Zen Amsterdam Tour : Alternative History and High Experiences
Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Get a flavor of Amsterdam’s famous alternative culture on a walking tour with a local guide. Stroll through Amsterdam's narrow lanes and squares and dip into smart shops to enjoy the laid-back atmosphere, savor delicious local snacks (own expense), and learn about the history and culture of the city. Upgrade to include more stops, food tastings, and neighborhoods.
- Amsterdam alternative culture walking tour
- Visit smart shops to learn about the history of legalization in the city
- Personalized experience thanks to a small-group tour size
- Upgrade to a longer tour to visit more shops and neighborhoods
What's Included
- Snacks ( 3 hours tour only)
- Local guide
- Small-group walking tour
- Warm Places in the winter
- Cool places in the summer!
- Food and snacks (2 hour tour)
- Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks (available to purchase)
- Personal purchases or souvenirs
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Dam 6, 1012 NP Amsterdam, Netherlands
The doors facing swarovski, on the corner of H&M
End point
- Reguliersdwarsstraat, 1017 Amsterdam, Netherlands
We will end on the party and funnest street in Amsterdam
Itinerary
1
Begijnhof
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Royal Palace Amsterdam
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
3
Spuistraat
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Dam Square
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Bloemenmarkt
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
6
Amsterdam Museum
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Wheelchair accessible
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- Minimum age is 18 years; A current valid passport is required on the day of travel
- Refunds will not be issued if tour/activity is missed due to late or non-arrival of cruise ship
- May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking; Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
- Food is only available on 3 hour tour
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 26 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
3.9
based on 102 reviews
Maria_F, Jun 2023
This was the most Misrepresented title for a tour!!! There is NO food. I was doing this this tour with my family. The tour guide showed up and said are you ready to get high. I said we are here for the food sampling tour. He said it was going to be about the history of cannabis in the Amsterdam culture. I asked if there was food, he said no there is no food and we would be going to coffee shop to smoke WEED and get high. They would NOT give a refund. I contacted Viator and they tried to contact this company with no answer.
Response from Host, Jul 2023
Its not a food tour at all is correct, the name of the tour was alternative tour of amsterdam with food sampling, there are snacks on the tour and the guide informed the guests of this, and its a city tour that stops at coffeeshops. This customer reportedly just walked away instead of having a lovely two hour afternoon in Amsterdam. We arent sure why they didnt get a refund as we had no request for a refund from viator or from them personally, we hope that they read the description next time as we detail what we do , and it does not say in the description we are a food tour, that would then be the title of the tour. Have a better day and we hope you enjoyed amsterdam!
Jill_D, Sep 2022
Great tour. Well planned and a lot of fun! Totally worth the effort just go and you’ll forget you are even on a tour :)
Kacy_B, Mar 2022
Eric was one of the best tour guides I've ever had! He was personable, knowledgeable, funny, and super smart - he speaks so many languages! His non-judgmental approach helped everyone feel at ease and take in all that Amsterdam has to offer!
ellie_m, Mar 2022
Our guide Erik made this tour very special, with humor, interesting information and nice interaction with all the participants of this tour.
Thank you Erik!
lauriane_n, Aug 2021
We were a small group and the lady guide lovely! We had a lot of fun, really liked the bitter balls and the experience overall. Like walking around with a group of friends
Jasmin_S, Jan 2020
We were contacted the evening before to change the time of the tour. We arrived at the new time and the guide never arrived. The German guide arrived and could not get hold of the English guide. We are still yet to get a response, apology or refund. Terrible and complete waste of our time!!
Response from Host, Feb 2020
We have received no email or phone message from this customer. Unfortunately the English tour had already started the tour, so its possible this customer was late to the meeting location point. If they asked for a refund, they are granted one ( as it is not up to us but up to the company they purchase from, namely trip advisor) If you have not received a refund yet, its better to contact trip advisor directly, as opposed to leaving a review, as we have again nothing to do with refunds and it is handled through customer service. We see you are extremely upset for missing our world renowned tour and hope that you enjoyed the rest of your time in Holland.
