
Historical
Amsterdam
Tours
Private City Guides

Historical
Amsterdam
Tours
NEW:
Facebook Live tours
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic all tours are suspended.
However…
Historical Amsterdam Tours offers a great opportunity to keep discovering Amsterdam online. On your phone, laptop or tablet: you are live in Amsterdam.
Every week you can join an interactive online tour on Facebook Live.
Sign up for your favourite tour and travel without moving.
March 28 | 17:00 (UTC+2)
More than any other city, Amsterdam can be seen as the cradle of modern capitalism. How did that happen?
We address financial Amsterdam from a historical angle: the world’s first economic bubble, financing the world’s largest land purchase, an impressive bank fraud in WWII.
Follow the money in the streets of Amsterdam.
April 11 | 17:00 (UTC+2)
All aboard!
Meet the Dutch pioneers in shipbuiding and mapmaking on a live online tour in Maritime Amsterdam.
April 25 | 17:00 (UTC+2)
The ring of canals is a unique 17th century urban landscape.
It’s an amazing example of Dutch civil engineering and the cornerstone of Europe’s first pre-modern society. Discover the UNESCO-listed Canal Ring.
Let’s enjoy a stroll along the waterside together.
March 14 | 17:00 (UTC+1)
Normally off limits for guided tours!
February 21 | 13:00-14:00 (CET)
76 years after liberation day.
The scars of World War II are hard to see in today’s Amsterdam. Have a better insight on the Nazi occupation and Holocaust on street level.
Walk this virtual tour with us, straight through the heart of Amsterdam.
February 28 | 13:00-14:00 (CET)
The ring of canals is a unique 17th century urban landscape.
It’s an amazing example of Dutch civil engineering and the cornerstone of Europe’s first pre-modern society. Discover the UNESCO-listed Canal Ring.
Let’s enjoy a stroll along the waterside together.
Featured Tour:
experience World history
on street level
World War II
in Amsterdam
75 years after the liberation of Europe Historical Amsterdam Tours offers a unique walking tour about World War II in Amsterdam.
Learn more about the Nazi occupation, resistance, holocaust, Anne Frank and more with a private guide:
Our most popular tours
Our guides

Tijs
Tijs is a seasoned traveller. He loves to show people around his beloved hometown, so he founded Historical Amsterdam Tours in 2015. He is happy to share his passion for Amsterdam with you.

Edgar
Edgar’s knowledge about the city keeps surprising us. He is an art historian. This makes him the ideal private guide to lead you along the canals and around the museums of Amsterdam.

