Enjoy the Guide all to yourself.
Amsterdam Private tours, whether walking in the town or driving in the countryside, are the best way to tailor the tour to your interests. These are agreed by email so that we can come up with the right tour for you. Below are some suggested itineraries and prices for you to get an idea what’s available. Tours are can be customized to your personal requirements. Scroll down for all the tour details or click on a specific tour below:
Amsterdam Walking Tours
Rijks Museum Tour
Red Light District Tours
Countryside & Windmill Tours
Tulip Tours
The Hague & Delft Tours
Please e-mail [email protected] for more info and bookings.
You can call, too (+31 6272 69604) but I often cannot answer if I am giving a tour or in a meeting.
Private Amsterdam Walking Tour
Our most booked private tour follows the itinerary of our Amsterdam Walking Tour which gives you a great overview of the city’s 800 year history, right up to current social policy and an insight into what it is like being a local and living in this iconic old town. Private tours are completely flexible and you decide the pace. If you enjoy a quick walk, we can do that and cover more ground and topics. If you have an particular area of interest we can focus on that and drill down in detail about any topic.
Topics that we can cover include a lot of history with a focus on
- Trade, from the 1400s onwards, global influence, Dutch East and West Indies companies, Indonesia and the Dutch Trading Company. How these companies influences global business and banking.
- Alternative Amsterdam culture, the drug policy over the ages, the heroin epidemic and the coffeeshop and cannabis system and sex work policy
- Liberalism, and why what started as trade liberalism turned, over the centuries into social liberalism. Discuss characters like Descartes, Spinoza, Edward Dowes Dekker, Aletta Jacobs, Benno Premsela
- Dutch Design, from architecture to products to the role of design in life nowadays.
We can also start from anywhere central and still tell a coherent and interesting story of the city.
On a typical tour we will see:
The original sea dike defences of Amsterdam / the Old Church and a hidden church / the Red Light District and China Town / Nieuwmarkt the Dutch East Indies Company HQ / touch on the old Jewish District / Begijnhof / 9 streets / Canal Belt / Dam Square / Canal Belt / dip into the Jordaan
We include time in the tour for a cafe break where we give you one of our own printed maps with our top 40 recommendations of places to eat, drink and see. We also make peronalised suggestions for you and can mark these on the map.
Practical info:
Group size: Between 1 and 10 people
Cost: 175 total for the group (plus €1.50 extra tourist tax per person)
Duration: 3 hours recommended, includes a cafe break.
Start Time: Flexible
Start Pont: Anywhere central
A group of up to 15 is sometimes possible, also the tour can be shorter or longer, please e-mail me at [email protected] with details for a price.
Private Rijksmuseum – Dutch Golden Age Tour
The Rijks Museum can be quite overwhelming as it is big, full and surprisingly confusing to navigate. Rob gives guided walks through the museum of the Dutch Golden Age period. What that means is pretty much the 1600s when the money was flooding in and the wealthy certainly splashed it around on grand art, spectacular furniture, comfortable living and follies.
Rob tells the story of the rise of the Dutch republic and its mighty sea power using allegorical paintings that illustrate important moments of its history. The Rijks Museum encapsulates the Golden age with its treasure trove of objects, furniture, models, guns, canon, china, Delftware, dolls houses and drinking games that and you will see during the tour.
The entrance hall to the Gallery of Honour reminds visitors of the duties expected of responsible citizens of the period and shows a thourough history of Dutch culture in the arts and sciences. The Gallery of Honour is where Rembrandt’s Night Watch s hanging, which is looking better by the day as it is undergoing a slow and public restoration. Other artists on show include Vermeer, Van Hals, Ferdinand Bol, Flinck, Saenredam to name but a few.
This tour is offered only as a private tour with a group of 4 people maximum.
Costs: There is a flat rate of €150 plus entrance which is an extra €20 per person.
