One of 2 self-guided walks in Amsterdam. See every walk.
In this guide
💡 The Short Version: Start at Amsterdam Centraal and finish at the Rembrandt House: 3.9 km, about 50 minutes of walking and a full day with the Oude Kerk, the Royal Palace and the Rembrandt House. Walk it Tuesday to Saturday: the Oude Kerk opens at 13:00 on Sundays and the Waterlooplein market is closed on Sundays. Check the Royal Palace’s opening calendar before you go: it opens on set days only. The walk passes through the Red Light District: no photographs or filming of the windows, and no cannabis smoking in the old centre. The Amsterdam Museum on Kalverstraat is closed until 2030. Or book a tour: a two-hour small-group walk from Damrakad (from £23.38) takes in the Old Town and the Royal Palace with a guide.
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 runs south from the station into the medieval centre, west to the Dam, then east across the canal ring to the old Jewish quarter. Prices are the adult rate in euros from each operator.
| Stop | Entry (adult) | Open |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Amsterdam Centraal | Free | Always |
| 2. The Oude Kerk and De Wallen | €14.50; with the tower €22 | Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 18:00, Sunday 13:00 to 17:30 |
| 3. Dam Square, the Royal Palace and the Nieuwe Kerk | Square free; Palace €13.50; Nieuwe Kerk €25 | Palace on set days from 10:00; Nieuwe Kerk daily 10:00 to 17:00 |
| 4. The Begijnhof | Free | Daily 10:00 to 18:00, closed 27 April |
| 5. The Bloemenmarkt | Free | Daily |
| 6. Rembrandtplein | Free | Always |
| 7. Huis Willet-Holthuysen | €15 | Daily 10:00 to 17:00 |
| 8. The Waterlooplein market | Free | Monday to Saturday |
| 9. The Rembrandt House | From €19.50 | Daily from 10:00 |
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: Highlights & History Walking Tourad, by Trigger Tours: from £23.38, 4.8 stars from 316 reviews, 2 hours. It meets outside the Park Plaza Victoria Hotel at Damrak 1-5 and takes in the Old Town, the Royal Palace and the Anne Frank House.
- Amsterdam: City Tour in Small Groupad: from £15.71, 4.9 stars from 3,023 reviews, 2 hours, in English, German, Spanish, French or Italian. It meets at the National Monument on Dam Square and walks the historic canal belt.
- 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.
1. Amsterdam Centraal
Free · the station is always open · trams, metro, buses and the free IJ ferries leave from here
Amsterdam Centraal from Stationsplein. Photo: Fred Romero, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Pierre Cuypers, who also designed the Rijksmuseum, designed the Gothic and Renaissance Revival station, and it opened in 1889. About 192,000 passengers use it a day. The Eurostar, the train from Schiphol, the metro, the trams and the ferries behind the station all meet here, so most visitors arrive here. Amsterdam public transport has the fares.
- Luggage: leave a suitcase at your hotel, or at the drop-and-go at Centraal.
- To the first stop: walk south into the old centre; the Oude Kerk is 10 minutes away.
2. The Oude Kerk and De Wallen
€14.50, €7.50 for students and ages 13 to 17, free for under-13s · with the tower €22 · Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 18:00, Sunday 13:00 to 17:30 · closed 27 April and 25 December, and 9 to 12 November 2026
The Oude Kerk. Photo: Gerd Eichmann, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The oldest parish church in the city, founded about 1213, consecrated in 1306 as a Catholic church, and Calvinist since 1578. It now holds contemporary art exhibitions in the main hall and archive displays in the side chapels. The ticket includes a free audio tour in Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. The church takes cards only.
- The tower: from 25 April to 31 October 2026, guided tours climb 155 steps to 67 m, Wednesday to Sunday. They are sold only with a church ticket, and they are not for young children: the minimum height is 1.20 m.
- Quiet hours: the church is quieter before 12:00, and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually its quietest days.
- Free with the Museumkaart or the I amsterdam City Card.
- Closed: 9 to 12 November 2026, while an exhibition is installed.
The streets round the church are the Red Light District, De Wallen. Sex work is legal and licensed here, and people work in the windows. The rules:
- No photographs or filming of the windows or the people in them.
- No smoking cannabis in the old centre: signs mark the Red Light District, the Nieuwmarkt and Dam Square, and the fine is €100.
- No drinking in the street in most public places. On-the-spot fines are €150 for noise, litter or urinating in public, and €100 for public drunkenness.
- People live here. Keep your voice down. Official guided tours of the Red Light District are not allowed.
3. Dam Square, the Royal Palace and the Nieuwe Kerk
Square free · Royal Palace €13.50 with an audio tour, students €9, under-18s free · Nieuwe Kerk €25, €20 from 26 October 2026 to 4 April 2027 · cards only at the Nieuwe Kerk
The Royal Palace on Dam Square. Photo: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Walk from the Oude Kerk by the Wijde Kerksteeg and Beursplein to the Dam. The palace was built as the city hall, to Jacob van Campen’s design, and opened in 1655 on 13,659 wooden piles; it became a royal palace in 1808. It is still the King’s reception palace.
