Amsterdam, Museum city
Amsterdam is home to more than 400 museums. From the highbrow such as Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House to the low brow like Sex museum, weed museum and tulip museum. There even is Electric Ladyland, a small, living room size museum dedicated to the art visible only in blacklight.
It is advisable to buy your tickets online and skip the lines. If you want to combine visiting museums and seeing the town from a different perspective you can try the museum boat that takes you on a hop on hop off tour past the major museum locations.
But if you really want to get the local spirit you should of course rent a bike and join the locals in that crazy flow of two wheelers that have taken over the city.
PS Amsterdam even has a house boat museum that you can visit to see what life is like on all those house boats you see floating in the canals.
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum is home to Amsterdam’s most impressive art collection. The museum owns over a million works of art, most of which are by Dutch 17th century masters, providing an overview of Dutch art and Dutch history of the period.
Also housed at the Rijksmuseum is the largest art historical library in the Netherlands.
The building alone, which features on the UNESCO heritage list, is well worth a visit. Take a (free) stroll through the gardens and take a look at the changing sculptures on display.
Van Gogh Museum
Holding the world’s largest collection of works by Van Gogh, the Van Gogh Museum is a testimony to the achievements of Vincent van Gogh. In addition to works of Van Gogh, the museum holds a stunning collection of works by the painter’s contemporaries, friends, followers, and artistic predecessors.
FOAM
FOAM, (an abbreviation of FOtografiemuseum AMsterdam) hosts regularly rotating exhibitions by both world-famous and up and coming photography, video- and multimedia artists. It also publishes a magazine and hosts an in-house print shop, as well as a library.
Stedelijk Museum
The Stedelijk Museum holds the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in the Netherlands. Comprising around 90,000 works of art from various disciplines. Highlights include Bauhaus, Mondriaan, and De Kooning. In addition the Stedelijk holds an impressive collection of drawings and paintings by Kazimir Malevich, as well as post-impressionist work by Paul Cezanne.
The museum aims to represent all significant movements in art and design of the 20th and 21st centuries and its collection rivals that of the Centre Pompidou and MoMa.
Hermitage Amsterdam
The Hermitage Amsterdam is part of the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg. The museum is housed in a historic building on the river Amstel. For centuries the building served as a retirement home.
The Hermitage Amsterdam hosts one temporary exhibition at a time and changes exhibitions every six months. Be sure not to miss the Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age, a stunning exhibit of enormous paintings. The museum has an increasingly popular study center which is a great place spend a relaxing afternoon reading a book. The museum also has a restaurant with a sunny terrace, making it a nice spot for people watching.