Top-6 Can't Miss Attractions in Amsterdam

The best way to appreciate the charm of Amsterdam's waters is through boat cruises along the canals. Through glass roofs and windows, you can enjoy the view of rows of 17th-centurygable buildings on both sides. They are comprised of colorful and magnificent shapes, evoking a sense of history.

Amsterdam is also called the “Capital of Museums” due to its abudnance of museums, inlcuding the renown Van Gogh Museum, Dutch National Museum, and the Amsterdam City Museum. If you are an art aficionado, you'll need more than one day to see it all.

The red "I amsterdam" sculpture stands on the square. This eye-catching sculpture has become a landmark where international tourists and locals like to take pictures. The square itself,embedded with a rich artistic atmosphere, is frequently used as a venue to host large-scale outdoor performing-arts events.

Amsterdam, with the title of "Sin City," is famous for its liberal culture. It has the world's largest, most well-known legal red-light district which has become a must-see attraction. Nighttime is the best time to take a stroll in the red-light district. Tourists can feast their eyes on sexywindow girls wearing revealing clothes through window glass and savor the sensation. A tour of the numerous sex shops, sex museums, sex theatres, and peep shows is also recommended.

Be sure to pay attention to your personal safety and take care of personal belongings while satisfying your curiosity in the red-light district. Please refrain from taking photos when watching window shows to avoid unnecessary trouble. It is best for single female tourists to travel in a group with other people at night and to pay particular attention to personal safety.

The windmill village Zaanse Schans is located 15 km north of Amsterdam, in a region where ancient buildings vividly showcase the Dutch way of life as it was in the 17th and 18th centuries. Still inhabited by Dutch people today, the village has retained ancient shipyards, workshops for the manufacturing of wooden shoes, and, of course, many windmills, presenting idyllic European-style scenery.

Today, five traditional windmills still operate in the village, of which three are open to tourists. These five windmills serve to saw lumber, extract oil, grind dye, grind mustard seeds, and aid in drainage. You can also visit Dutch wooden shoe factories, cheese workshops, docks, andwhite wax stores, where traditional craftspeople give performances every day.

The Netherlands' national flower, the tulip, symbolizes wealth and elegance. Keukenhof Park,located about 30 km southwest of Amsterdam, is the world’s largest tulip garden, attracting countless tourists and photographers every year. The park is open to tourists during the tulips’ flowering phase which lasts about two months per year from mid-March to mid-May. Your best chance of seeing beautiful tulip fields is around April, so naturally that is the busiest time for the park.

If you come here, you can saunter around the sea of flowers, take postcard-quality photos, or rent a bicycle and ride freely throughout the park. If your schedule allows, you can also plunge yourself into gardening or flower-arranging activities to cultivate your creative side.

Giethoorn sits inside a nature reserve named De Wieden in the northwest of the Netherlands, about 120 km away from Amsterdam. Referred to as the "Green Venice of the North", this quiet and peaceful small town appears straight out of a fairy tale, with blue sky, green grass, and trickling waters.

Apart from a stroll around Giethoorn, be sure to appreciate the village scenery by boat. A map of the waterways of Giethoorn is offered for free with each boat rental. You can readily orient yourself using the numbered flagpoles above the surface which correspond to the waterway numbers on the map.