- The Royal Palace opens on set days only: more than 230 days in 2026, daily from 10:00 on those days. The calendar on paleisamsterdam.nl lists them up to six months ahead. The ticket includes an audio tour.
- The Nieuwe Kerk, the 15th-century church beside it, is now an exhibition space, open daily from 10:00 to 17:00 with the last entry at 16:30. It is closed on 27 April, 25 December and 1 January, among other days. Entry is free with the Museumkaart and the I amsterdam City Card.
- The National Monument, the white stone pillar opposite the palace, was designed by J.J.P. Oud and put up in 1956 to commemorate the victims of the Second World War.
4. The Begijnhof
Free · daily 10:00 to 18:00, also on public holidays · closed to visitors on 27 April, King’s Day
The Begijnhof. Photo: Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
From Dam Square, walk down the Kalverstraat to the Begijnensteeg. The Begijnhof was a court for the beguines, lay sisters who lived without taking final vows, and it was already there in the 14th century: the only court in Amsterdam founded in the Middle Ages. It lies about 80 cm below the street. More than 100 women live in it now, and almost all its houses are national monuments.
- The Wooden House, at No. 34, is one of the oldest wooden houses in Amsterdam: the Begijnhof dates it to before the city fire of 1452.
- Two churches stand on the court, the English Reformed Church and the Catholic Begijnhof chapel.
- The rules: the court is private property. No bikes, dogs or wheeled suitcases, no eating or drinking, and groups of 12 at most. On busy days and weekends hosts supervise the visit, and visitors may enter only part of the court, marked on the map on its site.
- The entrance is the gate at the Begijnensteeg, and it is the only way in and out for visitors.
- The Amsterdam Museum beside it, on the Kalverstraat, is being renovated until 2030. Its Huis Willet-Holthuysen, stop 7, is open.
5. The Bloemenmarkt
Free · open daily · on the Singel between Koningsplein and Muntplein
The Bloemenmarkt on the Singel. Photo: Gerd Eichmann, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A floating flower market on the Singel, founded in 1862. Of its 15 shops, only a few still sell cut flowers; the rest sell bulbs, souvenirs and gifts, and a 2019 survey found that bulbs bought here rarely flower.
6. Rembrandtplein
Free · always
Rembrandtplein. Photo: rene boulay, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
From the Munttoren, walk along Reguliersbreestraat. The square was a butter market until 1876, when Louis Royer’s statue of Rembrandt was moved to its centre and it took his name. Bronze figures from The Night Watch stand round the statue. By the early 20th century the square had become a centre for nightlife, and the cafés and clubs round it still are. See where to eat in Amsterdam.
7. Huis Willet-Holthuysen
€15, students and CJP €7.50, free for ages 0 to 17 and with the Museumkaart or I amsterdam City Card · daily 10:00 to 17:00, from 12:00 on 25 December and 1 January · Herengracht 605
A room in Huis Willet-Holthuysen. Photo: Remi Mathis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A double canal house built about 1685 for Jacob Hop, mayor of Amsterdam, with period rooms and a French-style garden at the back. It is named after the last couple to live in it, Abraham Willet and Louisa Holthuysen, and Louisa left it and their collection to the city in 1895 on condition it became a museum. It belongs to the Amsterdam Museum, whose old building on the Kalverstraat is closed for renovation until 2030.
8. The Waterlooplein market
Free · Monday to Saturday, closed on Sundays
The Waterlooplein market. Photo: Txllxt TxllxT, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The oldest flea market in the Netherlands, with about 300 stalls selling second-hand clothes, antiques, books, bicycle parts and souvenirs. The square was made in 1882 when two canals were filled in, and the Jewish merchants from Jodenbreestraat and Sint Antoniebreestraat were moved onto it; it became a daily market in 1893. From Huis Willet-Holthuysen the way is along the Amstel and over the Blauwbrug.
9. The Rembrandt House
From €19.50, ages 18 to 25 from €11, ages 6 to 17 €8, card holders reserve a free slot · daily from 10:00 · closed on 27 April and 25 December
The Rembrandt House on the Jodenbreestraat. Photo: Spider, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Rembrandt bought the house in January 1639 and lived and worked in it until 1658, when his bankruptcy forced a sale. The museum has been restored, with the living room, the art room and the studio where he painted, and the museum says it is the only place in the world where you can experience how he lived. It is on Jodenbreestraat 4, 140 m from the market.
- Tickets are booked on tickets.rembrandthuis.nl. Holders of the I amsterdam City Card or a Museumkaart book a free slot there, too.
Where to eat
Café Hoppe
Spui 18-20 · Sunday to Thursday 09:00 to 01:00, Friday and Saturday 09:00 to 02:00
A brown café on the Spui, an old neighbourhood pub with dark wood, there since 1670 according to its own site. It is a short step from the Begijnhof, and a place to order bitterballen.
Vleminckx de Sausmeester
Voetboogstraat 33 · Monday to Wednesday and Friday to Sunday 11:00 to 19:00, Thursday 11:00 to 20:00
A fries counter in a side street between the Spui and the Heiligeweg, frying since 1957. Order a patatje oorlog, “war fries”, with mayonnaise, satay sauce and onion, from more than 20 sauces.
