Amsterdam is our current series and will run until the end of July 2025. New episodes will be published every other Wednesday.
Welkom in Amsterdam! There’s nowhere quite like this lovely city, with its network of canals, pretty humpback bridges, top notch art and laid-back atmosphere. Of course, we’ll visit the stand-out sights such as the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseums and ‘meet’ the famous people whose stories inform the city as it is today. But we’ll also delve into the quirkier side, from hidden churches to tulips and diamonds, not forgetting stroopwafel and bitterballen. And we’ll find out what some of the writers who have loved the city had to say.
The 12 episodes in our City Break Amsterdam series bring you all the background history and culture you need to fully understand this charming city. In short, here is all the research you’d do yourself if only you had the time.
Each episode centres around a podcast, available here or on all the usual providers. The blog posts here on the website include a summary of the main information, plus pictures, useful links and ideas for further reading. So, let’s go. Or, as the Dutch phrase it, Laten we gaan.
Amsterdam is our current series and will run until the end of July 2025. A new episode will be published every alternate Wednesday.
aMSTERDAM : HISTORY & CULTURE
Episode 1: Introduction to Amsterdam
Episode 02 5 Walks Around Amsterdam
Episode 03 The Canals of Amsterdam
Episode 04 Amsterdam’s Churches
Episode 05 Amsterdam’s Golden Age
Episode 06 Jewish Amsterdam
MORE READING ABOUT AMSTERDAM
4 Useful websites for tourists
I Amsterdam
Amsterdam Info
Holland.com / Amsterdam
Introducing Amsterdam
Useful guidebooks
Lonely Planet Pocket Amsterdam Guide
Eyewitness Guide Top 10 Amsterdam
Pocket Rough Guide to Amsterdam
Marco Polo Pocket Travel Guide to Amsterdam
Amsterdam Like a Local
The Invention of Amsterdam A History of Europe’s Greatest City in 10 Walks by Ben Coates
History
Amsterdam A Brief Life of the City by Geert Mak
Amsterdam A History of the World’s Most Liberal City by Russell Shorto
The Embarrassment of Riches Dutch Culture in the Golden Age by Simon Schama
The Tulip by Anna Pavord
2 Anthologies
Amsterdam City-Pick edited by Heather Reyes and Victor Schiferli
Amsterdam Tales Edited by Helen Constantine
Biography and Autobiography
Rembrandt by Michael Bockermuhl
Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White-Smith
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Many Lives of Jan Six by Geert Mak
My ‘Dam Life by Sean Condon
Fiction set in Amsterdam
Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
Amsterdam Stories by Nescio
PODCASTS TO GET YOU STARTED
OTHER CITY BREAK IDEAS
LATEST ARTICLES
GALLERY
