7 Incredible Fun Facts about Amsterdam 

1. Amsterdam’s City Flag is one of the most badass

in the world, and everybody Loves It!

Do you know your city flag? Chances are probably not.

Why not? “Because I don’t care about flags” – you might probably answer.

WRONG! Everybody cares about flags!

The harsh truth is you don’t know it, it’s because chances are your city belongs to the 99,9% of cities around the world with horribly designed, unmemorable, ugly city flags.

In Amsterdam, on the other side, every single person knows the city flag: it’s so bold, and aestetic and easy to remember!

As you probably don’t know, vexillology (the science of flags!) has few basic rules, but very few cities around the world end up respecting them: a good flag should not have anything written on it (it’s a flag, not a name card!), it should fit a 3x4cm paper, a kid should remember it out of memory and symbolism should be simple.

Amsterdam’s flag nails it all!

Red, black, red, with three Saint Andrew’s crosses representing the three cataclysms that affected the city during its history: fire, floods and black plague.

Simple, powerful, easy to remember, and gorgeous.

When you walk around Amsterdam, you will see the city flag everywhere: on walls, in bars, on souvenirs, on t-shirts, on cups, in ash-trays, and in the red light district (the three “X” are also very convenient for that!), and even city trash cans have the city flag carved on them!

Amsterdam LOVES its flag, and when you’re in Amsterdam it’s impossible not to notice it! 😀

 2. Amsterdam’s Red Light District

is both the Safest and Most Extravagant place in Town!

The red light district in Amsterdam is one of the most surprising corners of Europe. 

Walking beside this channels during the day, everything seems just a normal neighbourhood (maybe with the exception of a sexy shop density higher than anywhere!). 

When the duskfall comes though, this area of Amsterdam gets lit with neon lights and the adult playground opens up its doors: sexy shows, priveès, erotic cinema, erotic museum, hookup bars and cafes, ladies posing by the red-lit windows waiting for clients…

The atmosphere is all but “infamous” as you might wrongly imagine: the red light district in Amsterdam is one of the safest areas in the city and sex work is extremely well-regulated. 

When we were there we notice police chilling while patrolling around, and many many security cameras.

The feeling we got from the place was positive and not dangerous at all.

While walking around alone was a curious experience, there’s just so much going on in this place that we felt a bit overwhelmed and we got the feeling we didn’t see it all in one night (did we wanted to? Who knows! eheh).

If you still don’t feel like wandering alone around the red light district at night, know that there are also Guided Tours in Amsterdam every day that might bring you here (and everywhere else!) with a proper guide to help you see the place through the eyes of a local 🙂

3. In Amsterdam there are Marijuana shops and Marijuana cafès,

but Marijuana is not as widespread and “legal” as you imagine!

Ok, let’s make it clear!

Point 1: they don’t sell marijuana in every cafè in Amsterdam.

Point 2: you cannot smoke it wherever you like.

Point 3: Amsterdam is not the only place in the Netherlands where there are coffee shops, but as a tourists is the only city where you are allowed to buy it without a membership card.

On our first stay here, we learned that Marijuana in Amsterdam is sold only in specific places called “Coffee Shops”.

These places are mostly located in the central area near the Station.

When we entered our first coffee shop we were pretty surprised to find a menù (like in a restaurant).

On the menù, there were all the varieties of Marijuana sold, with the price per gram, few started by 5-6Euro/gram, while some reached even 40Euro/gram!

As we don’t normally smoke (and personally I don’t even know how to properly to roll a join!), we found it very convenient that shops also sold already-made joints (of course, at a slightly higher price), perfect for occasional users like us!

Once bought our joints, we thought of smoking in the coffee shop itself, but surprise surprise: no beers were served there!

For that, they suggest going to a smoke bar, where they sell beverages (note: in bars, they don’t sell marijuana!)

In a few words, if you want to smoke and drink in a bar, first you should head to a coffee shop and get “your stuff” and then bring it with you to the bar where they let you smoke it if you take a drink.

