Netherlands / Amsterdam & North Holland / AmsterdamAmsterdam
Canals, Rembrandt and Van Gogh, and Europe's Gateway at Schiphol
The capital and where every flight from India lands (Schiphol, 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam Centraal). The 17th-century canal ring (UNESCO), the Rijksmuseum with Rembrandt's Night Watch, the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, the Jordaan, Vondelpark and the markets fill three days; a canal boat tour is the classic first hour. Book the big museums online: the Van Gogh Museum sells only timed tickets online, and the Anne Frank House releases its tickets every Tuesday for six weeks ahead. Indian food is easy: restaurants across the centre, and Amstelveen, south of the city by tram, has a large Indian community with Indian grocers and vegetarian restaurants; Surinamese-Hindustani roti shops are everywhere. Amsterdam adds a 12.5% tourist tax to every hotel bill (included in the prices here). Trains from Centraal reach every place in this list.
Highlights
- Rembrandt's Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum
- Van Gogh Museum
- Anne Frank House
- The canal ring at dusk
- Jordaan lanes and the Nine Streets
- Vondelpark by bike
- Stroopwafels at the Albert Cuyp Market
- A'DAM Lookout over the IJ
- Free ferry to Amsterdam-Noord
- Indian food and grocers in Amstelveen
Things to do
- Rijksmuseum: the Night Watch and the Gallery of Honour (timed ticket)Morning · 3h
- Van Gogh Museum (timed ticket, online only)Afternoon · 2h 30m
- Anne Frank House (tickets released six weeks ahead)Morning · 1h 30m
- Canal boat tour of the GrachtengordelEvening · 1h 15m
- Jordaan and Nine Streets walkAfternoon · 2h 30m
- Vondelpark and the Museum Quarter by rented bikeMorning · 2h
- Free ferry to Noord and the A'DAM LookoutEvening · 2h
- Royal Palace on Dam Square and the BegijnhofMorning · 1h 30m
- Our Lord in the Attic, a hidden church in a canal houseAfternoon · 1h
- Albert Cuyp Market and the cafés of De PijpMorning · 2h
- Rembrandt House MuseumAfternoon · 1h 30m
Tours & tickets
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When to go
Best time: April – May (tulips), June – September
Worth knowing
King's Day, 27 April: the City Fills
On King's Day (Tuesday 27 April 2027) up to a million people crowd central Amsterdam, the canals fill with party boats, trams are rerouted and trains into the city are packed. Hotels charge their highest rates of the year. Book months ahead, or base yourself in Haarlem or Utrecht and come in for the day.
Heads up
Book the Big Museums Weeks Ahead
The Anne Frank House releases its tickets every Tuesday for the date six weeks later, and they go within hours; the Van Gogh Museum sells only timed tickets online. Book both, and the Rijksmuseum, as soon as your dates are fixed. In summer Amsterdam is crowded and pickpockets work the trams, Centraal and the Red Light District: keep bags zipped.
Heads up
Schengen Visa: Book the Appointment Early
VFS Global appointments for every Schengen visa are hardest to get from April to July, when Indian families travel. Book your Netherlands appointment as soon as your dates are fixed (up to six months ahead), and apply at least 45 days before you fly.
Heads up
North Sea Winter: Wind, Rain and Short Days
From November to February days are short (dark by about 16:30 in December), wet and windy, and North Sea storms occasionally halt trains and close the beaches and the Scheveningen pier. Pack a waterproof jacket and warm layers; the museums are the best of a winter trip.
- King's Day (Koningsdag) — The national holiday for the King's birthday: the whole country dresses in orange, every street becomes a flea market (the vrijmarkt, from the evening before), and Amsterdam's canals fill with party boats and its centre with up to a million people. Trains into Amsterdam are packed and hotels cost their most; book months ahead, or watch it in a calmer city such as Utrecht, Haarlem or Delft. Museums open, many shops close.
- Tulip season and Keukenhof — Keukenhof opens for about eight weeks; crocuses and daffodils flower first, the tulips peak around mid-April, and the bulb fields between Haarlem and Leiden are in colour from late March to early May, then cut. The Bloemencorso flower parade drives from Noordwijk to Haarlem through the bulb district on a Saturday in late April. Weekends and Easter are the busiest days: book Keukenhof's timed tickets early.
- Remembrance Day and Liberation Day — On 4 May at 8 pm the whole country stops for two minutes' silence for the war dead, with the national ceremony on Dam Square in Amsterdam; trams and trains halt. On 5 May free liberation festivals with music fill parks in Haarlem, Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam and other cities.
- Christmas markets and the Amsterdam Light Festival — From late November Maastricht holds its Christmas market (Magisch Maastricht) on the Vrijthof, and Valkenburg, 15 minutes away, holds markets inside its caves; Delft and Utrecht have smaller ones. In Amsterdam the Light Festival puts light art along the canals from late November into January, best seen from a canal boat in the evening. Markets close by Christmas or the New Year.
- Sinterklaas — St Nicholas "arrives by steamboat from Spain" in mid-November (Amsterdam's parade by boat and horse through the centre is the big one) and families exchange presents and poems on 5 December. Expect crowds on the arrival day; the bakeries fill with pepernoten and chocolate letters.
- Pride Amsterdam and the Canal Parade — Late July to early August, ending with the Canal Parade of decorated boats along the Prinsengracht, watched by hundreds of thousands. The canal ring is closed to boats and packed on the day; hotels are dear.
- Diwali and Phagwa (Holi) in The Hague — The Netherlands' large Surinamese-Hindustani community celebrates Phagwa (Holi) in spring and Diwali in October or November, with the biggest public events and mandir celebrations in The Hague, and others in Rotterdam and Amsterdam-Zuidoost. A welcome taste of home for Indian travellers; check the city's events listings for the year's dates.
Part of a longer route
Amsterdam is a stop on a curated circuit through the Netherlands.