Non-Touristy Things to Do in Amsterdam: Storytelling Nights, Poetry, and Off-the-Beaten-Path Ideas

Amsterdam is an amazing city, with an impressive collection of things to see and do, for tourists and locals alike. There are always new events, exhibitions and workshops to go to. If you’re looking for new things to do and you are less inspired, or you want to avoid the crowds for a while, I curated a list for you. It has storytelling and poetry nights, old cinemas, allotment gardens, flea markets and a few green escapes away from the centre.

These are some of my favourite non-mainstream, non-touristy things to do in Amsterdam.

• Storytelling at Mezrab. A place for many creative gatherings, Mezrab is the place to go if you’re a storytelling fan. You can listen to stories several nights a week, and every Friday there’s the Mezrab Friday Night Storytelling. Wednesdays are open stage nights, so you can email them to sign up and tell a story yourself, if you’d like. They also keep two spots at the end of the night for the spontaneous ones. Mezrab is on the Veemkade, in the Eastern Docklands.

• Attend a poetry night. If you are a poetry lover or you have a few poems you want to share with the world, you should check out the poetry nights organised by Labyrinth or Word Up. At Labyrinth, a cocktail bar near the Vondelpark, the open mic nights on Mondays are for everyone to share their emotions through the medium they prefer: spoken word, poetry, storytelling and music. Word Up promotes social inclusion and diversity through spoken word poetry and creativity. Their events are hosted in various locations around the city, so check their website for the next one. You’ll find more open mics, storytelling nights and courses in my guide Amsterdam for Storytellers and Poets.

• Visit the volkstuins. Volkstuins are allotments or community gardens, where individuals grow fruits and vegetables, flowers and trees. You can find these gardens in Frankendael Park, Westerpark, Park de Oeverlanden and a few other places in the city. They are very peaceful areas and you will feel like taking a stroll in a small village, as every allotment has a small, cute house to host its owners when they come to work in the gardens.

• Urban foraging session. Learn how to identify edible plants around you, in the city, and how to ethically forage and prepare them. Lynn, the modern witch from Urban Herbology, organises guided foraging walks through the year, often in Park Frankendael, and you can join her for a one-of-a-kind experience. She is simply amazing and her energy is contagious!

• Visit Frankendael Park. This small park is a hidden gem in Amsterdam and you’ll love it! It has a wide area for picnics, a forest area, gardens, and a rich wildlife. Don’t forget to make a stop at one of the two restaurants: Merkelbach or De Kas, both serving amazing food made with ingredients grown close by. Merkelbach, in the coach house of Huize Frankendael, is open for coffee and lunch, and many of its herbs come from the park. De Kas is in a 1927 greenhouse and grows its own vegetables and herbs.

• Cool events at Mediamatic. This is an art centre at Dijkspark, a short walk east of Centraal Station, that brings together art, design and science. They organise lectures, workshops and art projects, focusing on nature, biotechnology and art plus science. Their events are not your usual workshops — for example you can mix your own scents in the Open Aroma Lab, learn how to ferment vegetables at home or make your own perfume. Check out their lists of projects and events and I’m sure you’ll find something!

• Take a storytelling canal tour with Rederij Lampedusa. Rederij Lampedusa sails two wooden boats that once carried refugees across the Mediterranean. They were left on the Italian island of Lampedusa and brought to Amsterdam in 2015. One of them, Mr. Friday, is a former Egyptian fishing boat that crossed from Egypt to Italy in 2013 with 282 people on board. You can still read the words painted on its back: “Sail peacefully, in search for freedom.” These are 90-minute tours that take you through the eastern canals and the old harbour area, while the storytellers, many of them with a refugee background, tell you how migrants helped make Amsterdam the city it is today. They also share their own stories: what life was like before, how they travelled to Europe and what their life is like now.

• Take a Badass Tour. These are storytelling walking tours that help you discover the history of Amsterdam through the people who helped make this city. There’s a Women’s History Tour, an LGBTQ+ History Tour, a Jewish History Tour and a Hidden Gems Tour through the old Jewish Quarter and the Plantage. I met Elyzabeth, the tour guide, a few years ago when I joined her Badass Women Tour. She’s an amazing storyteller, and she knows how to spark your curiosity and inspire you with her stories. I also interviewed her about her love for storytelling. If you don’t feel like joining a guided tour, Badass also has a self-guided walk through the city centre, from Dam Square to Nieuwmarkt, that you follow on your phone, in your own time and at your own pace. I tried it and completed it in a few walks, never in a hurry, and it was very informative.

