Amsterdam
Canals in rings, gables in rows, and bicycles everywhere in between.
Amsterdam's centre is a half-moon of canals dug in the seventeenth century, lined with narrow brick houses, crossed by hundreds of bridges and ridden over by a city that does everything by bicycle. It is small, flat, handsome and easy, with museums out of proportion to its size.
Why go
The canal ring is the thing: walk it, cycle it, take a boat along it at dusk. Then the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum on the Museumplein, the Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht, and the Jordaan's lanes for lunch.
Beyond the ring the city keeps going: the markets of De Pijp, the ferries across the IJ to the north, the parks and the polders. The rest of the Netherlands is an hour away by train.
Highlights
What people go for, in no particular order.
01The canal ring
Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, with their bridges, houseboats and gabled houses. A boat tour explains the layout; a walk at dusk, when the lamps come on, shows why it works.
02The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum
Rembrandt's Night Watch and the Dutch golden age in one building, Van Gogh's whole career in the next. Both on the Museumplein, both worth booking ahead.
03The Anne Frank House
The canal house where the family hid, kept as it was. Tickets are released in advance and go quickly; it is a quiet, affecting hour.
04The Jordaan
The old working quarter west of the ring, now a district of small streets, courtyards, cafés and the Saturday market on the Noordermarkt.
05De Pijp and the Albert Cuyp market
The long street market south of the centre, with the neighbourhood's cafés and restaurants around it and the Heineken brewery at the end.
06Across the IJ
Free ferries behind Centraal station cross to Amsterdam-Noord, where the old shipyards have become a district of studios, cafés and the film museum.
07Day trips by train
Haarlem, Utrecht, Delft and The Hague are each well under an hour; in spring the bulb fields near Lisse are the reason the trains fill.
Areas
Where to base yourself, and what each area is like.
The canal ring
Canal houses turned into hotels, everything on foot. The obvious base, and crowded in summer.
The Jordaan
Village-like lanes a few minutes from the ring, with cafés and markets. Quiet nights, lively days.
De Pijp
A market, a park and a young, local crowd south of the museums. A short tram ride from the centre.
Oost and the Plantage
Leafy streets by the zoo and the botanical garden, calmer than the centre and a tram from it.
When to go: Amsterdam
- SpringApril and May
- Tulips in the fields and the parks, King's Day in April turning the whole city orange. Bright, breezy and busy.
- SummerJune – August
- Long light evenings on the canals and terraces, festivals in the parks. The fullest months for hotels.
- AutumnSeptember and October
- Leaves on the water and a slower city. Often mild, with the museums easier to get into.
- WinterNovember – March
- Cold, grey and cosy, with the light festival stringing art along the canals. Bring a warm coat for the bike.
Getting there
Airports
One airport in our search serves Amsterdam. Distances are measured in a straight line.
- AMSSchiphol
Distance from
- LHRLondon380 km
- CDGParis410 km
- DXBDubai5,160 km
- JFKNew York5,850 km
- BOMMumbai6,850 km
- JNBJohannesburg9,020 km
- SINSingapore10,500 km
- SYDSydney16,650 km
Getting around: Amsterdam
Trains from Schiphol reach Centraal station in a quarter of an hour. Trams, buses, the metro and the ferries cover the city; a contactless card taps on and off all of them.
Cycling is how the city moves, and hire bikes are everywhere; keep to the bike lanes and watch for trams. The centre is also small enough to walk end to end.
Practical facts
The country, its currency and languages, the time zone and the time there now.
- Country
- Netherlands
- Currency
- EUR · Euro
- Languages
- Dutch
- Time zone
- Central European Time
- Local time now
- Calling code
- +31
The atlas
Amsterdam in figures
The figures under this guide: the climate on modelled 2001–2020 averages, how far it is from the UAE, and the places around it.
Climate
The weather in Amsterdam, month by month
- Jan5°
- Feb6°
- Mar9°
- Apr13°
- May16°
- Jun19°
- Jul21°
- Aug21°
- Sept18°
- Oct14°
- Nov10°
- Dec6°
- Mild to warm and dry
- Mild to warm, humid or showery
- Hot
- Cool
- Wet
- Cold
Good for going, on these averages: June to September.
Mean highs run from 5°C in January to 21°C in July, with about 828 mm of rain in a year.
These are modelled averages for 2001–2020; the seasons described above are our own reading of a typical year.
Month-by-month climate for AmsterdamModelled averages for an area about 50 km across, not a weather station's record: NASA POWER climatology, 2001–2020.
Airports
How far it is from the UAE
From DXBAmsterdam
5,160 km
6 hrs 50 mins · Estimate
From AUHAmsterdam
5,180 km
6 hrs 50 mins · Estimate
The great-circle distance, and a rough flying time: the distance at an average 850 km/h plus 45 minutes for take-off and landing. Real flights follow airways, meet headwinds and wait for traffic, so schedules differ.
On the map
Places near Amsterdam
Plan this trip: Amsterdam
Open the trip builder with Amsterdam already filled in. Flights, stays and everything else are priced together in one quote, prepared by a person on our team.
