Amsterdam
Excursions and Sights
From:
Amsterdam
ABOVE: Tourists and locals tiptoe through the
flowers on Tulip Island. INSET
BELOW: A tour boat near Centraal Station.
Sights
Amsterdam Hotspots:
Sights
A succinct and handsomely illustrated roundup of major sights with maps to help
you get your bearings.
What a Trip: Amsterdam
Nancy D. Brown, a travel writer and blogger from
California, describes "the best things to see and do in Amsterdam, Holland."
Tours and sightseeing
A Day in
Amsterdam europeforvisitors.com
If you're stuck at Schiphol Airport for more than a few
hours, take the train into the city.
The Amsterdam Dungeon
europeforvisitors.com
History and horror go hand in hand at Amsterdam's creepiest tourist attraction,
which is built over a medieval graveyard.
ARTTRA Cultural Agency
If you're traveling with a group, the non-profit ARTTRA organization can arrange
customized pedestrian, boat, or bus tours to museums and private collections.
Guidor - Netherlands Guide Organization
Book a professional travel guide online, with a choice of 20 different
languages.
 Lovers Amsterdam Canal Cruises
Rederij Lovers offers a variety of boat trips--among them, sightseeing tours, a circular museum boat route that allows stopovers, an Artis Zoo express boat, and
evening cruises with dinner or wine and cheese.
Comfort Tours
Ingrid van Bijnen offers private half- and full-day tours of Holland, using
minivans that hold up to six passengers.
Vermeer Art Tours
Dr. Kees Kaldenbach, an art historian who specializes in Vermeer, offers 2�-hour
tours that combine a lecture at his home with a guided tour through the Vermeer
collection at the Rijksmuseum. Dr. Kaldenbach can also guide you through
the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague.
Bicycle tours and itineraries
Mike's Bike Tours
Two young men--one from Canada, the other from the U.S.--offer daily group or
private tours by bicycle, along with half- or full-day bike rentals. Tours
include the use of a bicycle and, if necessary, rain gear.
Bicycle Day Trips Around
Amsterdam
Catch the train to Weesp, where you can rent a bike for a customized guided
tour of rural landscapes and historic towns. (Our link points to the Web site's
tours page; other pages on the site describe scenery and routes, with a
satellite photo to provide an overview.)
Related articles about day trips
Kinderdijk
Boat Cruise europeforvisitors.com
The most pleasant way to reach Holland's largest collection of windmills is with
the excursion boat Nehalennia from Rotterdam, which is an easy trip from
Amsterdam by train.
Alkmaar Cheese Market
europeforvisitors.com
Our article has details on how to reach this
popular tourist attraction, along with a collection of Web links for Alkmaar.
Keukenhof
Gardens europeforvisitors.com
The world's largest flower garden has more than 6,000,000
bulbs, including 1,000 varieties of tulips alone.
Floriade
europeforvisitors.com
Holland's once-in-a-decade World's Fair of horticulture will bloom again in
2012.
Top photo: Hugo Lingeman.
Inset photo: Devy
Masselilnk.
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