Amsterdam Private Tours

Private Amsterdam Walking Tour –  (3 hours)

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, glocal influence, Dutch East and West Indies companies, Indonesia and the Dutch Trading Company. How these companies influences global bsiness and banking.
• Alternative Amsterdam culture, the drug policy over the ages,the hereion epidemic and the coffeeshop and canabis 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

Now we go 1 of 2 ways depending on your interests

Begijnhof / 9 streets / Canal Belt or Dam Sqaure / 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 city tax per person for groups of 5 or more)

Duration: 3 hours recommended, inlcudes 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 Red Light District Tour – (1.5 hours)

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 prositution in the Netherlands
• The sexworkers union, what it does and why
• The difference between trafficking and sex work
• Prositution 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, wondows, brothels, escourt / sexual surrogacy
• The various genders and their clients
• Live sex shows, peep shows, sex shops
• Compare global legal frameworks.

The costs & start times:

Groups size: up to 4 people

Cost: €150 for the group.

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

In 2019 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.

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 seclection 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.

The cost is 200 euros for 2.5 hours and does not include the drinks.

There’s a limit of 4 people max on this tour and the suggested time to stat is 8:30pm

Private countryside & windmill tours in a car or minivan.

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 – driving and walking

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 – driving and cycling

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.

The costs of the above tours:

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 nearby (Basic)

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.

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 comfortable car, with 3 in the back seat)

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.

Keukenhof Gardens and Tulip Fields nearby + a guided walk through Haarlem

If you would like to add in a guided walk around Haarlem, then add 100€ to the prices above and the trip will take about 8 hours.

Keukenhof Gardens and Tulip 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 accesss 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.