Things to do in Amsterdam worth pre-booking
Amsterdam is unusually booking-dependent for a city this walkable. The three headline museums sell timed slots online — the Anne Frank House sells nothing at the door at all — and the canal boats, bike tours and day trips out to the windmills or the bulb fields all run to schedules. The walking, the markets and the parks cost nothing. We link Viator first and GetYourGuide as a backup; for the museums, buy direct from the museum.
Anne Frank House (book the moment tickets drop)
The Secret Annex behind Prinsengracht 263 is the one Amsterdam sight with no walk-up option whatsoever — the museum states plainly that tickets are not sold at the door. Every ticket is a timed online slot: adults €16.50, ages 10–17 €7.00, ages 0–9 €1.00, all including a €1 booking fee. The museum maintains a minimum age of 10 and says it is not suitable for younger children.
All tickets for a given date are released on the museum’s own site every Tuesday at 10:00 CEST, exactly six weeks ahead. Set an alarm; popular slots go in minutes. Walking tours of the neighbourhood are widely sold but do NOT include entry — only the museum sells that.
Museumplein: Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, Stedelijk and Moco
Four museums on one square, which is why this is a half-day rather than a marathon. The Rijksmuseum is €25 with under-18s free, open daily 9:00–17:00 including public holidays; the Van Gogh Museum is €25 with under-18s free, €16 for students, and sells online only. Both require a booked start time — the Rijksmuseum says this applies to everyone, Museumkaart holders included.
The Van Gogh Museum has not been affiliated with the I amsterdam City Card since 1 June 2022 and must be booked separately — a common and expensive assumption to get wrong.
A canal cruise — and which kind
Seeing the Grachtengordel from the water is the one boat trip that genuinely earns its place, because the canal houses were built to be read from a boat. The choice is between the large hop-on-hop-off glass-roof boats near Centraal and the small open sloops that fit under the low bridges into the quieter western canals.
A cruise is included with the I amsterdam City Card. Evening cruises through the lit bridges are the better version if you only do one.
Cycling the city — with a realistic risk assessment
Amsterdam is built around the bicycle and renting is easy and cheap near Centraal and Leidseplein. It is the fastest and most enjoyable way to cover the ring of neighbourhoods outside the centre, where the distances start to punish walking.
Central Amsterdam bike traffic is fast, dense and unforgiving of hesitation. If you are a nervous cyclist, take a guided tour first, ride outside 08:00–09:00 and 17:00–18:00, and cross tram rails at a sharp angle — a wheel caught in a rail is the classic tourist fall.
Markets, neighbourhoods and the free half of the city
Albert Cuypmarkt in De Pijp (Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays), the Saturday farmers’ market at Noordermarkt in the Jordaan, Ten Katemarkt in Oud-West, the Nine Streets, Vondelpark and the courtyard hofjes are all free and all more interesting than another queue.
Amsterdam Noord via the free ferry
The ferries from behind Centraal to Buiksloterweg, IJplein and NDSM are free for pedestrians and cyclists, and the Buiksloterweg route runs through the night. On the far bank: the Eye Filmmuseum, the A’DAM Lookout swing over the IJ, and NDSM’s street art and warehouse bars.
The cheapest genuinely worthwhile half-day in Amsterdam, and the fastest way to leave the crowds behind without leaving the city.
Day trips: Zaanse Schans, Haarlem, Keukenhof
Zaanse Schans puts working windmills, a clog workshop and a cheese farm about 40 minutes north — the classic half-day out. Haarlem is 15 minutes by train and gives you a smaller, calmer Dutch city with the Frans Hals Museum. Keukenhof’s bulb fields are spectacular but open only about eight weeks a year — its own site gives 18 March to 9 May for 2027.
Zaanse Schans has very limited parking and asks visitors to arrive by public transport. Keukenhof tickets go on sale months ahead for the following spring.
Some booking links are affiliate links — if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which options we recommend.
Booking tips (so you don’t miss out or overpay)
- Work backwards from the Anne Frank House: its six-week release window is the hardest constraint in the city, so pick your dates, then buy that ticket, then build the rest of the trip around the slot you got.
- Buy museum tickets from the museums themselves. The Van Gogh Museum warns publicly about fraudulent resale platforms and lists its own authorised resellers.
- Do the City Card maths before buying. It bundles a long list of attractions, GVB transport and a canal cruise, but not the Van Gogh Museum and not Anne Frank House entry — for a two-museum trip it often loses.
- Book the day trips with free cancellation and check the weather two days out. A windmill village or bulb field in horizontal Dutch rain is a very different day.
- Skip nothing for cost in the centre: the markets, Vondelpark, the hofjes, the Rijksmuseum gardens and the Noord ferries are free, and they are a real part of the city rather than filler.
Want these slotted into a day-by-day plan? See Amsterdam in 3 days.