Amsterdam: Red Light District guided tour (TOP RATED)
Description
Start this tour in front of the Amsterdam Voyager Hotel. From here you will walk to the famous Amsterdam Red Light District. First part of the tour leads through the old town area and Amsterdam's Chinatown. Here you get a insight of the history of Amsterdam and the area. Then walk to the center of the Red Light District where the guide will tell you everything about the prostitution, coffeeshop culture and history of the Amsterdam Red Light District. Your guide will tell you how it is working as a prostitute in the Red Light District, the liberal laws and tell you many interesting facts. Your guide will also tell you about the coffeeshop culture of Amsterdam. Learn where the name “coffeeshop” comes from and some of the weird laws we have on the consumption and production of soft-drugs.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Walk through the narrow streets and see all the sights that the Red Light District has to offer! Learn about the history and the current situation of the Red Light District and explore the streets of Amsterdam with your local guide.
1. The dam, Also known as the City built on trees: Due to the soil in Amsterdam consisting of a thick layer of fen and clay, some buildings in the city are built on wooden poles that are fixed in a sandy layer that is approximately 11 meters deep. Since the old days, the houses in Amsterdam were known to have been built on wooden foundation piles that are driven deep into the clay, peat, and water until they reach the first layer of solid sand.
The area is a part of the Red Light District, tob e specific, part of the Old Town area. So this is the oldest part of the city that is why there is a lot of history as well.
Pub The Ape, also known as Int Aepjen in Dutch. Built around 1540 and one out of two remaining wooden buildings left in Amsterdam. Which is very special as there was a big fire in 1452 and after that point the government decided that buildings should have brick facades.
The Waag used to be one of the city gates of Amsterdam, a part of the defensive wall. It was built around the 1400s and is the second oldest building of Amsterdam. Later on it was used as a guild, craftsman’s organizations, situated themselves within the Waag and around the square.
The smallest house of Amsterdam was built around the 1700s and was first used as storage place for the VOC trading company. Later on people started living in the house for a very long time.
This is the world’s first condom shop special for condoms, in place here since 1987. You can get a size customized condom and all kinds of special condoms.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Not recommended for travelers with limited mobility
Reviews(724)
Ben was very entertaining and a great tour guide! We highly recommend this tour! We learned a lot and had a lot of fun!
Our host shared interesting history and information about the district. It was worth seeing. It's not as large a district as it was when we visited some years ago.
Highly recommend this tour for anyone that is interested in learning about the red light district and how it came to be. We had Robin as our tour guide, he was really lovely, knowledgeable and funny. He told us a lot of information we would not have found out about if we did not do the tour. The tour included parts of old town as well. The tour was informative and very respectful and I would highly recommend it.
The red light district has “ tamed down” significantly in the last five years and honestly there was not much of interest there. Our guide was not allowed to take us to some of the areas and gave us 20 minutes on our own. Other than that he did not have much to say other than that he was tired and really wanted to be home and have a shower.
Walking tour of the whole red light district. Lots of interesting history. Glad we went with a guide. She was very knowledgeable
It was well worth the time and money. Enjoyed it immensely. Ben did a great job of explaining the history of drugs and sex in Amsterdam.
What a great tour with Sophie! She was very knowledgeable. Her tour was always fun with her humor and attention to details. Highly recommend!
The tour was a little less than an hour and a half. The historical and cultural information was fine. But there wasn’t much time spent in the red light district.
Very informative. Katie was a very friendly, funny and knowledgeable guide. She answered all questions and provided lots of useful and interesting facts. The tour is a great way for first time visitors to Amsterdam to learn valuable insight into the do's and don'ts of Amsterdam as well providing lots of interesting historical facts and stories. I would recommend taking this tour very early on a first trip to Amsterdam.
Was interesting and we saw more than the red light district. Learned alot about the city itself and was a good short tour. Ben was a great guide!
