Popular Amsterdam Attractions

When a lot of people think of Amsterdam, only one or two things come to mind, but there's much more to this city than sex and drugs. Even if you ignore the siren song of those twin vices, you'll run out of days before you run out of options. These are the big ones, with what you need to know before you go.

One rule applies to almost all of them now: book ahead online. The major museums sell timed tickets, and the most popular one doesn't sell tickets at the door at all.

Anne Frank House

This is the attraction first-time visitors most want to see, and the one they most often miss because they didn't plan. The Anne Frank House sells tickets only through its own website, for a set time, with nothing sold at the door. New tickets go on sale every Tuesday at 10:00 for visits six weeks later, and popular slots go fast.

The upside is that the long line that used to wrap around the Westerkerk is gone. As of 2026, tickets are 16.50 euros for adults, 7 euros for ages 10 to 17 and 1 euro for under-10s, including a 1-euro booking fee. The museum is open daily from 9:00 to 22:00, and you can add a 30-minute introductory program in English, which is worth it if you don't know the history well.

Rijksmuseum

The national museum's long renovation is ancient history: it reopened in full in April 2013, and Rembrandt's The Night Watch is back in its place at the end of the Gallery of Honour, currently inside a glass chamber while conservators restore it in public view. Adult tickets are 25 euros, under-18s are free, and everyone needs a timed ticket from the Rijksmuseum website. Our Rijksmuseum guide has the details.

Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh has an outsized reputation and not everyone is a fan of his work, but the Van Gogh Museum still packs them in, and it shows plenty of his contemporaries too. It's across Museumplein from the Rijksmuseum. Tickets are 25 euros for adults, online only with a start time, from the museum's ticket page. Summer slots can sell out weeks ahead.

Heineken Experience

The old brewery stopped brewing in 1988, but it still pours a beer or two for people who take the self-guided tour through Heineken's history and brand-building circus. The basic tour is 24.95 euros with one beer, and the ticket with the rooftop bar is 29.95 euros with two drinks (as of 2026). It's strictly 18 and over. More in our Heineken Experience guide.

Red Light District

The oldest and arguably most beautiful part of the city is known for its legal, regulated sex work, but it also has the Oude Kerk, some of the city's best-preserved canal houses and plenty of ordinary bars. The rules for visitors have tightened a lot:

• Smoking cannabis on the street in the Red Light District, Nieuwmarkt and Dam Square has been banned since 2023, with a 100-euro fine.
• Guided tours past the windows have been banned since April 2020.
• Don't photograph or film sex workers. The city's own visitor rules are blunt about it.
• On weekend nights, bars in the core of the district close at 2am and can't let new people in after 1am (city rules).

Our Red Light District guide explains how everything works, and there's much more to it than most people realize.

Day trips from Amsterdam

This is a compact city packed with sights, but even if you get restless, there are plenty of good destinations within an hour or so by train: Haarlem, Utrecht, Delft, The Hague and Rotterdam among them. See our day trips from Amsterdam page.

More to explore

For a longer list, try our things to do in Amsterdam hub, the guide to Amsterdam's museums, or free things to do if you've already spent your budget on museum tickets. If you're planning to hit several paid sights in a couple of days, compare the price of single tickets against the I amsterdam City Card.