Treasures of Amsterdam: Coffeeshops & Red Light District Private Tour

Recommended by 98% of travelers

Badge of Excellence

Amsterdam, Netherlands

2 hours (approx.)
Group discounts
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Discover the stories and secrets of Amsterdam’s most notorious neighborhood on a private walking tour of the streets surrounding the Red Light District. In the company of an expert guide, break away from the curious tourist throngs and explore hidden spots beyond the glowing red lights and windows.

See Amsterdam from a local's perspective
Discover the history and culture behind the city's famous adult destination
Forget the rush of large tour groups and explore at a pace that suits you
Private tour for a more personalized experience

What's Included

Private walking tour
Local guide
Carbon-neutral tour

Hotel pickup and drop-off
Food and drinks

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Gravenstraat 13, 1012 NL Amsterdam, Netherlands
Cafe De Drie Graefjes American Bakery, behind the New church / Nieuwe Kerk

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

Amsterdam’s Red Light District lures countless curious tourists to its hedonistic clustering of bars, cafes and scintillating red windows. For locals, it's part of the everyday fabric of the city. Discover the real culture behind this internationally famous destination — apart from the giggles and gawking — on this private 2-hour tour.

Meet your local guide in the Beursplein at the time of your choice, and set off on an insightful walking tour, beginning with the famous Warmoesstraat. See some of the unusual offerings that line one of the city’s oldest streets, including cannabis ‘coffee shops,’ fetish boutiques and gay bars. Learn the origins of the Netherlands’ famously liberal social attitudes, and hear how the legal sex industry is perceived by locals.

Along the way, stroll past the iconic red lights and adult attractions such as the Casa Rosso. Aside from the more mature displays, see other curiosities including a local brewery, Chinatown, the city’s narrowest street and the weigh building of Nieumarkt. Feel free to ask all the questions you like to satisfy your curiosity, and come away with a uniquely Dutch perspective on red-light lifestyles.

Please be advised: Although there is no minimum age, due to the mature content, this tour may not be suitable for children.

Red Light District

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Zeedijk

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Condomerie (Pass By)

Statuette Joost van den Vondel (Pass By)

Hofje In Den Groenen Tuyn (Pass By)

Warmoesstraat Exploitatie (Pass By)

Oude Kerk (Pass By)

Nieuwmarkt (Pass By)

Beursplein (Pass By)

Warmoesstraat Exploitatie (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible

Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

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Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.9

based on 98 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Amsterdam touring!

Michael_M, Apr 2026

We were able to book same day! Our tour guide - Elvina, was easy to contact, prompt, and informative!

Highly recommend!

Lynn_B, Jun 2025

this tour is a great way to see the red light district and learn all the history about it. My guide was amazing and also taught me the history of so many other buildings along the way.

Ted light district tour

Penny_C, Apr 2022

Marten was a wonderful tour guide. He told us lots of information, interesting stories was well informed and receptive to questions. At the end we asked him to drop us off at a great local restaurant, and he even did that for us. We had a wonderful meal and wonderful tour. I highly recommend them

Learned a lot about the area

nancee_d, Dec 2021

Sebastian was a wealth of knowledge and was enthusiastic about his love for his country. He went out of his way to meet us at a different location due to time issues and while there wasn’t a lot to see in the red light district due to curfew, we were able to learn a lot about the area. I would recommend to really get information about the entire area.

Educational

Kathleen_J, Nov 2021

Willem was very enjoyable and shared his vast knowledge of Amsterdam and the red light district very comfortably and with humor. We would highly recommend this tour!

Rainy Tour with The Best Man On The Job

Leila_M, Nov 2021

This was a very unique tour! Our guide, see picture below, was knowledgeable, funny and courteous. He wasn’t deterred by the weather (it was raining cats and dogs) and even offered to hold my daughters backpack. The weather was a mess but our guide balanced the experience. I highly recommend this tour!

This was not a good tour....

Laura_W, Oct 2021

This was not a good tour. Sebastian started by telling us red light district tours were not allowed and should not have been booked. He then took us on a wandering walk around the edges of the district and just rambled about politics for 90 minutes. Do not recommend this tour at all.

Response from Host, Oct 2021

Hi there, I am Mark B. from Withlocals and I am part of the quality and support team. At Withlocals we really want our customers to receive the best experience of their trip so we are very disappointed to find out about your negative experience. As we cannot directly get in touch with you from here, please email us at info@withlocals.com and we will make sure to understand why this happened, to see that you are at least compensated for this bad experience or to offer you a better experience instead. We really look forward to your email! Thank you and please accept our apology on behalf of Withlocals! Have a great day, Mark B. @ Withlocals

Great tour

Diane_F, Sep 2021

Our guide Willem was great. He has lived in the area for many years. We did a 2 hour walking tour and learned a lot about the history of the area. We had the choice of how much time to spend in red light district vs historical area. We opted for more history … a little of the red light district was enough for us. But Willem tailors the trip to your preference.

Great tour with Sebastian

Steven_P, Jun 2019

Sebastian was a pleasure to tour with. He was very knowledgeable and personable and imparted a lot of very interesting information. I would highly recommend him.

Absolutely awesome guide thanks Dina...

Joan G, Oct 2017

Absolutely awesome guide thanks Dina best tour yet that we have done in 6 weeks of travelling. Dina had so much knowledge, lots of background stories of the history and the battle to ensure the safety of the area....absolutely well done to all involved in keeping this area a safe place to be any time of the day or night....

Interesting tour. Tour guide very...

Bronwyn_S, Sep 2017

Interesting tour. Tour guide very informative and knew the district well. As the area wasn't busy tour did not take two hours, which was a godsend for my feet. Maybe would be better if the tour was later in the evening. Not everyone's cup of tea, but we all know what the red light district contains, so if it isn't your cup of tea don't visit.

Our tour was interesting and we...

Carol_B, Sep 2017

Our tour was interesting and we covered a lot of area, but the actual red light district was only a small part of it. Perhaps because our tour was early 6:00 pm, but it being Saturday night, there were a lot of people in the area and in that way, a little overwhelming. If you are expecting to see window after window of girls or whatever on display, that didn't happen for us. We actually had to do some searching to find any just to fulfill our curiosity. But our guide was great and gave us a lot of good information.

After a total mess/missunderstanding...

William B, Apr 2017

After a total mess/missunderstanding with our timing and the actual tour we thought we purchased, it turned out excellent! Laura was a perfect guide, very knowledgeable about the area. We're not sure what caused the mixup. I will say, Viator had sent me an email about a week before the tour, saying we should get in touch with them to set up a time and meeting location. We were already out of the country, and I was not checking email at that time, so I did not receive their information. We 2 couples thought we purchased an evening walking tour through the Red Light District in Amsterdam, with a group. There are various tours offered for different prices, times and participants! As it turns out, our tour was at noon, and consisted of only the 4 of us! We obviously missed it, since we thought it was in the evening. The local tour company contacted us saying our guide Laura had waited and left. After trying to figure out what happened...we never did figure that out...we were allowed to reschedule the next day at noon. We were very disappointed it was during the day not what we were expecting but as it turns out, the tour was excellent! There is so much more of interest in that area! Absolutely beautiful buildings and so much history. Since it was just the four of us, all questions were answered, and as stated before, Laura was amazing! We were disappointed and annoyed about the mixup...but thoroughly enjoyed the day! This is our third tour through Viator in different cities in Europe, and all 3 have been excellent! Definitely will use again. Thank you Viator.

This was a great tour to learn more...

Elena G, Jul 2016

This was a great tour to learn more about the Red Light District and to hear how the locals live in the area. It gave me a new perspective on the district. Our guide Laura Maria was the perfect host to show us around, we had a lot of laughs with her great energy and love for the city.