Frens Haringhandel
Koningsplein, by the Singel · every day 11:00 to 17:00
A herring stall at the foot of the flower market, run by the same family since 1976. Order the herring sandwich: marinated herring, chopped onion and pickle in a bun.
De Hapjeshoek
Waterlooplein 6, in the metro station · Monday to Friday 09:30 to 21:00, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 21:00
A Surinamese restaurant, open since 1995, in the Waterlooplein metro station at the end of the walk. Order a roti roll: flatbread filled with chicken thigh in curry sauce, yardlong beans and potato.
The best day to go
| Day | What changes on the route |
|---|---|
| Monday | Everything is open. The Oude Kerk runs from 10:00 to 18:00; the Royal Palace follows its calendar |
| Tuesday | The Oude Kerk’s quietest day, with Wednesday |
| Wednesday | Everything is open, and the Oude Kerk’s tower tours begin, until 31 October 2026 |
| Thursday | Everything is open; Vleminckx stays open until 20:00 |
| Friday | Everything is open; the Spui cafés stay open late |
| Saturday | Everything is open, and the Waterlooplein market is on. The busiest day on Dam Square and in the Wallen |
| Sunday | The Oude Kerk opens at 13:00 and the Waterlooplein market is closed. The Nieuwe Kerk, the Begijnhof and the Rembrandt House are open |
The timing that works, Tuesday to Saturday: be at the Oude Kerk when it opens at 10:00, reach the Dam for a Royal Palace day, and be in the Begijnhof before the afternoon crowds. Eat on the Singel, see the flower market and Rembrandtplein, and take the Willet-Holthuysen house and the Rembrandt House in the afternoon.
What closes:
- 9 to 12 November 2026: the Oude Kerk is closed while an exhibition is installed.
- 25 December: the Oude Kerk, the Nieuwe Kerk and the Rembrandt House are closed; Huis Willet-Holthuysen opens at 12:00.
- 1 January: the Nieuwe Kerk is closed; Huis Willet-Holthuysen opens at 12:00.
- 27 April: King’s Day. The Oude Kerk, the Begijnhof, the Nieuwe Kerk and the Rembrandt House are closed.
- 31 October 2026: the last day of the Oude Kerk’s tower tours.
What does not close: the streets, Dam Square, Rembrandtplein and the outside of every building on the route.
Getting there and back
- To the start: Amsterdam Centraal is the station for the Eurostar, the Schiphol train, the metro and the trams. See Amsterdam airport to the city centre.
- From the end: Waterlooplein metro station, in the Stopera building by De Hapjeshoek, is on lines 51, 53 and 54, and takes you back to Centraal.
- Next: the canal ring and Jordaan walk ends on the Brouwersgracht, 12 minutes from Amsterdam Centraal, and starts in the Nine Streets, 10 minutes from Dam Square.
What to do with the rest of the day
- The Anne Frank House: Anne Frank House tickets explains the Tuesday release.
- A cruise: canal cruises compared lists the boats from Centraal and the Rijksmuseum.
- The museums: the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum need booking ahead.
- The whole trip: Amsterdam in one day and 3 days in Amsterdam build the days round the bookings. To sleep in the old centre, where to stay in Amsterdam lists the hotels round the Dam.
Common questions
How long is the old centre walk in Amsterdam?
3.9 km from Amsterdam Centraal to the Rembrandt House, measured along the streets: about 50 minutes of walking. With the Oude Kerk, the Royal Palace and the Rembrandt House it fills a day.
Is the old centre walk free?
The streets, Dam Square, the Begijnhof, the Bloemenmarkt and the Waterlooplein market cost nothing. The Oude Kerk is €14.50, the Royal Palace €13.50, the Nieuwe Kerk €25 until 25 October 2026 and €20 after, Huis Willet-Holthuysen €15, and the Rembrandt House from €19.50.
What are the rules in the Red Light District?
Do not photograph or film the windows or the people in them. Cannabis may not be smoked in the old centre: signs mark the Red Light District, the Nieuwmarkt and Dam Square, and the fine is €100. Alcohol is banned in most public places, and on-the-spot fines are €150 for noise, litter or urinating in public and €100 for public drunkenness.
Which day is best for the old centre walk?
Tuesday to Saturday. On Sundays the Oude Kerk opens only at 13:00 and the Waterlooplein market is closed. The Oude Kerk says Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually its quietest days, and that it is quieter before 12:00.
Can I still visit the Amsterdam Museum on Kalverstraat?
No. Construction work to renovate the museum's old orphanage building began on 3 September 2026, and the new Amsterdam Museum opens in 2030. Its Huis Willet-Holthuysen, a canal house on the Herengracht, is open every day and is stop 7 on this walk.
Is the Royal Palace open every day?
No. It is the King's reception palace, open to visitors on more than 230 days in 2026, daily from 10:00 on those days. The opening calendar on paleisamsterdam.nl lists the days up to six months ahead.
