Why Unusual Beats Ordinary in Amsterdam
When you are visiting a city like Amsterdam as a couple, filled with beauty, charm and romance, of course, that is perhaps your first idea for things to do — but what if you were to do some crazy, fun and unusual things? Activities that bring you together through laughter or by exploring the city and your minds in a unique and novel way all the while discovering each other all over again on your trip? Sounds like fun right?
Amsterdam rewards the curious couple more than almost any city I know. Behind unmarked doors, inside hidden courtyards, on the rooftops of copper-clad museums and inside 17th-century canal houses with extraordinary secrets — the unusual things to do in Amsterdam are everywhere, if you know where to look. After travelling to over 25 countries and spending years guiding couples through this city, these are the ones I love sharing most.
Whether you are after crazy things to do in Amsterdam for couples, top unusual things to see in Amsterdam off the tourist trail, or simply a day you will both be talking about for years — this is your list.
1. Plastic Whale: Go Plastic Fishing on the Canals
The plastic crisis is a planetary one and Amsterdam’s canals are no exception. Plastic Whale has found a solution — a tour on the canals where you go plastic fishing! You board one of their boats (made entirely from previously recovered canal plastic) and spend two hours navigating the waterways together, collecting rubbish with nets and poles. It sounds strange. It is strange. And it is one of the most genuinely fun, connecting things a couple can do in this city.
If you would like to find out more, check out the website of Plastic Whale.
Best time: Morning, when the canals are quieter and the light is at its most beautiful.
2. Micropia: The Museum That Changes How You See a Kiss
Micropia is a museum devoted to displaying the weird world of microorganisms — and it is the only one of its kind in the world. Did you know when you kiss you exchange thousands of microorganisms? