One of 2 self-guided walks in Amsterdam. See every walk.
In this guide
💡 The Short Version: Start in the Nine Streets, 10 minutes’ walk from Dam Square, and finish on the Brouwersgracht: 2.2 km, about 30 minutes of walking and half a day with a museum, a market and lunch. The Anne Frank House is passed on the way, and you cannot walk in: tickets are sold only on annefrank.org, at 10:00 on Tuesdays for a visit six weeks later. Go on a Saturday or a Monday: the Noordermarkt runs from 9:00 to 16:00 on Saturdays and 9:00 to 14:00 on Mondays, and the Theo Thijssen Museum is shut from Monday to Wednesday. Or book a tour: a small-group walk through the Jordaan in English, German or Italianad (from £23.80, 1½ hours) starts by the Westerkerk and tells the Anne Frank story on the way.
The route
Map of the walk numbered stops in walking order
Open the whole route in Google Maps - all the stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone.
The walk crosses the canal ring, the three canals the city dug from 1612 south of the Brouwersgracht, into the Jordaan, the grid of small streets west of the Prinsengracht. Prices are the adult rate in euros from each operator.
| Stop | Entry (adult) | Open |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Nine Streets | Free | Shops about 10:00 or 11:00 to 18:00 or 19:00; Sundays from 12:00 |
| 2. The Houseboat Museum | €9.50 | Daily 10:00 to 17:00 until 31 December; closed 25 December 2026 |
| 3. Westerkerk | Outside free | The street always |
| 4. The Anne Frank House | Outside free; inside €16.50, booked | Daily 9:00 to 22:00, timed tickets only |
| 5. The Theo Thijssen Museum | €5 | Thursday to Sunday 12:00 to 17:00 |
| 6. Egelantiersgracht and ‘t Smalle | Free | ‘t Smalle from 14:00 Monday to Friday, 13:00 at weekends |
| 7. The Noordermarkt and the Noorderkerk | Free | Saturday 9:00 to 16:00; Monday 9:00 to 14:00 |
| 8. The Brouwersgracht | Free | Always |
Walk it with a guide
A guide adds the stories, and none of these tours includes an entry ticket. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.
- Amsterdam: Hidden Gems and Highlightsad, by Amsterdamliebe: from £23.80, 5 stars from 28 reviews, 1½ hours, in German, English and Italian. It meets at Westermarkt 74, by the Westerkerk, and covers the Jordaan and the Anne Frank story.
- Amsterdam: Small-Group Walking Tourad: from £15.22, 4.7 stars from 1,515 reviews, 2½ hours, from Beursplein through Dam Square, the Jordaan and the canals.
- Amsterdam: Anne Frank Guided Walking Tourad: from £13.80, 4.9 stars from 4,820 reviews, 2 hours, from the Anne Frank Monument at Westermarkt 74 past the house and on through the Jewish Quarter. It does not go inside.
1. The Nine Streets
Free · most shops open every day from about 10:00 or 11:00 to 18:00 or 19:00, and on Sundays from 12:00
The Reestraat at the Keizersgracht. Photo: Alf van Beem, Wikimedia Commons.
De 9 Straatjes are nine short streets in three groups of three, running between Raadhuisstraat and Leidsegracht and crossing four canals: the Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht. Their association counts more than 250 shops, cafés, hotels and galleries. Four names come from the skin trade: Huidenstraat is hides, Reestraat deer, Berenstraat bears and Wolvenstraat wolves. The name itself dates only from the 1990s, when shopkeepers in two neighbourhoods began promoting them together.
- From Dam Square, walk west along Raadhuisstraat: the Nine Streets are the grid south of it, between the Singel and the Prinsengracht.
- The nine: Reestraat, Hartenstraat, Gasthuismolensteeg, Berenstraat, Wolvenstraat, Oude Spiegelstraat, Runstraat, Huidenstraat and Wijde Heisteeg. Walk west along any of them to the Prinsengracht.
- Shops open late. Most start at 10:00 or 11:00, and on Sundays at 12:00, so a walk that starts before 10:00 passes closed doors.
2. The Houseboat Museum
€9.50, €8.00 online from 10:00 to 12:00, children 5 to 12 €5 · daily 10:00 to 17:00 · closed 25 December 2026, 1 January, 27 April and the first Saturday of August
A houseboat on the Prinsengracht. Photo: FaceMePLS, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
The Hendrika Maria is a cargo ship built in 1914, and its hold is now a furnished living space moored at Prinsengracht 296K, level with Wolvenstraat. It shows how a houseboat works inside, with an audio guide in 18 languages included and video walls on the history of cargo ships turned into homes.
- Tickets: at the boat or on the museum’s booking page. The early online ticket, from 10:00 to 12:00, is €8.00.
- Hours change in summer: from 1 July to 30 September it stays open until 20:00.
3. Westerkerk
Free from the street · the church and tower are on westerkerk.nl
The Westerkerk tower from the Prinsengracht. Photo: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Hendrick de Keyser designed the church, and it was consecrated on 8 June 1631. It was one of the first churches built for Protestants, and is the largest of them in the Netherlands. Its tower, the Westertoren, is 87 m, the highest church tower in Amsterdam, and the crown on top is the Imperial Crown of Austria of Maximilian I. The carillon, with 51 bells, is the only one in the city that chimes all 24 hours.
- Rembrandt was buried here on 8 October 1669. The grave’s position is lost, and a marker from 1909 on the north wall remembers him.
- Anne Frank wrote about the tower in her diary: its clock face could be seen from the attic of the Secret Annex, and she described the carillon as a comfort. A statue of her stands outside the church on Westermarkt.
- The Homomonument, by the Keizersgracht behind the church, opened on 5 September 1987 and was the first monument in the world to commemorate gay men and lesbians killed by the Nazis: three pink granite triangles set into the ground.
4. The Anne Frank House
Outside free · inside €16.50 (€7.00 for ages 10 to 17), only with a ticket booked on annefrank.org · daily 9:00 to 22:00
The Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht. Photo: Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The front is at Prinsengracht 263-267, and the entrance is round the corner at Westermarkt 20. Eight people hid in the Secret Annex behind it from 1942 to 1944, and the museum, with its audio tour, takes about an hour. You can only go in with a ticket for a date and time, and you must be there for your slot.
- Tickets go on sale every Tuesday at 10:00 Dutch time for a visit six weeks later, only on annefrank.org: none at the door, none from resellers. The full ticket guide has prices, the introductory programme and the rules.
- Bags: nothing larger than an A4 sheet goes in. Leave rucksacks and luggage at your hotel or at Centraal.
- Shorter days: 7 November 2026, 9:00 to 18:30; 25 and 31 December, 9:00 to 17:00; 27 April and 4 May, 9:00 to 17:00.
- No photographs or filming inside, including with smart glasses.
5. The Theo Thijssen Museum
€5, children €2.50 · Thursday to Sunday 12:00 to 17:00, closed Monday to Wednesday · Eerste Leliedwarsstraat 16
From the Anne Frank House, walk north along the Prinsengracht, cross the Leliegracht and turn west into Nieuwe Leliestraat for the Eerste Leliedwarsstraat. The museum is the house where the writer Theo Thijssen was born on 16 June 1879, in the home and workshop of his father, the shoemaker Sam Thijssen. Visitors are received in the old shop at Thijssen’s 1930s dining table, which serves as the desk, and the exhibitions change.
- Guided walks cost €10, or €5 for children.
- The Bloemgracht, about 200 m south, is the canal where the cartographer Willem Blaeu set up his workshop in 1635, and where the Atlas Maior was made; the bridge at the Derde Leliedwarsstraat is the Atlas Bridge.
6. Egelantiersgracht and ‘t Smalle
Free · ‘t Smalle: Monday to Thursday 14:00 to 24:00, Friday 14:00 to 01:00, Saturday 13:00 to 01:00, Sunday 13:00 to 23:00
The Egelantiersgracht. Photo: A. Bakker, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Walk north up the Eerste Leliedwarsstraat to the Egelantiersgracht and turn east towards the Prinsengracht. It is one of the Jordaan canals that survived the filling-in of six of the eleven in the 19th century, with tall gabled houses and café terraces, and Café ‘t Smalle is at No. 12, by the Prinsengracht. Its own history begins with Pieter Hoppe, a German who took over a wine merchant’s on the Egelantiersgracht in about 1780 and went on to run a liqueur works and a distillery there. The café serves coffee, rolls, bitterballen and jenever, Dutch gin.
7. The Noordermarkt and the Noorderkerk
Free · Saturday 9:00 to 16:00 and Monday 9:00 to 14:00 · Noorderkerk concerts on Saturdays at 14:00
The Noorderkerk on the Noordermarkt. Photo: Matthias Süßen, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The square has had a market since 1623, the year the church beside it was finished. Hendrick de Keyser’s Noorderkerk, built from 1620 to 1623, is a Greek cross with its arms of equal length, and was the church for the ordinary people of the Jordaan, while the Westerkerk drew the better-off.
- Saturday, 9:00 to 16:00: three markets in one. The organic farmers’ market, founded in 1987 as the first in the Netherlands, starts by Café Winkel and sells vegetables, bread, cheese, fish and honey. Beyond it, the general market sells antiques, books, clothes and bric-à-brac. Past Café ‘t Papeneiland, the Lindengracht market sells vegetables, fruit, flowers and plants.
- Monday, 9:00 to 14:00: the whole square is a general market, and the Westerstraat fabric market is held to the left of the Noorderkerk.
- Concerts: the Noorderkerkconcerten play classical music on Saturday afternoons at 14:00: the Animato Kwartet and Jelmer de Moed on 10 October 2026, the Dudok Quartet on 7 November. Tickets are on noorderkerkconcerten.nl.
- King’s Day (27 April): the tourist board advises families to avoid the Jordaan and the Westerstraat; see King’s Day in Amsterdam.
8. The Brouwersgracht
Free · always
The Brouwersgracht. Photo: Gabriele Giuseppini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
The canal that closes the ring on the north took its name from the breweries along it in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the house numbers of the Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht all count up from here. Readers of the paper Het Parool voted it the most beautiful street in Amsterdam in 2007. Walk east along it for the warehouses with shutters and the houseboats; Café ‘t Papeneiland is on the corner at Prinsengracht 2.
Where to eat
Winkel 43
Noordermarkt 43 · Monday 07:00 to 01:00, Tuesday to Thursday 08:00 to 01:00, Friday 08:00 to 02:00, Saturday 07:00 to 02:00, Sunday 09:00 to 01:00
A corner café on the Noordermarkt, with the organic market starting at its door on Saturdays. Order the apple pie, which its own site calls world-famous, or bitterballen, €8 for seven.
Café ‘t Smalle
Egelantiersgracht 12 · see stop 6 for hours
A brown café, an old neighbourhood pub with dark wood, on the canal, with a terrace on the water. Order the bitterballen.
Café ‘t Papeneiland
Prinsengracht 2
A brown café on the corner of the Prinsengracht and the Brouwersgracht, open since 1642 according to its own site. It is where the walk ends. Where to eat in Amsterdam has more.
The best day to go
| Day | What changes on the route |
|---|---|
| Monday | The Noordermarkt runs from 9:00 to 14:00, with the Westerstraat fabric market beside it. The Theo Thijssen Museum is closed |
| Tuesday | No market. The Theo Thijssen Museum is closed. Anne Frank House tickets for a visit six weeks later go on sale at 10:00 |
| Wednesday | No market. The Theo Thijssen Museum is closed |
| Thursday | Everything is open except the markets |
| Friday | The same as Thursday; ‘t Smalle stays open to 01:00 |
| Saturday | The Noordermarkt and the organic market run from 9:00 to 16:00, and the Lindengracht market is held too. The busiest day, with a concert at the Noorderkerk at 14:00 on 10 October and 7 November 2026 |
| Sunday | The Nine Streets shops open at 12:00, the Theo Thijssen Museum at 12:00, Winkel 43 at 09:00. No market |
The timing that works, on a Saturday: be in the Nine Streets from about 10:00, pass the Houseboat Museum when it opens, reach the Westerkerk and the Anne Frank House for your slot, and be at the Noordermarkt before it fills, with lunch at Winkel 43. A Monday works too: the market closes at 14:00, so start earlier.
What closes:
- 25 December 2026: the Houseboat Museum is closed and the Anne Frank House closes at 17:00.
- 7 November 2026: the Anne Frank House closes at 18:30.
- 1 January: the Houseboat Museum is closed, and the Anne Frank House opens at 12:00.
- 27 April: King’s Day. The Houseboat Museum is closed.
What does not close: the streets, the canals, the Westerkerk’s tower from outside, the Noordermarkt square and the Brouwersgracht.
Getting there and back
- To the start: trams stop at Dam Square, and from there it is 10 minutes west along Raadhuisstraat to the Nine Streets. No tram runs to the Westermarkt stop until February 2028. Amsterdam public transport has the fares.
- From the end: the Brouwersgracht is 1.3 km, 12 minutes’ walk, from Amsterdam Centraal.
- Next: the old centre walk starts at Centraal, 12 minutes from the Brouwersgracht, and passes Dam Square, 10 minutes from the Nine Streets.
What to do with the rest of the day
- A cruise: canal cruises lists the boats that leave from beside the Anne Frank House.
- The museums: the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum need booking ahead.
- A food walk: Amsterdam food tours compares the Jordaan tastings.
- The whole trip: Amsterdam in one day and 3 days in Amsterdam build the days round the bookings. To sleep on the route, where to stay in Amsterdam lists three Jordaan hotels 150 to 290 m from the Anne Frank House, and canal-house hotels says which have a lift.
Common questions
How long is the canal ring and Jordaan walk?
2.2 km from the Nine Streets to the Brouwersgracht, measured along the streets: about 30 minutes of walking. With the Houseboat Museum, a stop at the Noordermarkt and lunch it takes half a day.
Can you go inside the Anne Frank House on this walk?
Only with a ticket for a set date and time, sold on annefrank.org and nowhere else. Every Tuesday at 10:00 Dutch time all tickets for a visit six weeks later go on sale, and they sell out fast. Without one you pass the front on the Prinsengracht, and the entrance at Westermarkt 20.
Which day is best for the Jordaan walk?
Saturday, when the Noordermarkt runs from 9:00 to 16:00 with the organic farmers' market beside it, or Monday, when it runs from 9:00 to 14:00 with the Westerstraat fabric market next to it. The Theo Thijssen Museum is closed from Monday to Wednesday, and the Nine Streets shops open at 12:00 on Sundays.
Is the canal ring and Jordaan walk free?
The streets, the canals, the Noordermarkt and the outside of the Anne Frank House cost nothing. The Houseboat Museum is €9.50, the Theo Thijssen Museum €5, and the Anne Frank House €16.50 with a booked ticket.
What are the Nine Streets in Amsterdam?
Nine short shopping streets in three groups of three, crossing the Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht between Raadhuisstraat and Leidsegracht. Most shops open every day from about 10:00 or 11:00 to 18:00 or 19:00, and on Sundays from 12:00.
How do you get to the start of the walk?
Take a tram to Dam Square and walk west along Raadhuisstraat, about 10 minutes. No tram runs to the Westermarkt stop beside the Westerkerk until February 2028.
