Museum Quarter and the Vondel Park
The Museum Quarter and the Vondel Park can be found by heading south west from Central Amsterdam and most people will find their way here via Leidesplein or the Speigelstraat (Mirror Street). The Museum Quarter is aptly named due to the prominence of Amsterdam’s three most visited and well known museums; the Rijks Museum, Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum. The museums sit along the edge of Museumplein, a large open grass area where locals and visitors have picnics, play football or walk their dogs. This is also the location of big concerts to celebrate events such as Queens Day and where the Dutch gather to watch the National football team on the big screen.
The Rijks Museum sits very prominently at one end of the park and is a huge beautiful piece of art itself. People come in the thousands to see the Dutch master painters such as Rembrandt, Van Hals and Jan Vermeer. The Van Gogh Museum is only a short stroll away from the Rijks Museum and is home to the largest collection of Van Goghs anywhere in the world. Then right next to this you have the Stedelijk Museum, which is set to reopen this year, with their collection of contemporary and modern art. Also in the vicinity is the House of Bols, an attraction dedicated to making cocktails with the famous Dutch drink Genever. Then you have the Concertgebouw (concert building), one of the most renowned concert buildings in the world.
The road on which the Concertgebouw is located is the Van Baelestraat another good place for shopping. Then if you follow this road along to the west you will find Pieter Conelisz Hooftstraat known locally as PC Hooftstraat, the most well known designer shopping street in the Netherlands. After shopping here you will for sure need a rest and there is no better place then Amsterdam’s Vondel Park, the city’s most popular park named after poet and writer Joost van den Vondel. It’s a great place to unwind in Amsterdam in the winter or in the summer and there are a couple of nice cafes and a tea house here to enjoy. If you like rollerblading then this is also the meeting point for the Friday Night Skate. You can also rent roller blades at the far end of the park.
