The annual Amsterdam Light Festival is a winter event that combines light, art and — of course — water.

The organization promotes boat-, walking-, and bicycle tours along the 20 light art installations.

The 2020-2021 edition will mark the festival’s 9th year.

However, the festival leaves us (among others) underwhelmed.

We suggest an excellent alternative.

Quick: What is the official name of Rembrandt’s most famous painting, The Night Watch? And what does the painting depict?

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam sees 2.2 million visitors a day — and most of them want to see The Night Watch.

July 8, 2019 sees the start of a unique restoration process. The painting will remain on view — encased in a glass enclosure. Rijksmuseum visitors will be able to follow the entire study- and restoration in person as well as online via a livestream.

Amsterdam’s annual Gay Pride Canal Parade is the second most popular event in town, with 80 floats and over half a million spectators. The popular parade is the highlight of a week-long of gay pride events.

2019 marks the 24th edition.

Public transport in Amsterdam requires the use of an OV-Chipkaart (OV-Chipcard) — a paper or plastic credit card-size ticket with en embedded memory chip designed to be read by ticket readers on board public transport vehicles.

For most tourists, day- or multiple day tickets are the best deal. They entitle you to unlimited travel through Amsterdam – day and night – by tram, bus and metro. Ferries across the river IJ are always free.

Note: all buses, trams and metros are cash-free. Buy your Public Transport Day- or Multiple Day Passes online right here.

Each year 5.5 million Amsterdam visitors take a canal cruise, making a boat tour of the canals the city’s most popular tourist attraction.

No visit to Amsterdam — also known as ‘Venice of the North’ — is complete without taking to the water, hands down the best way to see the city.

In fact, many people take more than one cruise: a daytime tour is a good introduction. A romantic candlelight cruise at night creates another lasting impression.

And then there are the many specialty tours: dinner cruises, cheese and wine tastings, combination boat tour and museum entrance… whatever floats your boat.

Update: The brief return that didn’t happen

‘I amsterdam’ long was Amsterdam’s hugely popular marketing slogan. The set of giant letters — located at the back of the Rijksmuseum, and a stone’s throw from the Van Gogh museum — is among the most photographed of Amsterdam’s icons.

But now both the letters and the marketing campaign are history. Victims of their own success, as Amsterdam suffers under an onslaught of over-tourism.

The sign will be removed at the beginning of December.

Amsterdam remains the least safe city in the Netherlands, according to the 2019 edition of the Crime Index (Misdaadmeter) published annually by Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

The city held on to its position in the index even though there was a reduction in the number of the most common type of crimes.