With all the assets Amsterdam shows off to visitors – among them more canals than Venice, more bridges than Paris, and accessible attractions ranging from architectural treasures to shops galore – it’s the Holland capital’s cultural life that earns a lion’s share of the accolades.



Consider, for starters, the city’s 40 museums – an astonishing bounty that reaches from the famed Rijksmuseum and its collection of such 17th-century Dutch Masters as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer and Frans Hals, to the Vincent van Gogh Museum, the largest showcase of the tortured 19th-century artist’s work.

In the midst of the biggest rebuilding and modernization project in its history (slated for a 2008 completion), the Rijksmuseum is currently displaying 400 Golden Age masterpieces, including Rembrandt’s Night Watch, in its Philips Wing. Nearby, the Van Gogh Museum tells the story of a more modern superstar by immersing viewers in 200 paintings, 500 drawings, and 700 letters.

As if these plus some 38 other museums were not enough to keep a visitor spinning from one must-see venue to another, now comes the 400th birthday of Rembrandt, who was born in Leiden and arrived in Amsterdam at the age of 25, where he set about becoming the most celebrated in the city’s eye-popping pantheon of artists. Throughout 2006, visitors can join in an exuberant birthday party marked by an exhibition titled Rembrandt & Caravaggio, composed of works from leading museums around the world. Organized by the Rijksmuseum, it will be presented February through June at the Van Gogh Museum. Also scheduled are four exhibitions in the Rembrandt House, where the artist lived and worked for 20 years.

In Amsterdam – only in Amsterdam, in fact – even the airport boasts a museum. The Rijksmuseum is the world’s first to open a branch at an airport, and Schiphol is the first-ever airport to house a museum in its terminal. Launched in 2002, the free-admission facility sports a small collection of Golden Age icons such as Jacob van Ruisdael and Jan Steen and stages temporary exhibitions several times a year.



There’s more. Board your Delta flight to Schiphol and you’ll be delivered to Europe’s most entertaining airport, where you can try your luck in a casino, get a massage, arrange a city tour, and browse for Delft Blue pottery, tulip bulbs, and Gouda cheese.

Not that outdoor opportunities aren’t plentiful. On the roster of popular activities in the trendy metropolis are canal cruising to soak up views of the signature gabled houses; joining locals in navigating the narrow streets by bike (the 730,000 residents lay claim to 600,000 bicycles); shopping for fine art and antiques in the Spiegelkwartier, a vintage neighborhood of some 70 shops opposite the Rijksmuseum; and journeying an hour to Lisse to explore Keukenhof Gardens, an 80-acre explosion of springtime tulips plus other blooming beauties.

Hungry? Try Haesje Claes for a fun lunch of Hotch Potch, a hearty beef stew. Housed in a 16th-century building, the restaurant is cozy with low, beamed ceilings and rustic tables backdropped by antique tiles and stained glass. For an elegant evening, make it the Breitner, a romantic, French-cuisine restaurant overlooking the Amstel.

A must: Café Americain, a century-old gathering place for the art world at the Crowne Plaza Amsterdam-American. A high-ceilinged extravaganza of Art Deco design, the café is done up in circa-1930 oil paintings themed to Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Built in 1900, the hotel is handy to Leidseplein, a square rich in restaurants and theaters. From here you can walk to both the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, and enjoy strolls in serene Vondel Park.

For information: 212/557-3500 or www.holland.com.

From top: Tulip fields and windmills are signature attractions served up on excursions from the capital. Amsterdam visitors check out the city’s distinctive gabled houses on canal boat tours. A cheese market in Alkmaar. Keukenhof Gardens at nearby Lisse is an 80-acre flowering wonderland.