Amsterdam is flat, so a good view takes a little effort, and kids notice the difference once they're up high. These spots show the city from above or from the water: a tower skydeck, high terraces over the old harbor and free ferries across the IJ, where the skyline opens up. Here's what we checked, from the A'DAM Lookout skydeck to NEMO's rooftop square.
A'DAM Lookout fills the top two floors of the A'DAM Tower, 100 meters above the IJ. A lift with light and sound effects climbs 20 floors in 20 seconds to an indoor deck with binoculars and a rooftop skydeck with a 360-degree view over the canals and polders. Add-ons include 'Over the Edge', a swing that arcs out past the roof edge, and a 2.5-minute VR ride.
NEMO is a hands-on science museum where kids test things for themselves. Fenomena covers light, sound and static electricity, Technium the technology around us, Elementa space and lab experiments, and Humania the human body through games and tests.
In the daily lab workshop kids put on lab coats and safety glasses for experiments with everyday objects. The roof is the highest city square in the Netherlands, with wide city views.
The city's central library fills 10 floors of a 2007 building by architect Jo Coenen, a short walk east of Amsterdam Centraal. Kids get a dedicated children's book section, and the building has 1,200 seats, rotating exhibitions on design, art and books, and a Library Museum.
The seventh-floor restaurant has a south-facing terrace.
Blue-and-white GVB ferries cross the River IJ from the docks behind Centraal Station to Amsterdam Noord. Kids walk or ride their bikes straight on board and watch the harbor go by from the deck.
The Buiksloterweg crossing is the shortest and busiest, landing by the Eye Filmmuseum. Longer routes run east to IJplein and west to NDSM Wharf, home to the STRAAT street-art museum.
NDSM Wharf is a former shipyard on the IJ, now a 10-hectare open site of artist studios, exhibition spaces, waterfront cafés and large public artworks. Kids can wander between graffiti-covered buildings, giant colorful sculptures and the old shipyard crane, and shoot hoops on the 3x3 basketball courts.
It suits curious older kids more than toddlers looking for a playground.
Amsterdam is flat, so a good view takes a little effort, and kids notice the difference once they're up high. These spots show the city from above or from the water: a tower skydeck, high terraces over the old harbor and free ferries across the IJ, where the skyline opens up. Here's what we checked, from the A'DAM Lookout skydeck to NEMO's rooftop square.
A'DAM Lookout fills the top two floors of the A'DAM Tower, 100 meters above the IJ. A lift with light and sound effects climbs 20 floors in 20 seconds to an indoor deck with binoculars and a rooftop skydeck with a 360-degree view over the canals and polders. Add-ons include 'Over the Edge', a swing that arcs out past the roof edge, and a 2.5-minute VR ride.
NEMO is a hands-on science museum where kids test things for themselves. Fenomena covers light, sound and static electricity, Technium the technology around us, Elementa space and lab experiments, and Humania the human body through games and tests.
In the daily lab workshop kids put on lab coats and safety glasses for experiments with everyday objects. The roof is the highest city square in the Netherlands, with wide city views.
The city's central library fills 10 floors of a 2007 building by architect Jo Coenen, a short walk east of Amsterdam Centraal. Kids get a dedicated children's book section, and the building has 1,200 seats, rotating exhibitions on design, art and books, and a Library Museum.
The seventh-floor restaurant has a south-facing terrace.
Blue-and-white GVB ferries cross the River IJ from the docks behind Centraal Station to Amsterdam Noord. Kids walk or ride their bikes straight on board and watch the harbor go by from the deck.
The Buiksloterweg crossing is the shortest and busiest, landing by the Eye Filmmuseum. Longer routes run east to IJplein and west to NDSM Wharf, home to the STRAAT street-art museum.
NDSM Wharf is a former shipyard on the IJ, now a 10-hectare open site of artist studios, exhibition spaces, waterfront cafés and large public artworks. Kids can wander between graffiti-covered buildings, giant colorful sculptures and the old shipyard crane, and shoot hoops on the 3x3 basketball courts.
It suits curious older kids more than toddlers looking for a playground.
