Amsterdam City Break Guide

Amsterdam is a city with a fascinating history and culture and a modern outlook, making it the perfect destination whether you are looking for exciting clubs and bars, great shopping, museums and galleries, or to simply relax by a romantic winding canal. If you’re after some inspiration for your holidays in 2012, check out our guide to Amsterdam.

There are many museums in Amsterdam, each with a different historical story to tell, the most famous being the Anne Frank House, the National Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. The Hermitage Museum is a satellite museum of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and has a vast, changing collection of Russian works of art.

Other fascinating museums include the National Maritime Museum, the Amsterdam Museum and the Houseboat museum, where you can explore the relaxing lifestyle of the canal boats. You can also visit one of the diamond factories, Gassan Diamonds or Coster Diamonds, to find out how these gems are cut and polished.

Amsterdam is a great shopping city; for mainstream shops, visit Leidsestraat and Kalverstraat or Kalvertoren shopping centre where you will find popular brands. Shopping malls with department stores that sell everything can be found at Bijenkorf and Magna Plaza.

If you are looking for something a little different, then visit Nine Streets, an area of small shops and boutiques offering a mixture of vintage and modern fashion. With plenty of galleries, cafés and restaurants, the Nine Streets area is the perfect place to spend a day. For designer fashion, visit PC Hooftstraat, a street famous for its designer shops.

For great antique shopping, pay a visit to the Spiegelkwartier, where you will find stores selling art and antiques.

There are lots of great markets here, one of the most unique being the floating flower market held on the Singel canal. The flowers are displayed on barges and you will find a wide array of flowers for sale. This market is open every day and there are also shops alongside the canal.

Amsterdam is famous for its night life and the wide variety of clubs cater to all musical tastes, with a mixture of dance events and live music. Many restaurants and bars also have live music or DJs, so they are places where you can enjoy great food and then dance the night away.

There is a popular and growing jazz scene here. For great jazz concerts, the Bimbuis holds three hundred concerts each year attracting musicians from around the world.

Other great concert locations include the Heineken Music Hall and Paradiso. Events at the Melkweg include music, theatre and film and the events here are popular and change frequently.

For animal lovers, Artis Royal Zoo is the oldest zoo in Holland and has over seven hundred animal species. The natural environments have been created so that you can experience these animals in something close to their natural habitat. Here, you can see sharks among the coral reefs, as well as zebras, elephants and giraffes.

Amsterdam is famous for its architecture and there are some stunning buildings to visit, showcasing the best in Dutch design. The ARCAM foundation is an ideal place to go to find out more about the beautiful buildings here. If you enjoy films and shows, there are lots of theatres and cinemas here, the most well known of these is the Tuschinski Theatre, famous for its stunning design and decoration.

For a relaxing or romantic break, spend some time exploring the canals of Amsterdam. Travelling by boat, you will see a different and magical side to this beautiful city. Regular canal tours are available for spectacular views of the oldest part of Amsterdam. For the more active, travel by cycle is popular here. There are specially allocated cycle lanes and many places where you can hire bicycles.

The largest park in Amsterdam is the Vondelpark, where you can picnic with the locals, take in a film at the Nederland's Filmmuseum and see the pride of the park; the sculpture by Picasso. There is also an open air theatre here, where you can enjoy entertainment throughout the summer.

The Red Light district is in one of the oldest parts of the city. Among the peepshows and adult shops you will find cafes, restaurants, designer shops and boutiques.

Dam Square is one of the central squares in Amsterdam. The National Monument stands in the square, the sculptures depicting war, peace and resistance. Here, you will find many souvenir shops as well as beautiful buildings including the Royal Palace, Koninklijk Paleis and the gothic church, Nieuwe Kerk, which holds exhibitions throughout the year. This fascinating city is a delightful mixture of history and modern culture. With so much to see and explore here, Amsterdam makes a perfect city break.