HIDDEN COURTYARDBehind a plain door
Begijnhof
A walled medieval courtyard in the middle of the old centre, home to single women for more than 600 years. Step through the gate on the Begijnensteeg and the city noise drops away.
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Hidden gems in Amsterdam
These are the places most visitors walk straight past: courtyards behind ordinary doors, like the Begijnhof, details on walls and odd little monuments. Nearly all are free and take ten minutes, so drop them into a walk you are already doing.
- Tap the heart to put a spot on your list
- Open your list on the map: your own tour
- Tick each one off as you go
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HIDDEN COURTYARD
HIDDEN GEMOne of the last wooden houses
Wooden house Zeedijk 1 (In 't Aepjen)
One of only two wooden houses left in the centre, where sailors are said to have paid their bills with monkeys.
HIDDEN GEMA real Picasso
Picasso in the Vondelpark
A real Picasso, 'Figure découpée' (the fish), standing on a lawn in the Vondelpark since 1965. Joggers pass it without looking.
HIDDEN GEMSkulls over a gate
Skull gate of the Zuiderkerkhof
The old graveyard gate on the Sint Antoniesbreestraat, crowned with skulls.
HIDDEN GEMWhat lay under the city
Below the Surface (Rokin metro)
Display cases in Rokin metro station with finds dug up for the line: keys, coins, toys and a 17th-century trumpet.
HIDDEN GEMSeven countries, one street
Zevenlandenhuizen
Seven houses in a row, each built in the style of a different country (1894), on the Roemer Visscherstraat.
HIDDEN GEMTiles under the station
Cuyperspassage tile tableau
The tunnel under Centraal Station lined with tens of thousands of Delft-blue tiles showing a sea full of ships.
HIDDEN COURTYARDA tiled way in
Sint-Andrieshofje
Behind a plain door on the Egelantiersgracht, a passage lined with blue Delft tiles leads into one of Amsterdam's oldest almshouse courtyards. Only the Begijnhof is older.
TASTEBrouwerij 't IJ
Amsterdam's best-known craft brewery pours its beer in an old bathhouse at the foot of De Gooyer, the tall wooden windmill on the Funenkade.
FILM SPOTThe Fault in Our Stars bench
The bench on the Leidsegracht where Hazel and Augustus sit in The Fault in Our Stars (2014). Fans of the film still come from all over the world for a photo.
HIDDEN GEMMuiderpoort
The 1770 city gate through which Napoleon rode into Amsterdam in 1811.
HIDDEN GEMVondelbunker
A Cold War nuclear shelter under a Vondelpark bridge, now an underground cultural venue.
HIDDEN GEMAnne Frank statue (Merwedeplein)
Anne Frank with her bag, in front of the flat where she lived before going into hiding: few visitors find it.
HIDDEN GEMWest-Indisch Huis courtyard
Where the West India Company decided to found New Amsterdam (New York); Peter Stuyvesant stands in the courtyard.
HIDDEN GEMCafé Papeneiland
A 1642 brown café with the legend of a secret tunnel to a hidden church across the canal.
HIDDEN GEMSint Olofskapel
A 15th-century chapel swallowed by a hotel, with a skull-and-bones gable stone over the old door.
HIDDEN GEMPintohuis
A 17th-century merchant's mansion with painted ceilings, now a free reading room and café.
HIDDEN GEMDe Drie Hendricken
Three 1642 houses on the Bloemgracht with gable stones of a townsman, a farmer and a sailor.
HIDDEN GEMOost-Indisch Huis courtyard
The headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, now university; walk into the courtyard where the world's first multinational was run.
HIDDEN GEMJacob Hooy & Co
An apothecary shop unchanged since 1743: wooden drawers of herbs, liquorice jars and a 'gaper' head over the door.
HIDDEN COURTYARDKarthuizerhof
A large 17th-century almshouse courtyard in the Jordaan, built for widows on the grounds of a vanished monastery. Most people in the street outside never notice the gate.
HIDDEN GEMChet Baker plaque
On the hotel where the jazz trumpeter fell from a window in 1988. 'He will live on in his music.'
HIDDEN GEMHuis aan de Drie Grachten
A 1610 house with a canal on three sides, one of the most photographed corners nobody can name.
HIDDEN GEMZorgvlied
A romantic 19th-century cemetery on the Amstel, laid out like a park, with the graves of famous Dutch artists.
HIDDEN GEMHouse of Bols
The Bols distillery's cocktail and genever experience next to the Van Gogh Museum.
HIDDEN GEMVuurtoreneiland
A small island with a lighthouse and a fort in the IJmeer, reached only by boat.
HIDDEN GEMHuil van de Wolff
A sound monument under the overhang of the Muziekgebouw for horn player Jan Wolff: every 22nd of the month at 8 pm it plays wolf howls, ship horns and lapping water, shaped by the weather.
HIDDEN GEMUnderwater bike parking
Thousands of bikes parked in a garage under the water in front of Centraal Station, with an aquarium-like view of the IJ.
HIDDEN GEMBeurspassage mosaics
A shopping passage turned into a cathedral of mosaics, glass and chandeliers about the city's water: 'Amsterdamse Oersoep'.
HIDDEN GEMWolkenkrabber (Twaalfhoog)
Amsterdam's first 'skyscraper', twelve floors in 1932, looking down on a Berlage statue.
HIDDEN GEMGable stone wall (Sint Luciënsteeg)
A whole wall of rescued gable stones, the picture house numbers Amsterdam used before street numbers.
HIDDEN GEMMirakelkolom
A column on the Rokin for the Miracle of Amsterdam (1345), when a host thrown in the fire would not burn.
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Good to know
Nearly all free
Almost everything here costs nothing to see. You pay only if you sit down at Café Papeneiland or buy something at Jacob Hooy.
Courtyards are homes
People live in the hofjes. Go in quietly, during the day and not in a group. Some close in the evening and at weekends.
Look up
Many finds sit above eye level: gable stones, carved figures, skulls. In the Sint Luciënsteeg a whole wall is covered with them.
Make your own walk
Tap the heart on the ones you like and open your list on the map. They make a walk of their own.
Courtyards behind doors
A hofje is a row of small almshouses around a garden, built by rich citizens for older women or the poor. From the street you see only a door. Inside it is suddenly quiet. Besides the Begijnhof, try the Karthuizerhof and the Sint-Andrieshofje in the Jordaan.
The trading companies
The Dutch East and West India Companies ran their business from Amsterdam, and both buildings still stand. The courtyards of the Oost-Indisch Huis and the West-Indisch Huis are open to walk into. They are quiet places now, with a long and uncomfortable history.
Questions people ask
What are the best hidden gems in Amsterdam?
The Begijnhof and the other hofjes, the Picasso in the Vondelpark, the wooden house at Zeedijk 1, the finds in Rokin metro station and the seven houses on the Roemer Visscherstraat.
Can you visit the hidden courtyards?
Several, yes: the Begijnhof, the Sint-Andrieshofje and the [[karthuizerhof|Karthuizerhof]] let visitors in during the day. People live there, so go in quietly and keep to the paths.
Are Amsterdam’s hidden gems free?
Nearly all of them. Only the cafés, the brewery and the shops ask for money.
Where can you find Anne Frank away from the crowds?
On the [[anne-frank-statue-merwedeplein|Merwedeplein]] in the south, where the Frank family lived before they went into hiding. A statue of Anne stands on the square.
Why is there a Picasso in the Vondelpark?
Picasso gave it to the city in 1965, when the park turned one hundred. Amsterdammers call it The Fish.