Netherlands · Self-guided walk
Amsterdam in one walk 8 sights, 45 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Amsterdam Old Town: 8 sights on one 2.9 km loop, about 45 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 2.9 km, a loop
- Time
- about 45 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Koninklijk Paleis
- Steps
- on Beursplein
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Amsterdam walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Amsterdam, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Koninklijk Paleis
the start · inside open Mon–Sun 10:00–17:00
Go in and look down. The world is laid into the floor of the main hall in marble, both halves of it, and nobody stops you walking across the lot. Best surface in this level, and I do not say that lightly.
Next: Nieuwe Kerk, 110 m, about 2 min, along Dam, Mozes en Aäronstraat.
2. Nieuwe Kerk
about 2 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 10:00–17:00
Kings are sworn in here. That happens perhaps twice in a lifetime, so most of the year the doors are open for something else entirely. Come at it from a side lane. The face it turns to the big open space is not its front.
Next: Oude Kerk, 560 m, about 8 min, along Damrak, Beursplein, Paternostersteeg, Oudekerksplein.
3. Oude Kerk
about 10 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun 13:00–17:30
Two lanes lead in to it, one named narrow and one named wide, and both names are accurate. Little houses are built hard against the outside, leaning on it the way something grows on a stone. Go all the way around it before you go in.
Next: Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder, 160 m, about 2 min, along Oudekerksplein.
4. Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder
about 12 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sat 10:00–17:00, Sun 13:00–17:00
You get in from the water side now, through a plain door across the lane, and then you walk under the street. The city once had dozens of places like this, kept out of sight because the rules of the day wanted them out of sight. This is the one still standing.
Next: Nieuwmarkt, 350 m, about 5 min, along Zeedijk.
Lunch break
Hoi Tin, Zeedijk 122, about 10 m off the route, open Mon–Sun 12:00–22:00.
Cantonese, right next to the temple, and the same family has been cooking here for half a century, three generations of them. More on what to eat in Amsterdam.
5. Nieuwmarkt
about 18 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Fri 10:00–18:30, Sat 09:00–18:30, Sun 09:00–17:00
The eastern corner of this level, and the point where the old moat turns. Something out in the open draws every eye. Turn your back on it and look at the edges. Streets come in from all sides, and one of them is a sea dike that has not seen the sea in a very long time.
Next: Munttoren, 800 m, about 12 min, along Nieuwmarkt, Kloveniersburgwal, Nieuwe Doelenstraat.
6. Munttoren
about 30 minutes of walking from the start
The south corner, where the ring of water closes on itself. It is on a traffic island now, so you go round it rather than past it. On the hour the bells up there play, and it is more than one note. Stop for it.
Next: Begijnhofkapel, 370 m, about 6 min, along Kalverstraat, Spui.
7. Begijnhofkapel
about 35 minutes of walking from the start
The way in is one low door off the lane, and it is easy to walk straight past it. Behind the door the noise stops dead. A quiet lawn, buildings facing inward all the way round it, in the middle of the busiest part of town. Push.
Next: Amsterdam Museum, 260 m, about 4 min, along Begijnhof, Gedempte Begijnensloot.
8. Amsterdam Museum
about 39 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 10:00–17:00
One outer wall is set with row upon row of carved house stones, taken off buildings that no longer exist. Each was an address back when addresses had no numbers. Rescued stone. I am always in favour.
Back to the start: Koninklijk Paleis, 300 m, about 5 min.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Amsterdam.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 156 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Amsterdam Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.