35 Best Sights in Amsterdam, Netherlands

On sunny days, Amsterdam's "green lung" is the most densely populated section of the city. Vondelpark is the place where sun is worshipped, joints are smoked, beer is quaffed, picnics are luxuriated over, bands are grooved to, dogs are walked, balls are kicked, and lanes are biked, jogged, and rollerbladed on. By evening, the park has invariably evolved into one large outdoor café. The great thing about this park is that, as long as you stay relaxed and go with the flow, you can dress however, hang however, and do whatever. (For years, a mysterious man danced around the park on 1970s silver roller skates, wearing silver body paint and a silver G-string—even in winter—with shaved legs and chest, headphones, and a silver cap with propeller, and nobody batted an eyelid; his spirit lives on today.)

The Vondelpark was laid out in 1865 as a 25-acre "walking and riding park" for residents of the affluent neighborhood rising up around it. It soon expanded to 120 acres and was renamed after Joost van den Vondel, the "Dutch Shakespeare." Landscaped in the informal English style, the park is an irregular patchwork of copses, ponds, children's playgrounds, and fields linked by winding pathways. The park's focal point is the open-air theater, where there is free summer entertainment Friday to Sunday.

Over the years a range of sculptural and architectural pieces have been installed in the park. Picasso even donated a sculpture, The Fish, on the park's centenary in 1965, which stands in the middle of a field to deter football players from using it as a goalpost. On the west side of the park, you can stop in at the Neoclassical-era Hollandsche Manege (the oldest riding school in the Netherlands; Vondelstraat 140), inspired by the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Visit the on-site museum (€12.50) and enjoy a cup of tea in the foyer bar, which overlooks the riding arena where classes are regularly held.

This rather touristy strip of hostels, bars, and coffeeshops began life as one of the original dikes along the Amstel. It's where the famous 17th-century poet Joost van den Vondel did business from his hosiery shop at No. 101, and where Mozart's father tried to unload tickets for his son's concerts in the area's upscale bars. It entered a decline in the 17th century when the proprietors decamped for fancier digs on the Canal Ring; sailors (and the businesses that catered to them) started to fill in the gaps. In the 19th century, the street devolved, along with its extension, Nes, into the city's primary debauchery zone. Today, there's an active gay scene here: look out for the rainbow and black-and-blue flags.

Amsterdam's most famous flea market was once an area bordered by the Leprozengracht (Leper's Canal) and Houtgracht (Wood Canal), which often took the brunt of an overflowing Amstel River; the area also housed only the poorest of the city's Jews. In 1893 it became the daily market for the surrounding neighborhood—a necessity because Jews were not allowed to own shops at the time. It became a meeting place whose chaos of wooden carts and general vibrancy disappeared along with the Jewish population during World War II. And yet it still provides a colorful glimpse into Amsterdam's particular brand of pragmatic sales techniques. The market is currently being renovated, but remains open to the public.

Few streets have had a longer or more torrid history than Zeedijk (it means "sea dike," as it sounds), which has been around since Amsterdam began life as a boggy hamlet. In the 15th and 16th centuries, its businesses serviced the lonely, thirsty sailors disembarking from the ships of the East India Company. By the 1970s, though, most of the traffic Zeedijk saw was drug traffic, and tourists were advised to avoid the neighborhood at night because of the junkies and high crime rate. Since its renovation, Zeedijk has become a pleasant street, with plenty of restaurants, pubs, and shops, and it's a very nice place to wander.

There are several interesting sights along the Zeedijk. The entrance of 15th-century Sint Olofskapel (St. Olaf Chapel) sports a sandstone sculpture by Hendrick de Keyser: grains growing out of a supine skeleton with a Latin inscription meaning "Hope for a better life." It's now an events venue. Across the street at No. 1 is one of only two houses with timber facades left in the city. Dating to around 1550, a persistent (and untrue) folkloric tale tells that In't Aepjen (In the Monkeys) provided bedding to destitute sailors if they promised to return from their next voyage with a monkey. Alas, a local historian revealed in 2019 there never was an inn here, though it's first inhabitant, Jan Jansz 'int Aepjen was a trader in hides and skins. Café 't Mandje at No. 65 was the first openly gay bar, run by legendary lesbian biker chick Bet van Beeren (1902–67). It reopened in 2008, with much of the original interior restored, complete with the trophy ties Bet snipped off customers. The Chinese community dominates the end of the street, where street signs are in Dutch and Mandarin. There are around 10,000 Chinese in Amsterdam, a 20th-century presence much younger than the Dutch in China (Taiwan came under Dutch control in 1624). One highlight is the Fo Guang Shan He Hua Buddhist temple (No. 118), the largest Buddhist temple in Europe constructed in the traditional style. Chinatown extends into Geldersekade and Nieuwmarkt, and every year there are small (but colorful) Chinese New Year celebrations.

By the beginning of the 18th century, Amsterdam had a virtual monopoly in the diamond industry in Europe, so when diamonds were discovered in South Africa in 1869, there was a windfall for Amsterdam's Jewish communities, a third of whom worked in the diamond trade. Built in 1879, Gassan Diamonds was once home to the Boas diamond-polishing factory, the largest in the world, where 357 diamond-polishing machines processed around 8,000–10,000 carats of rough diamonds per week. Today, Gassan offers polishing and grading demonstrations and free hour-long tours, in more than 27 languages, of the building and its glittering collection of diamonds and jewelry.