Maarten
Maarten has a degree in art history and literature. You will enjoy having Maarten as your private tour guide in Amsterdam. He knows the city like the back of his hand.
What others say about us:
-
Tijs is one of the people that makes us wish the day to have more than 24 hours! 🙂 Not only a guide who makes the fascinating Amsterdam even more... read more fascinating! His vision for the city reveals the past, the present, and create great perspectives for the future. With all the secrets of each street, you learn not only about Nederlands but also its World's Influence. Knowledge, culture, amazing angles for photos and a real lesson of lively history in just one day, I can imagine how wonderful it would be if we had the privilege to spend a week with our new Dutch Friend! Absolutely recommended, I have no doubt he will be an essential part of my tours!
12/22/2020Highly recommend Tijs’s tours. He knows so much, about Amsterdam, is clearly passionate about what he does, and is a great storyteller. Interesting, entertaining & good value for money.
8/21/2020This was an amazing walking tour of Rembrandt’s steps, where he lived, about his work, the good and bad, etc. It was extremely informative and our guide was Tijs who... read more did an outstanding job. He was funny, and professional, and it was obvious he is passionate about history. Definitely worth doing!
8/18/2020 -
Operator: Amsterdam Red Light District Tours
Our tour guide Martin was engaging from the very beginning. Very well informed and interesting. Questions were responsed to. Highly recommend this tour.... read more Totally enjoyable!!
3/12/2020This was a fascinating and informative tour. The shocking reality of the Second World War is so close to the surface in Amsterdam; important historical events happened on almost every... read more corner. Tijs was an excellent and knowledgable guide about this difficult subject; he told us stories of bravery and loss, acts of rebellion and resistance, of the Hunger Winter, of families in hiding and people being shot by a sniper just days after Liberation Day. I am familiar with this period of history and this city and yet I still learned many new things, so I can't recommend this tour highly enough.
3/09/2020This walking tour gave an insight about Amsterdam during the dark period of 1940 and 1945. The 2 hour tour started at the Anne Frank House and ended at... read more the Jewish cultural quarter in the Plantage. Tijs spoke about the harrowing times that led up to the second world war, the daily struggels of the jewish citizens of Amsterdam, their persecution and their massacre in various death camps in Poland. We also learnt about how ordinary Amsterdammers tried to resist the nazi occupation of the city and how they tried to save lives. The tour itself leads through the most beautiful parts of Amsterdam and I highly recommend it to everyone who has not much time to spend in Amsterdam. You will not only visit stunning parts of the city but you will also learn more about the important topic of the Holocaust. At times, I felt emotional during this tour but it was one of those tours that I will remember for a long time. I absolutely recommend.
3/08/2020 -
WW2 history isn’t new to me - I’m of the age that I have had the privilege to have met veterans, victims and witnesses of this horrible era in world... read more events. However, I am relatively new to life here in the Netherlands and wanted to learn of their time in this period and must say this tour by Tijs was excellent in every way.
His attitude to the events that took place in Amsterdam was respectful, clear, concise and truthful - the latter part painfully so. I wont spoil his details but we ended the tour in a very solemn place which totally tied all of his previous comments and explanations to the grim reality. So glad to have taken this tour.
3/08/2020I joined in on the WWII Amsterdam tour and can highly recommend it!
I’ve been in Amsterdam for decades and was surprised how many landmarks I walk past on... read more a daily basis that have a historical significance. The tour was fun, informative and Tijs is a superb guide.
3/08/2020I really enjoyed my morning walking tour of the canal district with Historical Tours Amsterdam. Tijs’ knowledge of the city is amazing and he explains fascinating historical details clearly... read more and with enthusiasm. I learned about the reasons why the Amsterdam skyline is as we see it now, why the canal fortifications are necessary to maintain the city and why there is a swan on top of a Protestant domed church. I now understand more about how Amsterdam expanded rapidly from medieval times onwards as trade developed and where the remnants of the old city walls can still be seen. I heard about the story behind the Multatuli statue on the oldest bridge in Amsterdam with a prison below it and the origins of fair trade coffee. Likewise the stories behind the different widths and gable-ends of the houses was so interesting; now I’ll
look at this familiar city through fresh eyes. I highly recommend Tijs as a guide who can add a fun personal touch to a tour of Amsterdam and bring history to life.
3/03/2020 -
Tijs was amazing. His knowledge is outstanding and the tour was fun, interesting and informative. We would definitely recommend him to anyone needing a tour guide in Amsterdam. He tailor... read more made the itinerary to our interests and it was an even more enjoyable than I...More
8/30/2019Tijs was amazing. His knowledge is outstanding and the tour was fun, interesting and informative. We would definitely recommend him to anyone needing a tour guide in Amsterdam. He tailor... read more made the itinerary to our interests and it was an even more enjoyable than I could have imagined. All in all an unforgettable day.
8/30/2019Gerben Post is an outstanding and knowledgeable tour guide. He provided a moving experience about a topic that is difficult and painful. His ability to provide important and... read more meaningful stories about people made the walk come alive. His sensitivity and ability to describe the impact...More
7/29/2019 -
Tijs is a fantastic, energetic and fun guide. Our group consisted of 30 international guests. They loved the walk through Amsterdam guided by Tijs. Defenitelly can recomment Historical Amsterdam Tours!
5/15/2019Amazing experience! Tijs took us through the history, like coming back in the past. Walking in the streets, listening at his storytelling was an incredible experience. Such a passionate guide!... read more We learned a lot about the culture, the past and the present. Can't wait to...More
5/11/2019I've been in the Tijs's "Amsterdam Jewish in WW2" tour. I live in Amsterdam for quite some time and was walking near these spots without knowing so many tears... read more and much grief around. These people's stories, historical facts and humankind experience should be never forgotten....More
5/11/2019


Top 5 videos of quiet Amsterdam
Professional photographers and filmmakers saw a unique opportunity: to capture the capital during its most quiet times in history. Videos of quiet Amsterdam.

Amsterdam on fire!
A reconstruction of Amsterdam in the late middleages, before the big fires in the 1400s.

Top 5 Longreads about Amsterdam
We keep warming you up for a visit. Here is a top five of interesting newspaper articles. A selection of longreads about Amsterdam.

Coming of age – Amsterdam 1345-1421
Between the mid-1300s and a century later Amsterdam was ‘coming of age’. In this blog we talk about the success factors of Medieval Amsterdam.