Things to do in Amsterdam

• Heineken Experience turns the brewer's original 19th century brewery on the Stadhouderskade into a self-guided tour of the brewing process, its history and advertising, ending with tastings in a converted stable block.
• Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam fills a modern extension beside the Rijksmuseum with the national collection of modern and contemporary art, from Mondrian and Malevich to changing exhibitions of design and photography.
• NEMO Science Museum rises from the IJ in a green copper hull shaped like a ship's bow, its hands-on galleries covering energy, technology and the human body across five floors.
• ARTIS is Amsterdam's zoo and one of the oldest in Europe, combining animal enclosures with a planetarium, an aquarium and the Hortus botanical garden next door in the leafy Plantage district.
• Royal Palace Amsterdam still hosts state visits and royal receptions behind its 17th century town hall facade on Dam Square, its Citizens' Hall lined with marble maps of the world as it was known in the Golden Age.
• Rembrandt House Museum occupies the canal house on Jodenbreestraat where the painter lived and worked for two decades, reconstructed with his printing press, paint cabinet and a large collection of his etchings.
• A'DAM Lookout tops a 1960s tower across the IJ in Amsterdam Noord with an observation deck and Europe's highest swing, giving a wide view back over the historic centre and the harbour.
• National Maritime Museum is anchored in a 17th century naval warehouse on the Oosterdok, its centrepiece a full-scale replica of an 18th century Dutch East India Company ship moored alongside.
• Keukenhof, one of the world's largest flower gardens, makes an easy day trip from the city during its short spring season, its beds planted with millions of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths.
• Zaanse Schans gathers working windmills, green wooden houses and traditional craft workshops on the Zaan river, a half day trip north of the city into the Dutch countryside.

Amsterdam grew up on water, its Golden Age wealth channelled into a ring of canals that still shapes how the city is read today. More canals cross Amsterdam than Venice, and the 17th century Grachtengordel, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2010, still frames the historic centre in concentric bands of gabled houses and hump-back bridges. That engineering feat sits alongside a compact museum quarter holding Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh, and a cycling culture that outnumbers cars on most inner streets.

Neighbourhoods to know

Binnenstad, the medieval core around Dam Square and Centraal Station, gives way to the Grachtengordel, the three main canals ringing the centre. West of the canals, the Jordaan keeps a village feel among its narrower waterways, once a working class quarter and now home to small galleries and cafes. Plantage, to the east, is leafy and spacious around its zoo and botanical garden, while Amsterdam Zuid holds Museumplein and Vondelpark.

When to go and for how long

Amsterdam counts close to a million residents and draws visitors year round. April and May bring the tulip season and milder crowds, while June to August is busiest and warmest. Three to four days cover the canal ring, the main museums and a slower neighbourhood or two, with a fifth useful for a day trip further out.

Getting around

The centre is compact enough to cross on foot in under an hour, and bicycles outnumber cars on most inner streets, with rental shops throughout the Binnenstad. Trams and buses run by GVB link the wider city, free ferries cross the IJ river to Amsterdam Noord day and night, and canal boats offer a waterborne alternative to the trams.