• Listen to live music in a cosy bar. Join the locals at De Nieuwe Anita or Checkpoint Charlie. These bars are cosy and can become crowded, but they are great gathering places for many cool people. De Nieuwe Anita also has comedy and improv nights, and Checkpoint Charlie has acoustic live music every Sunday afternoon, with musicians from all over the world.

• See a movie in an old movie theatre at Pathé Tuschinski, The Movies, LAB111 or Rialto. These film houses are really atmospheric and offer a unique experience. Tuschinski is absolutely stunning up to the tiniest detail. I wrote a whole article about Tuschinski, if you want to see more of it. The Movies Amsterdam opened in 1912 and is the oldest cinema in Amsterdam that is still in use. LAB111 is housed in a former pathological anatomy laboratory, while Rialto, in De Pijp, screens independent movies from around the world. For more, see my guide to special cinemas and film houses in Amsterdam.

• Antiques hunting. Check out the flea market at Noordermarkt on Mondays, the Waterlooplein market or the Van Dijk & Ko shop in Zaandam, not far from Amsterdam and worth a visit. All these places are full of treasures for antique lovers. Or spend an hour browsing through this antique book shop that I really love: Kok Antiquariaat.

• Visit De Ceuvel in Amsterdam Noord. De Ceuvel is built on a former shipyard on the Johan van Hasselt canal, just off the IJ. Old houseboats were placed on the polluted land and connected by a winding wooden jetty. Around them, plants were put in to clean the soil. The boats are now workspaces for creative and social entrepreneurs. The whole site is an experiment in sustainable living: it tries to produce as much of its own energy as possible and processes its own waste. Café de Ceuvel cooks completely vegan and is off the gas grid, and you can eat there for lunch, dinner or a drink. Check their agenda too. There are workshops, sound meditations, climate choir rehearsals and mini-safaris about edible wild plants, and many of them are free or pay what you can. I also included De Ceuvel in my list of places in Amsterdam to nourish creativity.

• Visit the Poezenboot (the Cat Boat) – a houseboat that was transformed into a cat shelter. This is obviously for cat lovers. And it might be a bit more touristy than the others, but it’s still cool. Located on one of the most beautiful canals of Amsterdam (Singel), De Poezenboot might be easily missed if you don’t know about it. You can visit this special shelter during their visiting hours, three afternoons a week, without booking. Only six people can go in at a time, so you might have to wait a little. And maybe you can even find your next cat friend there, as they offer adoptions as well.

• Visit KNSM and Java-Eiland. For impressive modern architecture, visit these neighbourhoods. You will experience a different Amsterdam, and you will love it! These are man-made islands, like many parts of the land in the Netherlands. KNSM gets its name from the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot-Maatschappij — the Royal Dutch Steamboat Shipping company which used to have its headquarters and its docks on the island, from 1903 until 1979. Nowadays, these are residential areas. And while you’re here, continue your walk to Borneo and Sporenburg, the other islands of the Eastern Docklands, which are places with a specific charm, reminding you that Amsterdam has been an important port and trading place for centuries.

• Eat pancakes in Amsterdamse Bos. Some of the best pancakes I’ve had in Amsterdam are the ones at Meerzicht Farm in Amsterdamse Bos. You can make a stop there after a walk in the forest, and the pancakes will be even tastier! And if you eat outside, you will be surrounded by peacocks and deer. You can feed the deer through the fence of their paddock. The farm is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and doesn’t take reservations, so check the opening times before you go.

• Bike ride to the countryside. If you can cycle for longer distances (around 20-25 km in total), you can take your bike to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. The route is beautiful, along the Amstel River, and Ouderkerk is a charming village where you can rest and have a drink before coming back to Amsterdam.

↪ The Best Cycling Routes from Amsterdam: 7 Bike Rides into the Dutch Countryside

I hope you found something interesting to do on your next weekend or your next Amsterdam trip! Let me know which are your favourite things to do in Amsterdam 🙂

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