Art and Culture

Amsterdam is world-famous for its art history and museums. The most famous museums highlight the Dutch master painters from the 16th and 17th centuries including Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijn, Frans Hals, Jan Vermeer, and many others. These museums include the Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk Museum, and the Van Gogh Museum. Additionally, there are many wonderful history museums such as the Anne Frank Museum and Het Scheepvaartmuseum (The National Maritime Museum), As well there are science and technology museums such as the Tropical Museum, NEMO Science Center, Amsterdam Artis Royal Zoo, and De Hortus Botanical Garden. 
There are many interesting, smaller museums throughout the AMA as well. Teylers Museum in Haarlem is the nation's first and oldest public museum. The Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen gives a great history of the Afsluitdijk construction and its outdoor museum contains authentic exhibits of life in Holland before industrialization with a fish-curing shed, cheese warehouse, and dwellings.

Rijksmuseum

Stedelijk Museum

Nemo Science Center

Zuiderzee Museum

Teylers Museum in Haarlem

But lest you think all art and culture in the AMA is old, don't forget that Amsterdam is a hot seat of modern European music, art, and club scenes. Valhalla is one of the world's biggest electronic dance music festivals held in Amsterdam Zuid. There is a thriving local art scene as well. A favorite example of mine is Jasper Geenhuizen, a cutting edge star of an artform called light graffiti. His work can often be found in small Amsterdam art gallery showings.

A Walking Tour of Amsterdam the City
There are many reasons why Amsterdam is ranked 12th in the world for liveability. How did it achieve that? Well besides being known as a thriving, tolerant, safe place that's easy to get around, it's also just a whole lot of fun. Scroll through the slides below to the left to see a few examples from a typical day wandering the streets of Amsterdam

Queen's Day
Everybody needs a reason to throw a good party. Queen's Day in honor of the monarchy head is a carnival-like event thrown every year at the end of April. More than 700,000 visitors flood Amsterdam for the music and festivities.