The 11 essential things to do in Amsterdam

At 263 Prinsengracht, the Secret Annex is the hidden apartment behind a swinging bookcase where Anne Frank, her family and four other people lived from 6 July 1942 until 4 August 1944, the day of their arrest. The museum takes up the whole building: you first pass through the offices and warehouse of Otto Frank's company, then the steep staircase leading to the empty rooms of the Annex, left unfurnished at Otto Frank's request after the war.

The visit ends with Anne's original diary, displayed in a glass case, and a room devoted to the publication of the text and the girl's legacy. The audio guide is included and available in several languages. Allow about an hour; the emotion is real, especially in Anne's bedroom where the pictures of film stars she glued to the wall survive.

The Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht form three concentric half-circles dug in the 17th century to expand the city: this ring, with its 1,500 gabled merchants' houses and brick bridges, is what UNESCO inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2010. The finest stretch runs between the Brouwersgracht to the north and the Leidsegracht to the south, where the facades lean deliberately towards the street so that furniture can be hoisted up by pulley.

There are two ways to explore the ring: on foot, zigzagging over the bridges (the Reguliersgracht junction lines up seven bridges in a single view), and from the water, on a one-hour narrated cruise departing from Centraal station or the Rijksmuseum. In the evening the bridges light up and the still water mirrors the facades.

The national museum of the Netherlands has occupied Pierre Cuypers' brick-and-stone palace on Museumplein since 1885, with a cycle path running right through its middle. Its collection spans eight centuries of Dutch art and history, but the Gallery of Honour on the first floor draws the crowds: Vermeer's "The Milkmaid", portraits by Frans Hals, Jan Steen, and at the end of the aisle Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" (1642), shown in its own room.

Beyond the Golden Age, the museum displays 17th-century dolls' houses, the Cuypers Library, Asian collections in a separate pavilion and a 20th-century section. Half a day covers the essentials; the gardens, with their sculptures and fountain, are free to enter.

A stone's throw from the Rijksmuseum, Gerrit Rietveld's building (1973) and its elliptical wing by Kisho Kurokawa hold the world's largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh: more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 700 letters, gathered by his brother Theo and bequeathed by the family. The chronological route follows the ten years of his career, from "The Potato Eaters" painted in Nuenen to "Sunflowers", "The Bedroom" in Arles and "Almond Blossom" in Saint-Rémy, up to "Wheatfield with Crows".

The rooms mix Vincent's canvases with those of his contemporaries — Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet — and excerpts from his correspondence explaining each period. Allow two hours; the paid multimedia guide is worth it for the letters.

Thirty-five kilometres south-west of Amsterdam, between Lisse and the bulb fields of the Bollenstreek, Keukenhof is a 32-hectare park where seven million bulbs are planted by hand every autumn for eight weeks of spring bloom. Paths wind between carpets of tulips, hyacinths and daffodils, a windmill, exhibition pavilions (orchids, lilies, collector tulips) and a historic garden; the park opens only from mid-March to mid-May, with the 2027 season running from 18 March to 9 May.

The cultivated fields around the park, seen from the windmill terrace or by bike, are often more spectacular than the flower beds themselves; their colour usually peaks around mid-April. Allow half a day on site, more if you rent a bike at the entrance for the field loop.

On the bank of the Zaan river, 15 km north of Amsterdam, Zaanse Schans gathers 18th-century windmills and green timber houses dismantled across the region and re-erected here from 1961 onwards, a reminder that the Zaanstreek was Europe's first industrial area, with more than 600 windmills. About ten still turn: De Kat grinds pigments, Het Jonge Schaap saws logs, De Zoeker and De Bonte Hen press oil; several can be climbed while the sails are moving.

The rest of the hamlet is explored on foot: the Catharina Hoeve cheese farm with tastings, the clog workshop where a pair is carved in minutes, the Zaans Museum and its Verkade Experience on biscuits and chocolate. Come before 10am or after 4pm; in between, coaches crowd the dyke.

De Wallen is Amsterdam's oldest district: its narrow lanes squeezed between the Oudezijds Voorburgwal and the Oudezijds Achterburgwal surround the Oude Kerk, the Gothic church founded around 1213, and the Zeedijk, a former sailors' quay turned small Chinatown. It has also been, since the 14th century, the district of prostitution, legal and regulated in the Netherlands: the red-neon windows line the canals and light up from late afternoon.

The area is worth visiting for its leaning houses, its brown cafés (the oldest in the city) and the evening atmosphere, but the city council restricts how it is used: guided tours are banned from the window streets, bars close earlier at weekends, and smoking cannabis in the street is forbidden. Museum Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder, a 17th-century clandestine church hidden under the eaves, is the real surprise of the district.

West of the Prinsengracht, the Jordaan is the former 17th-century working-class district built for artisans and Huguenot refugees; its narrow streets keep the names of flowers and trees, its hidden courtyards (hofjes) open behind unmarked doors and its brown cafés have been pouring beer for three centuries. The Brouwersgracht on its northern edge, with its old warehouses and red shutters, is considered the city's finest canal.

Between the Jordaan and the Singel, the Negen Straatjes ("Nine Little Streets") cross the three main canals: designer shops, vintage stores, cheesemongers and cafés share the ground floors of gabled houses. The district comes alive on Monday mornings with the flea market on Noordermarkt and Westerstraat, and on Saturdays with the organic farmers' market on the same square.

Opened in 1865 and laid out in the English landscape style by Jan David Zocher, Vondelpark stretches its 47 hectares of lawns, ponds and winding paths between Museumplein and Oud-West. It is named after the poet Joost van den Vondel, whose statue stands at its centre; you will also find the rose garden, the 1881 pavilion and "The Fish", the sculpture Picasso donated to the city in 1965.

Locals come here to run, cycle, picnic and, in summer, watch the free shows of the Openluchttheater, an open-air stage active since 1974. Three café-restaurants punctuate the three-kilometre main loop; the park is open around the clock and safe during the day.

120 km north-east of Amsterdam, in Overijssel, Giethoorn is a village with no road through its centre: its thatched farmhouses, the oldest from the 18th century, line the Dorpsgracht, a canal dug by peat cutters, and are linked by 176 wooden bridges. Residents get around by boat and visitors rent an electric "whisper boat" to explore the village and the lakes of the neighbouring Weerribben-Wieden national park.

It is a long day trip — two to two and a half hours by public transport, train to Steenwijk or Zwolle then bus — but doable in a day, and much quieter in the morning before the coaches arrive. Our Giethoorn guide covers the boat-rental firms, the Binnenpad path and the neighbouring villages.

Opened in 1996 in the Bijlmer district, south-east of the city, the Johan Cruijff ArenA was Europe's first stadium with a retractable roof; its 55,000 seats host Ajax Amsterdam, the national team and major concerts. Renamed in 2018 in tribute to the number 14 who died in 2016, it also houses the club's trophies, including four European Cups.

The stadium tour, with audio guide, takes in the stands, the press room, the players' tunnel and the pitch side, and ends in the gallery devoted to the history of Ajax and Johan Cruijff. Allow 75 minutes; the metro (lines 50 and 54, Bijlmer ArenA stop) takes about twenty minutes from the centre.