Discover Amstelveen and region

Welcome to Amstelveen!

Amstelveen is a green and comfortable suburb directly adjacent to Amsterdam. Our house is located in the most sought-after neighborhood of this town, because of its close vicinity to several beautiful parks, the large Amsterdam forest (Amsterdamse bos), lively markets (on Tuesday and Friday), modern art museums including Cobra and Jan van der Togt, a fashionable shopping centre, bars, restaurants, and much more... all within walking distance.

There is ample catering for all gastronomic tastes, including a 2 star michelin-awarded restaurant, and a good selection of cafés in the old village. Amstelveen is also home to large Japanese and Indian communities so a great place for dining if you enjoy exotic food! In the springtime, the Japanese blossom garden is also definitely worth a visit.

We are within 20 mins of Amsterdam, so you can enjoy all the cultural and social richness of the city, such as the many museums (Van Gogh, Rijks, Stedelijk, Scheepvaart, Hérmitage, Eye film museum, etc...), its lively squares, streets, and canals, and its many monuments...

and then come home to a peaceful, safe and comfortable home in a lovely neighborhood (with free parking!).

We have selected a number of activities in and around Amstelveen for you to consider during your stay... but there are many others too! Whether you come here for a weekend or a summer vacation, we guarantee you will not be bored for a moment.

Amsterdam

There is so much to do in Amsterdam, and there are so many good websites about it, that I am not going to try and sum it all up, again. But to give you a small taste: the Rijksmuseum and Van Goghmuseum with their many masterpieces; the Artis zoo; the lively Vondelpark; Dam Square with its monument and 18th century royal palace (built by Napoleon III); the many canals; and so forth...

All this is easily reached with buses 170 and 172, metro 51 and tram 5, which all go very frequently. There is also a nightbus, so you will never be stuck for an affordable ride in to town, or back home.

Amsterdam - city of culture

There are many attractions in Amsterdam for culture-fans: we have many world-renowned museums such as the Rijksmuseum with its many Dutch masters (including of course Rembrandt), the Van Gogh museum, the Stedelijk Museum of Contemporary Art, the Hermitage Amsterdam, plus dozens of less well-known, yet highly worthwhile others. A short train trip away you find yourself face to face with the works of other world famous Dutch artists (such as Mondriaan, Toorop (Jan and Charley), Jan Steen, Vermeer, and many others), in beautiful museums such as the Mauritshuis, the Gemeentemuseum and museum Voorlinden in The Hague, Teylers and Frans Hals museums in Haarlem, Kroller Moller Museum in Otterlo, Singer Museum in Laren, and so forth.


Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Photographic art is also well represented, at for instance the always fascinating FOAM, annual World Press Photo in the Oude Kerk, and Fotografiemuseum The Hague.

The film museum Eye is the home of a vast archive of cinematic material, but also a beautiful building with a nice restaurant in the trendy north side of Amsterdam. Well worth a visit!

Amsterdam also is the home of the world-famous Concertgebouw Orchestra, which hosts top quality performances. We also have the newer Muziekgebouw Aan Het IJ, which has more contemporary programming.

Muziekgebouw aan het IJ

And of course in terms of its architecture Amsterdam is definitely worth a visit, ranging from beautiful 16th century canalside homes to contemporary design.

So with all this to see, hear, and experience: you won't be bored a moment!

Nearby parks and forest

Amstelveen has many beautiful parks, which have even been declared national monuments. For instance the Broersepark, the Braak, and the Jac. Thijssepark, which are all within 5 minutes walk of our house.

Broersepark 

We are also next to the 'Amsterdamse bos', the Amsterdam forest with its stretched out fields, lakes, and rivers, offering many recreational activities.

 

A bit more to the south, we have the wide 'polders' with their spacious views and true 'Holland' feeling.

Just for kids (and their parents)!

Amstelveen is full of adventure for children. On hot sunny days there are several splashy pools, clean and free.

A large one in the middle of the Amsterdamse bos, smaller ones for younger children can be found in the very nearby Broersepark (5 minute walk) and on the Judith Leijsterweg (10 minute walk).

There is also a large community pool with both indoor and outdoor facilities

and a lovely outdoor pool Amstelbad in nearby Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (10 mins by car), well worth a visit on a warm day!

And the well-known 'Geitenboerderij', or organic goat farm, where kids can bottle feed goats, and play at a wonderful playground. The farm hosts an organic farmer's market on Saturday mornings.

In Ouderkerk there is also a nice petting zoo and playground, at the Speelboerderij Elzenhove

And if the weather doesn't cooperate, there is also the indoor playground, for instance a very nice one at Ballorig Gaasperplas, or Chimpie Champ.

Other amusement parks include Oud Valkeveen (20 mins), Sprookjeswonderland (1 hour), 'Europe's largest playground' the Linnaeushof (30 mins), and also for the bigger kids Duinrell (45 mins, also with water park), de Efteling (45 mins), or Walibi world

This is just a small selection of things to do. You can also just relax at home, enjoy the many toys, our large garden or many parks and playgrounds within walking distance of our home!

Beach

 Holland is small, and next to the North sea, so a beach is never far away. Within a half hour drive you have 4 vast beach communities to choose from: Noordwijk, Bloemendaal, Zandvoort, and IJmuiden. Further up the coast less busy beaches such as Castricum, Schoorl, Bergen, etc., and to the south, the nice beaches of Wassenaar, Scheveningen (not recommended), and Kijkduin.

All in all... plenty to choose from!

Around Holland

Some nice activities a bit further out into the province, but all within 1 hours drive:
Aviodrome, a very nice airplane museum in Flevoland (a province developed entirely from reclaimed land)

Of course the world famous flowers are not to be missed in the springtime, for instance at the Keukenhof (30 mins drive)

Castles can be visited at the beautiful Kasteel Haarzuilen (30 mins) or Muiderslot (20 mins) 

For the kids: Sprookjeswonderland - fairy tales come alive. And a wonderful huge playground. Inexpensive, old-fashioned fun.

Next to sprookjeswonderland is the Zuiderzeemuseum, which offers a lifesize replica of everyday life in coastal Holland from a historical perspective.

Other typically Dutch outings include visits to fishing villages Monnikendam and Volendam, the windmills at Zaanse Schans or Kinderdijk, the lovely dairy farm Clara Maria (in Amstelveen), and so forth. Beyond Amsterdam, other interesting nearby cities worth visiting include Haarlem, Den Haag, or Rotterdam.

And of course: bicycles!

A trip to Holland is of course incomplete without bicycles. You can use these as transport or as recreation, but either way, they are such a big part of Dutch life, that your imagination is the limit of where you want to go.
Our local travel and recreation shop (ANWB) can help you plan it, or you can plan your own route with this interactive routeplanner.