Absolutely Amsterdam - the Essential Introductory Walking Tour
Recommended by 98% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Offered in: English
Why travelers loved this
·
Overview
Enjoy a wide-ranging introduction to Amsterdam’s highlights and history on this small-group walking tour. Pick between morning and afternoon start times, meet your guide right in the heart of the city, and set off on foot. You’ll see highlights like the Royal Palace and the Red Light District, will learn about the city’s origins and key moments in its history, will admire its UNESCO-listed center, and more.
- Discover many of Amsterdam’s key sights, all in one tour
- Exploring on foot makes it easy to soak up the city’s ambiance
- Get up close and personal with the city’s UNESCO-listed center
- Enjoy snacks included on the tour with a tip-based payment option
What's Included
- Our guides support their tours with pictures, paintings and maps that help bring history back to life!
- Super Local Guides who are are also happy to share their (restaurant) recommendations with you
- A unique souvenir
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Freedam ToursBeursplein 5, 1012 GZ Amsterdam, Netherlands
We meet IN FRONT of the stock exchange on Beurplein 5. The guides will be at the meeting point 15 minutes before the start of the tour, holding a yellow umbrella. You can also find directions by looking for FreeDam Tours on Google Maps. !!ATTENTION!! It does NOT start on the nearby Dam square!
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
Beurs van Berlage
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Damrak
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Our Lord in the Attic Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
4
Chinatown
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
The Waag
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
6
Oostindisch Huis
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
7
Waterlooplein Market
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
8
The Amstel
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
9
Oudemanhuispoort
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
10
Royal Palace Amsterdam
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.9
based on 4,218 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Tour guide (Aris) was very good! Gave us lots of historical information on Amsterdam and its surroundings, including personal stories. Highly recommend!!!
Great way to start exploring Amsterdam. Our tour guide, Aris, did a great job. We learned some history and cool facts. It was enjoyable. Be ready to get a lot of steps in! Be aware that your “gratuity” is actually “payment” for the guide. So, pay as you wish. We gave our tour guide a nice tip for his expertise.
We took the walking tour with Noe after a canal cruise. She articulate, very open and knowledgeable to all questions, and very prepared with a folder of visual aids. We wished Noe was guiding all our tours!
This tour is scammed. On this site they will charge you $5.00 dollars but when you get to the meeting point the tour guide will tell right away that he will charge $30.00 per hour . So be prepared for that charge. 2 people ran away before the tour finished
As instructed we arrived 15 minutes prior to the scheduled walking tour. The guide did not show up for the tour at the address listed. We waited until 2:10. I guess something happened.
Excellent walking tour, I highly recommend. It was very informative giving the history of Amsterdam. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and answered all our questions.
Jaap did a great job on our tour. He was very informative and added lots of humor to the history and stories told about Amsterdam. We highly recommend this tour!!!
Great overview of Amsterdam and its history. Johnny was fantastic and provided a very entertaining afternoon.
David is the best guide, knowledgeable and friendly. He takes you to different places, tells you about them in a very easy going way, he engages the audience
Good walking tour that gave you a good overview of the city at a very reasonable price. The guides were all friendly and informative. Recommended to fellow travellers.
This tour is a corker! Our guide,Fernando, was simply fantastic. He was a convert from Portugal but that gave him a simply wonderful sense of humour. We learnt about history of Amsterdam and The Netherlands and Holland, their trials, tribulations and Royal Family. At the end of the tour he shares a QR code that gives great suggestions for other tours and restaurants. We went to the Indonesian restaurant which was great and the next day went on a recommended canal tour with Eddy on Boat Local which was one of the only 1.5 hour where you can buy drinks if so inclined. Fernando’s tour is cheap up front but they ask for tips. Without any hesitation we tipped generously. Highly recommended.
David is an excellent and knowledgeable guide. With humour. A top guide and can make the tour very interesting ith the right pauses. PLUS HIS ENGLISH IS VERY GOOD.
Excellent walking tour of the entire city area around Amsterdam. Learned many things that I would not have otherwise known. Highly recommended!
This was an amazing tour! Fernando was our guide and was phenomenal! He was very knowledgeable and very entertaining! He made sure all of our party was together which can be a challenge during a walking tour! We would definitely recommend - and hopefully you will get Fernando!
This was a really enjoyable walk. Fernando was very knowledgeable and funny. A great way to get to know Amsterdam.
We were lucky to have Dani because he was born and raised in Amsterdam. He gave us a lot of information about the characteristics of their culture, history and architecture. Also he gave us treats that they produced like licorice, chocolate and stroopwafle. I really recommend him.
Dani was a fantastic tour guide who included history, architecture, compared customs with a variety of countries and made this a fun and interesting walking tour. Highly recommend him on this tour!