Rijksmuseum & City Walking Tour combo
The Rijksmuseum tour is really best if coupled with a 2 hour private city walking tour first. On the city tour Rob will point out things that tie in to what you see in the museum. The walking tour can end near the museum then you can take a break for lunch and continue with the museum tour after. The museum closes at 5pm so you can have a bit more time there after the tour with Rob ends if you wish.
The following itinerary works well:
10am – 12 noon – Private 2 hours city walking tour (€150 euros + €1.50 per person)
12 – 1pm lunch
1 to 2:30pm Rijksmuseum tour
Private Red Light District Tour
We offer educational and detailed 90 minute red light district walking tours, starting at 8:30pm or 9pm. Our tours are respectful of the area and the people working there and you learn about all aspects of the district and the industry. Tours are banned after 7pm in the red light district for reasons that we will discuss when we show you around. But that restriction only applies to larger groups. We can still take you there at night as long as there are no more than 4 people in your group. Red Light Tours are definitely better at night!
Topics that we discuss on the tour are:
- The history of prostitution in the Netherlands
- The sex workers union, what it does and why
- The difference between trafficking and sex work
- Prostitution policy, liberal feminism vs radical feminism
- The legal structure that the sex workers fall into
- How they rent their shop space, what they charge and what they offer
- Security in the area
- Demographics in the area
- Different types of sex work, windows, brothels, escort / sexual surrogacy
- The various genders and their clients
- Live sex shows, peep shows, sex shops
- Compare global legal frameworks.
Practical info:
Groups size: up to 4 people
Cost: €150 for the group (tourist tax is included)
Duration: 90 minutes with no break
Start Time: Our suggested starting time is 8:30pm but this is flexible. If you want to have dinner first we can start later.
Start Point: Dam Square or Barbizon Palace Hotel
Until 31 March 2020 a group of up to 15 is still sometimes possible but starting before 5pm, no later. Please e-mail me at [email protected] with details for a price.
Private Red Light District Tour + a cafe crawl with 3 beer stops
The content of the walking tour part is the same as the section above so I’m not going to repeat it here.
What we do on this tour is visit 3 nice local cafe / bars that have an excellent selection of Belgian and Dutch beers and spirits or wine are also available.
We do this 3 times, at the start, in the middle and at the end of the tour. The info carries on in the cafes so this tour goes inot more depth than the normal 1.5 hour tour.
Practical info:
Cost: 200 euros (plus €1.50 extra tourist tax per person) and does not include the drinks.
Duration: 2.5 hours
There’s a limit of 4 people max on this tour and the suggested time to stat is 8:30pm
Private countryside & windmill tours
As beautiful as Amsterdam is, sometimes it’s nice to leave the city behind and dive into the lovely Dutch countryside. We offer private driving tours outside of Amsterdam. These involve a bit of walking too and cycling is also an option.
Private Countryside & Windmill Tour – Monnickendam
Our primary countryside driving tour follows the itinerary of our Amsterdam Windmill Tour which is a 6 hour exploration through lovely Dutch countryside, small harbour towns, a family farm and a beautiful old working windmill. We visit Monnickendam on this tour and can stop for delicious Dutch apple pie and coffee in a lovely old building.
Private Countryside & Windmill Tour – Edam and Volendam
In this tour we substitute Monnickendam with Edam. Edam is a gorgeous Dutch town that is well worth a visit. We’ve scouted a lovely and easy 5 mile / 8km circular cycle route that goes from central Edam to Volendam along the dike road. From Volendam back to Edam the route is very pretty with a good variety of scenery along designated bicycle lanes. We can also couple this tour with the farm and windmill.
Practical info:
1 to 4 people = 525€ (vehicle is a mid-range comfortable car, with 3 in the back seat)
4 to 8 people =575€ (vehicle is a Mercedes Vito Tourer minivan)
This includes driving, guiding and transport, but does not include food or windmill admission or bicycle hire. The following costs should be expected:
- Coffee and pie – 5€ pp (though you can always order more, less, or different items)
- Picnic supplies – we can stop at a lovely deli in Monnickendam and you can choose your own ingredients. 5 – 10€ pp is plenty. The guide can bring utensils by arrangement.
