I (Mark) have been on and enjoyed all of the below tours. Naomi’s Jewish Amsterdam Tour’ was highly educational and moving, Peter’s WWII history tour made me see the city through a different lens. My bike tour with We Bike Amsterdam took in parts of the city out of reach of a walking tour and the boat tour with Jamie was great, in a comfortable, but smallish boat it was chatty and personal yet still informative and an info based tour. Hungry Birds kept me entertained with food stories and tasty treats. All of the companies below offer both small group and private tours…
Amsterdam Boat Adventures
Jamie and Bente own Amsterdam Boat Adventures and they and their team provide 5 daily 90 minute boat tours in boat that seats 12 people. The boat is big enough for everyone to be comfortably seated but small enough for everyone can hear the skipper. It’s a great combination of relaxing and taking in the sights but also with info from the skipper who guides while steering. There is a cover that can easily and quickly be put up if the weather requires this… https://www.amsterdamboatadventures.com/
Jewish Amsterdam Tour
I was lucky enough to join one of Naomi Koopmans’ small group tours about Amsterdam’s Jewish Heritage way back in 2013. She brings extensive historical knowledge and a lived experience to her tours and covers the important landmarks of the Jewish District. The tour takes place inside both the Jewish Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue as well as on the street visiting important landmarks including the Holocaust memorial. She offers both small group and private tours… https://jewishamsterdamtour.com/
History Walks
Peter and Ben of History Walks have been giving detailed WWII tours of Amsterdam for many years with ‘then and now’ visual aids of the city centre during the Nazi occupation. Rudi gives bike tours of the Southern part of the city that visits monuments and locations of executions, raids and battles between the Germans and the Dutch Resistance. They offer small group and private tours… https://historywalks.eu/
Hungry Birds
I loved the food tour I went on with Hungry Birds which had a really great group vibe and lots of interesting samples of local foods and stories that go with them. One of the places they introduced me to on the tour I still go to nowadays to buy my sambals and Indonesian treats. This is also a great way to see ‘de Pijp’ neighbourhood and markets. They have a bunch of tours to choose from now: https://hungrybirds.nl/
We Bike Amsterdam
Thijs owns We Bike Amsterdam and has his own shop and bikes and takes care that every step of the tour experience works well. He and his team offer daily city and countryside cycling tours and his groups are smaller than the other companies. There is a maximum of 11 people but there are usually less in the group. There is a city and also a countryside option. Small group and private tours… https://www.webikeamsterdam.com/tours/city-bike-tour/