Category Archives: Amsterdam highlights

38 Best Places to Go in Amsterdam.
Wondering where should I travel in the Netherlands?
Don’t worry, Hans Langh Private Tours Holland has listed some great options in this blog.
Amsterdam highlights: Amsterdam is active, open and honest.

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EYE Amsterdam

architecture EYE Film Museum Amsterdam

The EYE Amsterdam is the striking white building on the IJ, opposite to Amsterdam Central Station.
In the EYE Amsterdam you will find the city’s film museum where you can dive into the world of film. Exhibitions are held about film history and about making a film itself. Regularly supplemented with temporary exhibitions about the big names from the film world.
You can also simply watch a film in the EYE. No major Hollywood blockbusters, but lesser-known arthouse films.
The facade of the Eye Film Museum is covered with aluminum panels.
Whether you’re a movie buff or interested in architecture, the museum is a must-visit for anyone visiting the city. It offers a unique combination of art, culture and architecture.

About EYE Amsterdam Film Museum

We can end at the EYE at all my tours. For film and architecture lovers.

Beurs van Berlage Amsterdam

Beurs van Berlage Amsterdam picture from the 1920ies

The former Amsterdam stock and commodity exchange is one of the most famous buildings in the world. Beurs van Berlage Amsterdam, named after the architect Berlage, opened in 1903 and changed from a Koopmansbeurs to a palace of culture.
There is the inscription “Beidt thy time”, on the other side of the tower it says “Duur thy hour”. These texts want to encourage investors to be careful, to take their time, and only then to make their move.
The city was already an important trading center in the seventeenth century, the Golden Age. The first company in the world, the Dutch East India Company (VOC), already had a permanent place to trade shares there.
This building has not been used as a stock exchange since the end of the last century. It is now an exhibition centre with offices. Also concerts are organized here.

Beurs van Berlage Amsterdam Information

Concertgebouw Amsterdam

Concertgebouw Amsterdam seen from Museum Square

The Concertgebouw of Amsterdam was built in 1883 according to a design by Adolf Leonard van Gendt.
The new building quickly became a very popular monument for the people of Amsterdam. The building has three halls where around 800 concerts are held every year.
The Royal Concertgebouw is the music temple for classical music in the Netherlands.
The Royal Concertgebouw is considered one of the most important concert halls in the world due to its perfect acoustics and broad, high-quality programming.
With more than 700,000 visitors per year, the Concertgebouw is one of the most visited concert halls in the world.

More information about Concertgebouw Amsterdam

One of the best things to do in Amsterdam. For advice contact me at my information page.

He Hua Temple Amsterdam

interior view of the buddhist He Hua Temple Amsterdam

The Chinese FGS He Hua temple Amsterdam, which means lotus flower in Chinese, is the largest Buddhist temple of its kind in Europe.
The temple is built in the traditional Chinese palace style. The entire structure is composed of different symbols: the animals that can be seen on the roof represent the Chinese zodiac. The dragons must protect the temple and the district.
Taiwanese construction workers had come over to apply the special decorations.
The Buddhist temple is unique in Europe and is a place of pilgrimage for many Chinese.
Chinatown Amsterdam is unique: nowhere else in the world will you find a Chinatown where so many other nationalities are located in addition to Chinese people. Even the street signs in Chinatown Amsterdam are bilingual: Dutch and Chinese.

He Hua Temple Amsterdam Information

During our Amsterdam tour, when we make a walk in the Red Light District we will go into the temple.

Tuschinski Cinema Amsterdam

interior view of tuschinski cinema amsterdam

Tuschinski Cinema Amsterdam is now part of Pathé cinemas and has six screens.
There are regularly Dutch premieres with red carpet and paparazzi.
The building is named after its founder, the Jewish Polish immigrant Abraham Tuschinski, who had it built according to his taste and insight. The style is a mixture of Jugendstil, Art Deco and Amsterdam School. The entire interior, including the lamps, carpets, wall coverings, wall and ceiling paintings, are part of the total concept.
Initially also variety numbers were also staged.
It is one of the most beautiful movie theaters in Europe and it is still one of the most special buildings in Amsterdam today.
Tuschinski and co-founders Gerschtanowitz and Herman Ehrlich were deported to Germany during the war. There they were killed.

Tuschinski Pathé Cinema Amsterdam Information

Foodhallen Amsterdam

Foodhallen Amsterdam in the former tram depot

If you are in Amsterdam and would like to experiment a bit culinary, then you should definitely pay a visit to the Foodhallen. In the covered food market in the Oud-West district at Bellamyplein, you can enjoy a drink or a snack at one of the 30 stalls. Culinary start-ups are happy to surprise you here.
In the food halls you will find stands with various options of good quality food: from Vietnamese to Bitterballen and from Burgers to Korean Chicken with Donuts!
This newest hotspot in Amsterdam is located in the former tram depot.

Foodhallen Amsterdam Info

Best to visit the Foodhallen on your own or for a quick lunch during our Amsterdam tours.

Coffee shops in Amsterdam

Coffee shops in Amsterdam the facade of Dampkring

When you say Amsterdam, you also say weed and coffee shops.
Although the city council has already imposed stricter rules for buying joints and weed, there are still about 110 coffee shops in Amsterdam. Since a smoking ban has been in force in the hospitality industry, it is of course strange that you go to a coffee shop but actually have to go to a separate room to smoke a joint.
Are you curious what a coffee shop looks like, just walk in, buying or consuming is not mandatory.
The most famous coffee shop in Amsterdam is probably The Bulldog.
The best Coffeeshop in Amsterdam is the Dampkring or Atmosphere. Various Hollywood celebrities got high here.

Best coffeeshops in Amsterdam

Maybe a short visit to one of the coffee shop during our Amsterdam tour.

RijksMuseum to stage largest Vermeer Exhibition ever

View of Delft to see at RijksMuseum Amsterdam

update:
There are currently no more tickets available for the Vermeer expo in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. More than 300,000 tickets have been sold for the exhibition. The Rijksmuseum says it is now investigating the possibilities of offering more people the opportunity to come and watch.

The Vermeer exhibition can be seen until the 4th of June 2023.
Never before have so many works by the 17th-century master been on display: 28 of the approximately 37 paintings have come over from all over the world. There are also seven works that have never been shown in the Netherlands before.
Vermeer and his paintings are mysterious: A lot remains to be guessed.
We don’t even know what he looked like. There are no diaries, no letters. We can only get closer to Vermeer through his work.
One work is missing because because it was stolen 33 years ago.
And more works have been stolen but recovered in the past.
Stolen twice in Dublin on behalf of the IRA, but recovered in Belgium.
Counterfeited by master forger Han van Meegeren and ‘stolen’ by Nazi leader Herman Göring.
In 1990, Johannes Vermeer’s ‘The Concert’ is stolen from the Gardner Museum in Boston, US, by two ‘policemen’ in uniform.
Recently, two ‘climate stickers’ stuck to ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring’.

More information about the Vermeer Exhibition at the RijksMuseum website.

We can end any tour at the RijksMuseum.
Only friends of the RijksMuseum are able to visit the Vermeer exposition

NDSM area Amsterdam

festival seen from above at ndsm wharf amsterdam

The former shipyard NDSM (Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij), is an absolute creativity hotspot. Many artists studios, start-ups, concerts and activities.
In the 1970s, the shipbuilding industry in the NDSM area Amsterdam disappeared. A desolate industrial landscape of 32 hectares was left behind.
Now NDSM area Amsterdam is a breeding ground for creative companies in the fields of visual arts, design, theatre, film, media and architecture.

ndsm.nl