peter_a, Oct 2019
The tour guide was friendly enough but he seems keen to finish quickly and there was no food. We seemed to dash from one spot to the next and only had 5 or 10 minutes in a shop to try some
Sarah_Q, Oct 2019
Where to begin.. first, our guide was at least 15 minutes late. It was confusing trying to find them.. they didn't have an orange umbrella or anything that made them stand out from the rest of the crowd, which was extra tough because of the rain. Then once our German guide (don't remember his name) showed up late, we headed to a cafe where there were some snacks and interesting info about marijuana in Amsterdam.. the legal bits, permitting, regulation etc. Then off to the first coffeeshop. Of all the cute coffeeshops we have passed in our numerous walks around the city, it was a bit of a shock to enter a seedy/dive shop. The vibe was weird as we walked in.. and esp after everyone smoked a little as the guide didn't do much to keep the pace or conversation about the educational bits going. At 4pm, (2 hrs into the 2.5 hr tour and only 1 stop down so far,) people started to ask about heading to the next stop, as we were running out of time. Since this was a cultural tour as well, he took us around to point out various buildings, which if it wasn't pouring out and freezing would've been cool. So we were getting soaked for about 25 mins and freezing before we got to our next shop, which we didn't enter as a group. Apparently it's a place that doesn't allow group tours, so as we stood out in the rain, he said we can go in if we wanted. Just seemed weird. By the time we reached the 2nd shop, it was already 430p (when the tour was supposed to be finished) and he offered to still take folks to the 3rd shop which we paid for, but since all the time passed and we all had other tours to get to, we disbanded and went separate ways.
Few things that stood out that made this a 1 star:
1. Over 15 mins late to even meet us
2. Spent way too much time at Cafe and first shop which made us run out of time
3. Not enough info to keep everyone engaged throughout the tour
4. Didn't get to finish the tour we all paid extra for due to reasons above
5. Didn't check in with folks to see how they were feeling after they partook. There was someone in our group having a bad/weird reaction that he didn't even notice
6. Didn't have a backup plan for rain... We were all soaked and freezing and he still wanted to quiz us on what we thought certain tiles on the side of the building meant. Even with people commenting on how cold it was, it didn't prompt him to switch it up to ensure people were comfortable.
7. Can't be sure but it seemed like maybe he partook at some point as his energy and pace changed as well
Honestly, there are so many opportunities to make this a worthwhile tour, but they haven't worked out those details. You'd be better off researching highly rated coffeeshops and visit on your own time. Do a Google search on the history of it's decriminalization while you partake and you'll have a much better time than we did.
Shanga_H, Oct 2019
In the beginning I thought that this would be just a "get high" tour Boy was I wrong! Eric made sure not only did we know the values of what Amsterdam possessed but the overall culture as well along with "gettin high" lol He was so kind and helpful. A tour that you must take!!
HeatherM_P, Oct 2019
The first hour of the tour provided the most value...an overview of the coffee shop culture, informative information about weed, etc. Then the visit to the first coffee shop is fine...a dive, but fine and helpful experience. After that, it almost seems like we were filling time and there was very little value to the remainder of the tour. And absolutely DO NOT purchase the 30 minute add on as it was a total waste of money.
My suggestion for improving this tour? After the dive coffee shop, go to another coffee shop right away that is on the nicer side....and then call it a day.
Laura T, Sep 2019
The tour itself was alright, great insight into the coffee shop culture (the other detours were probably unnecessary) but I wish our guide gave more sufficient warning over consumption of the space cakes. We were initially told “one each”, but my husband insisted we shared one between us (thank god) and also insisted we head back to the hotel after consuming (thank god). We had the worst night of our trip. And I could not stop throwing up. We told our guide we hadn’t touched any of this for maybe 10 years and he still said “one each”. The reason we did a tour was so we could have more guidance around trying hash brownies, so pretty disappointed we wrote off a whole night out of our 3 nights in Amsterdam.
Jessica_S, Aug 2019
My flight was delayed I desperately tried to call the number they provided but no one ever answered ever!
Response from Host, Sep 2019
Did you contact trip advisor/viator? they are available 24/7 and have both companies numbers, as we were not contacted by them we assume you did not contact them. If you need a refund they are available 7 days a week to assist, we are a small group of guides and have limited hours we are available. Hope to see you next time
traceymayersnapier, Sep 2018
Our plane was delayed over an hour. There were 10 of us in total. I called the vendor, they couldn't wait or accommodate us. Is a refund possible?
MegK, Aug 2018
our guide was so sweet and nice...she really made this tour great! you get to stop at 2-3 coffee shops and get a little history lesson along the way...so interesting to hear how all this got started and why Amsterdam is the way it is today.
