Pocket Amsterdam

In Rick Steves Pocket Amsterdam you'll find only the best of Amsterdam — admittedly a tough call! The core of this book is six self-guided walks and tours that zero in on Amsterdam's greatest sights and neighborhoods; the rest of the book is a traveler's tool kit:

• Practicalities
  • Advice on planning your time and avoiding lines
  • ​Getting around Amsterdam by bike, tram, bus, and Metro
  • Basic tips on shopping, nightlife, managing money, communicating, reserving rooms, handling emergencies, and other helpful hints
• Self-guided walks
  • City walk
  • Red Light District
  • Jordaan neighborhood
• Self-guided museum tours
  • Rijksmuseum
  • Van Gogh Museum
  • Anne Frank House
• More great sights: Descriptions, ratings, hours, and prices of Amsterdam's top attractions, from the Royal Palace to the Amsterdam Museum to the Netherlands Maritime Museum, and beyond
• Activities: Fun things to do that will round out your visit, from canal boat rides to visiting a traditional "coffee shop"
• Where to stay: Condensed listings for recommended hotels in easy-to-browse tables
• Where to eat: Condensed listings for recommended cafés and restaurants in easy-to-browse tables
• And more
  • Handy, full-color, 11" x 20" foldout map: northern and central Amsterdam on one side; on the other: southern Amsterdam and the Jordaan neighborhood, along with smaller overview maps of Amsterdam's neighborhoods and the Netherlands & Belgium
  • More full-color maps of Amsterdam's neighborhoods and floor plans of museums and churches
  • Handy Dutch survival phrases

What's the difference between this Pocket guide and Rick's Amsterdam & the Netherlands guidebook?

Rick Steves Pocket Amsterdam works best for people taking a short trip, or perhaps a return trip, to Amsterdam. Like our other Pocket guides, Pocket Amsterdam is smaller than the complete guidebook (and in full color), but still offers our best sightseeing advice, a handful of self-guided city walks and museum tours, and a foldout map.

For travelers who want to delve deep into Amsterdam, or travel elsewhere in the Netherlands, the full-size Rick Steves Amsterdam & the Netherlands guidebook is a better option. It offers complete chapters for plenty more Dutch destinations, as well as more substantial (and more frequently updated) advice on Amsterdam itself: practicalities, sightseeing, self-guided tours, hotels, restaurants, nightlife, shopping, kids' activities, and the city's history and culture.

Latest updates: When we learn of critical changes to the information in our guidebooks on the Netherlands, we post them. (Of course, it's still smart to reconfirm critical transportation and sightseeing details locally.) Armed with a Rick Steves guidebook and these late-breaking updates, you're set for a great trip!

Submit feedback: Once you've used this book in Europe, we'd love to hear your feedback — good or bad — about our advice on sights, hotels, restaurants, and travel tips. We're also interested in any tips or discoveries you made while in Europe. Your comments help us improve our guidebooks for future travelers.