- Windmill – 4.50€ pp from April to the end of October. In winter and spring, we visit a different windmill and the fee will either be a total of 15€ or €65 (depending on whether they have to open especially for us)
- Bicycle Rental – 10€ pp
And just so there’s absolute clarity, we’re happy to diverge from this plan at your request. For example, you might want a proper sit-down lunch in a restaurant or no lunch if you’re all full of apple pie. No problem either way.
If you have infants or children below the age of 12 years than you must let us know beforehand, by email at the time of booking to arrange for the appropriate children’s seats in the vehicle.
Private Tulip Tours
Keukenhof Gardens and Tulip Fields
We spend 2 to 3 hours with you at Keukenhof Gardens and show you the best of the gardens. When there are flower fields in bloom, which is most of the season, we find places to stop so we can take photos of the fields and of you by the fields. These fields are in the same area as the tulip gardens. The tour can also include a lunch/snacks stop at the gardens or at the lovely local pancake restaurant that we visit on the scheduled group tour.
Practical info:
This package includes driving, guiding and transport, but does not include lunch/snacks or Keukenhof Gardens admission. The ticket selling at Keukenhof is incredibly quick and efficient and there is never much of a line.
Keukenhof entrance tickets cost 18€ per person for adults, 8€ for under 17s.
1 to 4 people = 525€ (vehicle is a mid-range car)
4 to 8 people = 575€ (vehicle is a Mercedes Vito Tourer minivan)
If you have infants or children below the age of 12 years than you must let us know beforehand, by email at the time of booking to arrange for the appropriate children’s seats in the vehicle.
Add a guided walk through Haarlem
If you would like to add in a guided walk around Haarlem, then add 100€ to the prices for the above tour and the trip will take about 8 hours.
Add a trip to fields in the Beemster Polder plus a working Windmill.
This is our best tour. You get the itinerary of the first tour above and then we zip up to lovely tulip fields in the Beemster area of North Holland. These are off the tourist track on a farm where we know the farmer and get access to his fields.
We also visit a lovely old working windmill and guide you through that.
The cost of this option is the basic tour above plus €125 to the prices above and the trip will take about 8 hours.
The Hague and Delft City Walks
The Hague and Delft are both charming cities to walk around and Rob, one of the guides here at That Dam Guide, knows them well and offers a guided walk around both the Hague and Delft.
2 hour morning walking tour in The Hague
Rob will meet you at The Hague Central Station, so you need to get a train there from Amsterdam. It takes an hour and is direct.
Then he will show you around and speak about or show you the following:
- History of the 1200s castle
- Binnenhof & seat of Government & PM’s office
- the Mauritshuis
- Hofvijver
- Noordeinde, the royals understated city palace
- The Panorama mestag
- Palace Sculpture Gardens
- Grote Kerk
- Grote markt.
Routes and content are highly variable depending on your interests and how fast or slow you wish to walk. The tour is a street based walking tour and the idea is that you do this in the morning and then stay in the Hague and visit the Mauritshuis museum or Escher museum after the tour.
Alternatively you can extend the tour and Rob can also show you around the Mauritshuis or any other places you discuss with him. The cost of extending is 50 euros an hour.
Duration: 2 hours
Costs : 150 euros
Excludes train fares to and from Amsterdam (about €12.50 each way)
The Hague and Delft
Delft is an exceptionally attractive town and perfect for walking around. You can add a visit to Delft to the Hague tour so you get all the above as well as the following:
Topics and places include:
- Old world Holland
- Porcelain – Delfts blauw and Chinese influence (not the Delft factory)
- House of Orange family history, assassination and burial
- The Market Square
- The New Church (very old actually) and its tower that you can climb
- You can stop somewhere for lunch or snacks.
Rob can drop you at the station and help you buy tickets back to Amsterdam. He can make sure you get on a direct train so you don’t need to change trains.
Duration: 5 hours
Costs: The Hague & Delft €275
Excluding: Train fares (Delft to Amsterdam is about €14)