SONAM J, May 2018
A good insight about the coffee shop culture, where to get the stuff from and how to manage its effects. Highly recommended for the coffee shop visitors.
Tina B, Apr 2018
This by far was the best Coffee Shop tour I have taken. I have done this with two other companies and it paled in comparison. The guides were very knowledgeable about Amsterdam, and coffee shop culture. I paid extra for the extended tour. It was well worth it as I learned a great deal about the history of Amsterdam and the Dutch people.
Joel F, Mar 2018
A very weird experience, guide took us to a bar and had everyone go around a circle and talk about their experiences with weed, what is this an aa meeting??
I only went to one coffee shop with the group before I left because it was quite an awkward tour.
Kristoffer_H, Feb 2018
AMAZING! Great and funny tour guide that knew so much information. Loved the tour. We went to a bar for a quick drink and yummy treat, then headed to a coffeeshop. The tour guide is helpful and rolls your joint for you if you are inexperienced :P
This was just an overall fun tour. Loved it!
Felix_F, Jan 2018
This was my husband and is second trip to Amsterdam and have taken a similar tour before. This tour was better than the previous and exceeded all of our expectations. Great tour guide, super informative of all aspects on the culture and history of Amsterdam. Would highly recommend!
Jessica.rodriguez718, Oct 2017
This was such a fun tour! It was also a great way to learn about the better coffeeshops from people who live in the area, while learning about Amsterdam’s history along the way. As a solo traveler, this tour was an excellent way for me to make some friends and have some fun! :)
stpaddy315, Oct 2017
Fun and informative! Not too much, but let's you go at your own pace!
Valerie K, Sep 2017
Great tour. We felt the one cocktail should have been included in the tour. More munchies. Guide was great.
Carmen H, Aug 2017
Eric made this an awesome experience. He was very informative, friendly, and fun. My sister and I were a little apprehensive about doing this, but Eric immediately put us at ease and made it another adventure to remember fondly. I recommend this to anyone visiting Amsterdam.
Sally B, Aug 2017
Pedro was our guide. He was a great conversationalist and interesting to talk to!
kristeneas40, Jul 2017
Fantastic tour with Ben as our guide. Had lots of laughs and fun and learnt alot too. Highly recommend.
Amy W, Jul 2017
This was a great tour and our guide was very friendly, enthusiastic and fun! We had a great job learning about the culture, trying a new beer at a stop we had along the way and seeing some of the area as it was our first day in Amsterdam.
libbylake78, Jul 2017
Loved this tour! Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable and made the whole group feel really comfortable so it was definitely one of the more enjoyable small tour experiences I've had. Definitely recommend if you want to know more about the coffee shop culture of Amsterdam
Sal Work, Jun 2017
Brilliant tour - Caleb our guide was really fun, and made the tour interesting and funny.
We got the chance to try some weed, which we didn't realise we would be able to do - and it was under his guidance which was really helpful as it's not something we would have had the courage to do otherwise.
He also showed us the wonderful secret garden which was set up for the older ladies of the area - that was beautiful.
There wasn't much strenuous walking. the only part I would have said could be improved, was the local food sampling was literally some Bittenballs which we shared 8 between us - but that was it - so it wasn't really what we would have considered 'food sampling' - more just a snack, and it was in the first hour.
We had the 3 hour tour, which also included the red light district, which we had already visited, but this gave us some more local knowledge, so worth the extra couple of quid.
Scarlett O, Jun 2017
Amazing tour, great route of the city and learned a lot of interesting facts along the way. Muha was the best -- super funny and knowledgeable. Would definitely recommend!!
Russell B, Jun 2017
This tour was not at all what we expected. Our guide was not knowledgeable about anything he was supposed to be telling us about. He kept a PowerPoint open on his phone and would read off of it when we got to certain locations. We took the 3-hour tour and had NO FOOD SAMPLING of any kind. We went to only one coffee shop. He pointed to a few others as we were passing them. He tried to talk us out of going to the red light district, but we all insisted. We walked very quickly down one street, and he didn't really say anything. He seemed almost frightened to be on the street. We were extremely let down by this tour. It is nothing like it should have been by its description. I'm upset that we wasted that much of our day. Several people left our group half way into the tour because it was so worthless.
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