Amsterdam, Netherlands: Self-Guided Walking Tour

The best things to do in Amsterdam include discovering its museums, historic churches, canal houses, memorials and distinctive neighbourhoods. The city’s most rewarding sights bring together Dutch art, religious history, architecture and the stories of Amsterdam’s changing communities. Neywo has a free audio guide for Amsterdam with 129 narrated places.

What to see in Amsterdam

Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum is the Netherlands’ national museum dedicated to Dutch art and history. Founded in The Hague on 19 November 1798, it moved to Amsterdam in 1808 before settling in its present building, designed by Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1885.

Its collection contains one million objects spanning the years 1200 to 2000, with 8,000 objects on display. The museum is particularly known for works by 17th-century Dutch masters including Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals. After a ten-year renovation costing €375 million, the main building reopened on 13 April 2013.

Van Gogh Museum

On Museumplein, the Van Gogh Museum presents more than 200 paintings, about 500 drawings and around 700 letters by Vincent van Gogh. The collection also includes his Japanese prints, while the museum library holds more than 23,000 titles.

The museum opened on 2 June 1973. Its main building was designed by Gerrit Rietveld, with a later wing by Kisho Kurokawa. Alongside van Gogh’s work, the museum sometimes displays paintings by artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne, Gauguin, Pissarro and Monet.

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is one of the city’s main destinations for modern and contemporary art and design. Founded in 1874, it opened in its building on Paulus Potterstraat in 1895, near the Rijksmuseum.

The museum combines a 19th-century building designed by Adriaan Willem Weissman with a 21st-century wing by Benthem Crouwel Architects. Its collection covers modern and contemporary art and design from the early 20th century to the present.

Concertgebouw

The Concertgebouw, officially Het Koninklijk Concertgebouw, is a major Amsterdam concert hall and the home of the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest. It contains several concert spaces: the Grote Zaal, Kleine Zaal, Koorzaal and Spiegelzaal.

The building opened on 11 April 1888 and became a national monument on 4 July 1974. During its 125th anniversary celebrations in 2013, it received the title “Koninklijk”. A major renovation and rebuilding in 1988 moved the main entrance to Concertgebouwplein no. 2.

Oude Kerk

The Oude Kerk, or Old Church, is Amsterdam’s oldest parish church and remains both a place of worship and a cultural venue. A chapel stood on the site around 1213, and the church was consecrated in 1306 as a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Nicolas.

Until the Alteration of 1578, it was known as the Sint-Nicolaaskerk. It then became a Reformed church, as it remains today. Expansions in the 15th century created its cross-shaped plan, while fires in the early 1400s led to further work on the aisles. During the Iconoclastic Fury, much of the church’s art was destroyed.

Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder

Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder, or “Our Lord in the Attic”, is a former house church inside a 17th-century canal house. During the 1660s, a Catholic church was built across the building’s top three floors.

This hidden arrangement made it a “schuilkerk”, or clandestine church, where Catholics and other dissenters could worship when public religious services were not possible. The church has been open as a museum since 28 April 1888 and continues to serve as a place of worship as well as a museum.

Noorderkerk

The Noorderkerk stands on Noordermarkt beside the Prinsengracht canal. Designed by Hendrick de Keyser, it was completed by his son Pieter de Keyser after Hendrick’s death in 1621.

Its austere brick exterior, short spire and imposing form make it a prominent neighbourhood landmark. The church has a symmetrical Greek-cross plan, with four arms of equal length and annexes at the corners. Inside, large Tuscan pillars frame the space, while the centrally positioned pulpit reflects a deliberate departure from Catholic church traditions.

Haarlemmerpoort

The Haarlemmerpoort, also known as the Willemspoort, is one of the last surviving pieces of Amsterdam’s old fortifications. It was one of the five main access gates to the city in the 17th century and is one of only two fortification gates that still stand, together with the Muiderpoort.

The gate was the fifth on the Haarlem side to carry this name as Amsterdam expanded. Its position on the historic route to Haarlem explains the name.

Sint Olofskapel

The Sint Olofskapel, also called the Oudezijds Kapel, began as a chapel attached to the Sint Olofspoort, a major city gate. The first chapel was built between 1440 and 1450. Although the gate was demolished in 1618, Sint Olofspoort remains a street name.

Today, the former church is secularized and used as a conference centre.

Oosterkerk

The Oosterkerk is a 17th-century Dutch Reformed church in the Wittenburg area, built between 1669 and 1671. Its name means “eastern church”.

The building has a Greek-cross plan, with lower volumes partly filling the spaces between the arms. After church services ended in 1962, it fell into decay before being restored in the 1980s.

Rembrandt monument

On Rembrandtplein, a life-size bronze statue honours the painter Rembrandt van Rijn. Created by sculptor Louis Royer, the over-life-size figure is a 19th-century memorial and is described as Amsterdam’s oldest surviving statue. It was also the first statue in the Netherlands made for a visual artist.

Vondel statue

The Vondel statue, or Vondelmonument, stands in Vondelpark and commemorates the 17th-century Dutch poet and playwright Joost van den Vondel. It was unveiled on 18 October 1867. The park subsequently began to be called Vondel(s)park, becoming its official name in 1880.

Monument Indië-Nederland

Near Olympiaplein in Amsterdam-Zuid, Monument Indië-Nederland reflects the changing interpretation of Dutch colonial history. It was originally created as a memorial to General J. B. van Heutsz, commander of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and a figure associated with the conquest of Aceh for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1903.

The monument was renamed Monument Indië-Nederland in 2004 following political pressure. Its figures include a woman flanked by two small lions, popularly known as “Mien met de hondjes”.

Gemeenlandshuis

The Gemeenlandshuis is an old meeting house connected with the Dutch water boards in Diemen. Its original purpose was to accommodate water-board business.

Lekstraatsynagoge

The Lekstraatsynagoge is a synagogue in Amsterdam and an important focal point for its community.

Explore Amsterdam with a self-guided audio tour

Neywo offers an Amsterdam audio guide with eight walking tours and one bike route, covering 129 narrated places in total. The walks range from 0.51 to 5.43 km and from 38 to 221 minutes, while the bike route covers 9 km in 45 minutes. The tours include between 5 and 15 narrated stops.

You can choose a route through De Wallen, the Museumkwartier, the Jordaan, the western canals, the Jewish quarter or the area around the Westerkerk and Anne Frank House. There is also a route connecting the Concertgebouw with the Oude Kerk, and a bike route from Haarlemmerpoort to Rembrandt’s House.

Each story plays as you reach the place, at your own pace: no group, no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages, so download Neywo and explore Amsterdam with the city’s history unfolding as you walk.

Amsterdam is part of North Holland and the Netherlands. To continue exploring the region, consider Haarlem, Alkmaar, Volendam or Zaandam.