Top Amsterdam Walking Tours

Esther was awesome. She’s a walking encyclopedia of Amsterdam history and notable facts. From the beginning of our tour to the end, she shared so much interesting information, that coupled with all the sights of our tour. She was friendly, extremely knowledgeable and a pleasure to tour with. I’d highly recommend touring with her.

Iris was an excellent and informative guide. We learned a lot about how Jewish people were treated during WWII. We learned about Weiss Hofman in Amsterdam, who owned a bar and her heroism hiding an entire Jewish family during WWII. We learned about Ann Frank. She wanted to be an accomplished writer. She knew that was her gift. She met her goal by giving us an account of the daily struggles of being in hiding and living with her family and a dentist in a small, enclosed space. The ending was sad. I am thankful her diary was saved and shared with people all over the world.

Sunil was absolutely fantastic! We did two tours while we were in Amsterdam, and this was easily the best of the two. He was SO knowledgeable, not just about ghosts and local lore, but about Amsterdam’s history and the actual places we were standing in. It became obvious very quickly that this was not some guy who memorized a script and was walking us from spooky building A to spooky building B. This man KNOWS his stuff! 👏🏽 We covered a surprising amount of Amsterdam, starting at Dam Square and making our way through places like the Begijnhof, Oudemanhuispoort, Spinhuissteeg, Nieuwmarkt and De Waag, Spooksteeg, and eventually the Tower of Tears. Along the way, Sunil kept pointing out things we absolutely would have walked right past without ever realizing what we were looking at. We learned about Amsterdam’s old orphanage, a women’s correctional workhouse, Aletta Jacobs, the first female doctor in the Netherlands, a centuries old apothecary that is somehow STILL OPEN, public executions, haunted alleys, blood streets, old city gates, anatomical theaters, and all kinds of wonderfully weird, macabre, and occasionally horrifying pieces of Amsterdam history. So, naturally, I was having a GREAT time. 💀 One of my absolute favorite parts was that Sunil brought a MASSIVE packet filled with old photographs, historical images, maps, and information about the places we visited. And I mean an actual, substantial packet. Not three sad laminated pictures being passed around like they have been surviving the same tour since 2007. 😂 As we stood in these places, he would pull out historical images so we could actually compare what was in front of us with what had once been there, then connect it all back to the history and stories he was telling us. I freaking LOVED this! 🤓 I’m a visual person, and it made everything infinitely more interesting. I’m also exactly the kind of person who hears one bizarre historical fact and then needs to know EVERYTHING, so this was basically catnip for me. Sunil also has a fantastic sense of humor and, as we unfortunately discovered, the patience of a freaking saint! We had one particularly pestering fellow American on our tour who seemed physically incapable of allowing a thought to pass through her head without immediately sharing it with the rest of us. She interrupted, questioned, corrected, and repeatedly inserted herself into what Sunil was trying to tell us. You could practically feel everyone else’s patience evaporating, except, somehow, the woman she came with. As a fellow American, my internal monologue eventually boiled down to, “OH MY GOD. LADY. PLEASE. SHUT. UP!” 🤦🏽‍♀️ And to be VERY clear, that is the heavily sanitized, family friendly translation. 😇 What made it even more infuriating was watching her somehow embody every obnoxious American tourist stereotype at once without the slightest hint of self awareness. I genuinely do not care about defending America’s reputation abroad, but for the love of everything, we already have enough problems without someone showing up in another country and enthusiastically providing live supporting evidence. And she. Just. Kept. Going. I was raised to at least TRY not to say anything if I couldn’t say something nice, and by that point there was absolutely NOTHING nice left in the chamber. I knew whatever was threatening to come out of my mouth was definitely not suitable for Viator, so against my usual instincts, I kept my actual thoughts mostly to myself. I make no such claims about the increasingly frequent grunts, sighs, and eye rolls. There are limits, and frankly, I thought I was showing remarkable restraint. 😌 The rest of the group had already endured enough, and the level of hostility I was containing did NOT need to disturb the otherwise peaceful streets of Amsterdam. Which only made Sunil’s ability to handle her more impressive. Through ALL of it, he remained patient, gracious, funny, and completely professional. He answered her when appropriate, redirected when necessary, somehow kept us on track, and never let one person derail the experience for everyone else. I do not possess that level of restraint. Not even remotely. Five stars for that alone! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beyond his apparently superhuman patience, I really appreciated how Sunil handled the supernatural side of the tour. He’s clearly well traveled himself and genuinely interested in history, folklore, different cultures, and the way stories evolve over time. He never tried to convince us that ghosts are real, but he also never treated the stories or the people who believe them like they were ridiculous. He gave us the history, the legends, the possible explanations, and the weird stuff people have reportedly experienced, and essentially said, “Here it is. You decide.” THAT is exactly how I want a ghost tour handled. I HIGHLY recommend this tour, especially if your idea of a good evening involves history, folklore, ghosts, executions, creepy alleys, bizarre facts, and learning things you will inevitably spend hours Googling later. We laughed, learned a ridiculous amount, saw parts of Amsterdam we never would have noticed on our own, formed what I can only describe as a mild trauma bond over one particularly relentless American Karen 🫠, and came home still thinking and talking about the tour. If we’re ever back in Amsterdam and Sunil is leading another tour, just tell me where and when. I’m there! No hesitation. He was THAT freaking good! 👻

I highly recommend doing this tour! You will learn so much background information that you would never know on your own. Noe' was so good! He was entertaining, knowledgeable, and very respectful when discussing a sometimes-awkward conversation. You could tell he had done a lot of research on this area.

A very engaging and most informative tour. Great people too. Laura really brought even more life to Amsterdam with her energy, enthusiasm and historically researched stories. A mandatory recommendation for anyone wanting to get to know Amsterdam. Thanks Laura!

Andi was an amazing tour guide! She made everyone feel welcome and had so much knowledge of the history of Amsterdam and its cuisine. Our group ranged in ages from 18-53 and everyone had a wonderful experience. There was lots of food so make sure you arrive hungry!

Even though I've been to Amsterdam before, I still learned so much from this walking tour. The guide was a very informative American who has lived in the Netherlands for decades. The entire group was actually American coincidentally. The group was 7 guests + 1 guide. I don't think a tour should be any larger since the streets can be crowded making it hard to stay together. I'd highly recommend a walking tour of most cities if you are new to a location, and this one was among the very best!

It was a fantastic way to get a feel for Amsterdam. The tour guides were wonderful. Be careful what location you pick, as the directions are confusing. It’s hard to find proof that it’s Flagship and the directions say you can get on at any of there locations but that’s not correct.