10 Fun facts about Amsterdam

A city with a history as rich as Amsterdam is sure to be filled with interesting facts and sights. From the city’s iconic canals to its draw for artists, there is always something new to learn about Amsterdam. These are some of our favourite fun facts about Amsterdam, that you should know before visiting the city.

Once Amsterdam was built for cars, today bikes rule the roads with around 1 million bikes in a city with a population of around 920,000. While underground car parks are seen around the world, Amsterdam has many bike parking lots underground as well. In 2023, two new bicycle parking facilities opened at Amsterdam Central Station with room for around 11,000 bikes.

Surprisingly, around 25,000 bikes end up in the canals of the city every year. The municipality uses special boats to take them out, though not all are recovered. And while Amsterdam is a save city, approximately 100,000 bikes are stolen every year.

Amsterdam has 165 canals, together they reach a length of 100 kilometres. The World Heritage listed canals are in the city centre and date back to the 17^th century, they are the Keizersgracht, Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Singelgracht. With over 1,700 bridges there are more bridges in the Dutch capital than in Venice, these are just some of the fun facts about the Amsterdam canals.

For a city with fewer than 1 million inhabitants it has an incredible amount of museums. Though the number varies throughout the years, there are around 75 museums in Amsterdam. There are world renown museums as well as unique boutique museums to visit when you are in the Dutch capital, such as the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Red Light Secrets – Prostitution Museum and National Maritime Museum.

Amsterdam was founded in 1275 when a dam was places in the Amstel river. From the end of October 2024, the city will be celebrating its 750 year birthday with lots of events. The city’s official coat of arms, three vertically aligned crosses, can be seen throughout the city. The motto Valiant, Steadfast, Compassionate was added to the coat of arms in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina.

For centuries artists have come to Amsterdam to find inspiration among the people who live here. Rembrandt often painted strangers who he met on the streets of the city. Other famous artists who have called the city home include Vincent van Gogh, Frans Hals, Piet Mondrian and Willem de Kooning.

Today the creative heart of the city lies in the Noord borough, which is easily reachable with the free ferry service from the city centre. The STRAAT Museum can be found in Noord, among other places, it is filled with incredible street art and often has artists create new works on site.

Like a quarter of the country, the capital of the Netherlands is below sea level. The city lays approximately 2 metres below sea level, this is part of the reason why the city was built on 11 million poles and why so many of the famous canal houses are crooked. With so much water in the city, it is no wonder that there are several thousand house boats.

The Dutch capital is known for its narrow houses. The smallest house was built in 1738 and it was once the epicentre of the European tea trade, being part of the buildings belonging to the Dutch East India Company. The house is only 2 metres wide and 5 metres deep.

The reason why so many houses in Amsterdam are narrow is related to taxes. In the 17^th century, when many of the iconic houses were built along with the canals, property taxes were determent by the width of the house. Many of houses have a very narrow front but are very deep and widen towards the back of the house.

Today there are 5 windmills to be found in Amsterdam, two of them sit on the edge of the city centre. Windmill De Gooyer stands on the east end of the city centre, not far from ARTIS Royal Zoo and right next to Brewery ‘t IJ. In the west part of the city stands Windmill De Otter, a sawmill dating back to 1631.

The other 3 windmills are spread out on the edges of the city. There are far more windmills to find outside of the city. For instance in the town of Zaanse Schans, which you can visit with a day tour from Amsterdam or with public transport.

With the popularity of bikes and good public transport, Amsterdam has a head start to many other city’s when it comes sustainability. The city is also incredibly green, with trees lining many of the streets and canals and around 40 parks. The Vondelpark is the most popular park in the city centre, while the Amsterdamse Bos on the southern side of the city is 3 times the size of New York’s Central Park.

Amsterdam is known as a forward thinking city with lots of freedom for everyone, but not everything is how you might think. A frequently made mistake is the though that soft drugs are legal in the Netherlands, but they are not, they are simply condoned and only up to a point. Only soft drugs bought at a coffee shop is condoned and they are only allowed to sell up to 5 grams to a person per day.

On the other hand, prostitution is legal in the Netherlands. Many of the women who work in Amsterdam’s Red Light District are even part of a union and they pay taxes, too. Remember, when you are travelling you must follow the laws of the country you visit.