Amsterdam City Center Walking Tour

My wife and I have got into the habit of doing a history-focused walking tour when we visit a new city after having a great experience with a really interesting walking tour in Vienna earlier this year. This was also an interesting walking tour with numerous stops that were individually interesting and I’m pleased we chose to book it. Additionally our guide was very personable, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the city. Our tour covered fascinating insights into the creation of the canal system, the history of the Netherlands and its struggle for independence from Spain, the role of Dutch explorers in the early development of (what later became) the United States and the experience of Amsterdamers during WW2. The missing element was a really coherent narrative about how the city grew and developed over time. The tour could benefit from telling the story of the city rather better – there was a story but also a few stops that broke up the narrative and more got in the way. I appreciate that the success of a walking tour design is partly a function of the geography of the city. You can only walk so far, which dictates what you can visit and in what order. But in this case, if it helped, I would cut out some of the stops that don’t fit so well into the story of the city, even if individually interesting, in order to make the whole a bit more coherent and engaging.

Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam tour with Babylon tours booked through Viator: This was the best art tour I've ever taken. Our guide, Anita L, was superb!

Our walking tour with Cecile was absolutely perfect. We had done a canal tour the night before, and walked around a bit, and were a little worried there might be lots of overlap with this tour, but nope! Cecile took us many places we had missed, others we definitely never would have found, and she told us new and interesting information about all of it. The pacing was perfect, and her enthusiasm and knowledge made all of the difference in our experience. Absolutely perfectly perfect on foot introduction to an incredible city.

Anita was very knowledgeable about Amsterdam. She was a trooper and kept us moving, as we battled the rain and wind during our tour. Despite the wet weather, we enjoyed our time with Anita and recommend this tour if you are interested in learning about Amsterdam.

Our tour was great! Our guide was knowledgeable about the city, its history and other details that made our tour worthwhile. It was a beautiful day, so we walked the city and saw incredible sights.