailors.

As family home to the two Trip brothers, who made their fortune in the arms trade during the 17th-century Golden Age, this noted house's buckshot-gray exterior and various armament motifs—including mortar-shaped chimneys—designed by Justus Vingboons, are easily explained. But the Corinthian-columned facade actually covers two symmetrical buildings (the dividing wall is positioned behind the middle windows), one for each brother, making it the widest residence (at 72 feet) in Amsterdam. From 1817 to 1885 it housed the national museum or Rijksmuseum and is now the home of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Be sure to look across the canal to No. 26, the white building topped with golden sphinxes and dated 1696, which is known as the "Little Trip House." The story goes that Mr. Trip's coachman remarked that he would be happy with a house as wide as the Trippenhuis door. By way of response, Mr. Trip is alleged to have built just that with the leftover bricks. In reality, the domicile was constructed six decades after the Trip mansion, after both of the brothers had already died, possibly as a way to squeeze a house into an existing alleyway. There are a few other very narrow houses in Amsterdam, too: the narrowest rear gable is at Singel 7 at only 3 feet wide, and the building on Oude Hoogstraat 22 is only 7 feet wide and 19 feet deep.

The former headquarters of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) has major historical significance. Although not as sovereign as the Dutch East India Company, it was essentially given free rein to trade on Africa's west coast, the Americas, and all the islands of the West Pacific and New Guinea. The WIC also oversaw the infamous export of 275,000 slaves from West Africa to the Caribbean in the 17th century. In these rooms, the decision was made to buy Manhattan for the equivalent of 60 guilders. The building is now largely used as an events space; but there's also a wonderful wine bar, and you can visit the courtyard to see the statue of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch director-general of Nieuw-Nederland---today better known as New York City.