As a Dutch friend later explained to us, marijuana is officially “illegal” in the Netherlands, but personal consumption is “tolerated” and people can carry up to 5 grams for personal use.

Smoking in public areas is frowned upon and discouraged, although if you do it where you cause no pain toanyonee, no one will probably care 🙂

4. In Amsterdam there are more bycicles than people, and some of them end up in the canals every other day! 

I love bicycles, and I love sustainability (I also graduated in that!).

If it was for me, they could ban cars in all city centers tomorrow: just green mobility, what a dream!

When I was there, I found out that Amsterdam is living that dream, and while it’s wonderful not having many cars around, I see now how putting hundreds of thousands of people on a bike has its challenges too!

Bikes in Amsterdam rule. Not cars, not buses, not pedestrians… just bike riders!

If you happen to walk around, you’ll notice how very common it is to get “ring-ring”-ed in Amsterdam; move fast to avoid crashes!

If you try to move around the city during rush hour, brace yourself for the waves of bicycles!

The only way to get around fast, it’s with a bike of your own: if you can’t beat them, join them! 😉

The biking infrastructure in Amsterdam istop-notchh, although finding empty spots to park is not always so easy. Bike lanes are wide enough, traffic moves smoothly and overall you can cut distances in half just by moving by bike.

Many people tie their bikes on the canals’ fences, while many simply let them around (not everyone locks their bikes either!).

As our Dutch friend/guide told us, often happens that you don’t find your bike, and you simply get the next one next to it (how crazy is that!).

Last but not least, given the vast number of bikes, it often happens that some of them end up on the botton of the canals (either pushed by drunk people of thrown by mistake).

5. A big chunk of Amsterdam sits on poles, and that’s why some buildings called “dancing houses” are leaning at odd angles

6. In Amsterdam there are 75 museums,

and they are as quirky as they can get!

Sex museum, human body museum, maritime museum, Van Gogh museum, Ana Frank museum… you name it!

Amsterdam is a culturally rich capital that offers experiences for everyone and, of course, offers much more than the excesses (weed and red lights) for which it became famous!

Personally, I would recommend to spend in Amsterdam not less than 5 days for at least scratching the surface of its incredible cultural heritage.

If you’re short on time, what I can truly recommend is a visit to the Rijskmuseum (the crown jewel of Dutch art and history), the Van Gogh Museum (the largest collection of Van Gogh’s work which includes the “Sunflowers”!), and the Anne Frank House (for a powerful and emotional experience).

If you want a personal tip on what to avoid: the Sex Museum is way way way too overrated (listen to me, save your money) 🙂

7.  The Narrowest House in Amsterdam

is only 1 meter wide!

We saw the dancing houses before, and we are again speaking about architecture!

Tucked away on the Singel canal, just a short walk from Dam Square, you’ll find what is often called the narrowest house in Amsterdam — and it’s truly a curiosity!

Located at Singel 7, this tiny house is just over 1 meter wide (about 3.3 feet) at the front facade, making it look almost like a slice of a building. Though technically it’s a facade leading to a wider structure at the back, it still captures the imagination of passersby.

The story behind these narrow houses dates back to the 17th century when property taxes were based on the width of the house’s street-facing facade — so clever Amsterdammers built tall and deep homes with ultra-narrow fronts to save money.

Today, this house is a fun photo spot and a perfect example of how quirky and ingenious the city’s architecture can be!

Conclusions 🙂

And here we are at the end of our curiosity article about Amsterdam!

I truly hope you enjoyed the reading and that you learned something new from our experience 🙂

Which fact surprised you the most?

Do you know other curiosities about Amsterdam that you would like to share with us?

Let us know in the comments below! 😀

Hereafter I will leave you a few articles that you might be also interested in checking out:

•  7 World-Class Museums You Never Heard Of
• Destinations of the World: Discover More Cool Destinations!
• Travel Italy: All you Need to Discover the Bel Paese!

Thank you for reading, and see you in the next article!