Things to do in Amsterdam

Amsterdam's Museumplein gathers the Rijksmuseum, home to Rembrandt's The Night Watch and Vermeer's The Milkmaid, the Van Gogh Museum, with Sunflowers, The Potato Eaters and Almond Blossom among more than 200 paintings, and the modern and contemporary art and design of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. In the centre, the Anne Frank House tells the story of the hiding place through quotes, photos and original items, and the Rembrandt House Museum, where Rembrandt lived and worked for 19 years, holds daily painting and etching demonstrations showing how the painter worked. See the canals and gabled houses from the water on an Amsterdam Canal Cruise, board the replica East Indiaman Amsterdam at the National Maritime Museum, try the lab workshops and Rooftop Square of the NEMO Science Museum, then take the free ferry from Central Station to A'DAM Lookout, 100 m up, with its Over the Edge swing. ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo includes its planetarium with entry, Vondelpark has an open-air theatre and a rose garden of more than 70 varieties, and the roughly 260 stalls of the Albert Cuyp Market in De Pijp sell herring and stroopwafels; in winter the Amsterdam Light Festival sets light art along a walking route through the centre.

Good to knowEvery Rijksmuseum visit needs a booked start time, the Van Gogh Museum asks you to book a timed entry online even with a museum card, and Anne Frank House tickets are sold only online for a timed slot, with new tickets released every Tuesday for visits six weeks later. NEMO opens on Mondays only on selected days, and the Albert Cuyp Market is closed on Sundays and public holidays. Visitors aged 18 and under enter the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk free, and canal cruise departure times vary by operator, so check before you go.