We absolutely loved our Essential Amsterdam tour with Dani! He was one of the best guides we’ve had on our entire trip—knowledgeable, engaging, and so easy to listen to. We learned so much about Amsterdam’s fascinating history, and Dani brought the stories of the city to life. He was friendly, personable, and clearly passionate about what he does. We highly recommend this tour and Dani!
Dani was awesome! We had a great time, doing this walking tour right after landing, perfect start to our vaca.
Jonny was such a great tour guide. He brought a lot of humour whilst leading us to different attractions of the city. Though it was raining, he made sure everybody was fine.
Excellent Guide with very good knowledge about the city. He told us lot of facts about the city and kept it engaging and entertaining.
Jaap gave a super tour -informative & full of fun. This is a tour where the guide gets paid directly by the tourists but he has a card machine which is handy (we tipped in cash). Its more about contemporary Amsterdam which we found a lot more interesting but the key facts about Amsterdam's history were also covered. Its a great way to start your stay as he shows you key places to visit , eat etc.
Alexander the guide was knowledgeable and made sure to elicit and answer questions from the whole group. I learned a ton about history and culture in Amsterdam. A wonderful way to spend early evening!
It was not what we expected. Alex tour guide
was very nice but unfortunately we were quite disappointed with this tour. As first time visitors to Amsterdam we were hoping for an
engaging enjoyable introduction to the city to help us experience what makes Amsterdam special. Instead the tour guide was way too technical and gave a great deal of information we found too technical and not interesting. Overall the tour did not meet our expectations and would not recommend it.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback, and for your kind words about Alex. We are sorry to hear that the experience didn't line up with your expectations for your first visit to Amsterdam.
Our goal is to deliver an experience that balances lighthearted fun with genuine depth. Rather than offering a standard, cookie-cutter overview, our tours are led by passionate experts and historians who provide rich insight into what makes Amsterdam so unique. It is unfortunate that the level of detail didn't resonate with you, as the vast majority of our guests consistently review Alex's tour as both incredibly fun and deeply engaging. We pride ourselves on avoiding superficial scripts, though we know every traveler has a different preference for how they like to explore a new city.
We appreciate your perspective, as feedback helps us continue to refine how we set expectations. We hope you were still able to enjoy the rest of your time in the city, and we wish you all the best on your future travels.
Tour and guide were great, but the pay only a tip format is a bit frustrating because you’re basically put on the spot to pay for the full meal at the end not just a tip. Would not recommend this format, although the tour was interesting.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
Thank you for sharing your feedback on our tour. We are glad to hear that you found the tour content interesting and enjoyed your time with our guide.
We are a bit surprised to hear the tip-based format described as "lousy," as we actually consider it one of the absolute best features of our model. Giving guests the total freedom to evaluate the experience for themselves and decide what the tour was worth at the very end ensures complete transparency and puts the power entirely in your hands. There is never any set obligation, only a system designed to motivate our guides to deliver their absolute best on every single walk.
We appreciate your perspective on the format, and we hope you enjoyed the rest of your time exploring Amsterdam.
It was informative and the guide was fairly knowledgeable. However the tour was listed as 2 1/2 hours but ours lasted less than 2 hours. Out of these 2 hours, more than half was spent walking at a quick pace. We expected more interaction.
Jonny/Giovanni was great, informative, and importantly continually checked to make sure everyone could hear and was keeping up. His restaurant recommended to me was perfect
Well run tour that seems to hit a lot of the highlights. Was our first day in Amsterdam and gave us insight on places and the history.
Fun and informative. Great info that helped in the understanding in the city, its history and landmarks
Fernando presented the tour
as an introduction for our city break. He was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the city and presented the facts in a fun and amusing way.
A really great way to start our stay. Highly recommended.
Member Pricing
From
$5.38
per personWas $5.67(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
Compare Similar Experiences
Current
Member Pricing
Absolutely Amsterdam - the Essential Introductory Walking Tour
4,215
2 hours 30 minutes
Free Cancellation
From
$5.67
$5.38
5% savings
Customers Who Bought This Tour Also Bought
Attractions in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Houseboat Museum (Woonboot Museum) Tours & Tickets
- H’ART Museum Tours & Tickets
- Amsterdam Cheese Museum Tours & Tickets
- Homomonument Tours & Tickets
- Emperor's Canal (Keizersgracht) Tours & Tickets
- Van Gogh Museum Tours & Tickets
- Heineken Experience Tours & Tickets
- Rembrandt Square (Rembrandtplein) Tours & Tickets
- Herengracht Tours & Tickets
- Brouwersgracht Tours & Tickets
- Old Church (Oude Kerk) Tours & Tickets
- Amsterdam Central Station Tours & Tickets
- Portuguese Synagogue Tours & Tickets
- Bloemenmarkt Tours & Tickets
- Royal Concertgebouw Tours & Tickets
- New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) Tours & Tickets