Amsterdam Travel Expert. Culture, Events and Apartments

There are plenty of opportunities to enjoy high culture in Amsterdam and this includes some excellent venues for live music, threatre and museums.

Concertgebouw

This venue has traditionally been the venue for famous composers to perform over the years, and today hosts an orchestra which has been voted amongst the best in the world. The building itself is a stunning example of architecture and really adds to the experience.

Muziektheater

Classical music and dance lovers flock here in their hoards to enjoy the high end performances from leading companies around the world. This venue is also home to the national opera, a well respected organisation which regularly performs classic opera productions.

Carré Theatre

With a fabulous location along the Amstel River, performances in this theatre have stretched back across the last two centuries. Today you can still catch regular dance and music performances, and there is even the odd production in English should you be so inclined.

Van Gogh Museum

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the names most commonly featured in the history of art across the world, and this museum boasts the largest collection of his work. Alongside Van Gogh’s works are those from his contemporaries which are fantastic to explore.

Rijksmuseum

This museum holds some of the most famous pieces of art in Dutch history, including many from the world famous Rembrandt. There is also a significant display of Asian art here and a chance to view the stern of HMS Royal Charles, a historic artefact from when the boat was captured in battle.

You can also experience Dutch culture first hand wby hanging out in one of the many Amsterdam cafes – a true local experience given the popularity of cafes in Holland.

Amsterdam has some magnificent museums on offer, and most are clustered around the Museumplein; a splendid location for some of Europe’s top cultural palaces.

Museum Mile Amsterdam

The Museum Quarter is located in the Hooftstraat district, the richest and most exclusive neighbourhood in Amsterdam. They are situated around a landscaped park and between the gardens and trees that are a feature of this elegant area. This area around the
Rijksmuseum – Holland’s most famous museum – is particularly lush.

This massive neo-Gothic palace holds an unparalleled collection of Dutch painting and sculpture, including the famous ‘Night Watch’ by Rembrandt.  At the other end of the spectrum, the Stedelijk Museum houses a superb collection of contemporary art, sculpture and decorative objects, with works by Chagall and Mondriaan, to name a few.

Few visitors should leave Amsterdam without visiting the Van Gogh Museum, also on the Museumplein. Housed in a cutting-edge building designed by the modernist architect Gerrit Rietveld, the collection holds pieces from all periods of the artist’s life, as well as hundreds of letters written by Van Gogh and personal objects.

Another highlight of Amsterdam’s Museum Mile is the Coster Diamond Museum, which I talked about in my last post.

It would be foolish to try and take all these amazing museums over one day, or even two. Instead I would choose one that interests you the most, spend the morning there, then the rest of the afternoon wandering around this privileged part of Amsterdam. Interested also in museums in Barcelona, Spain?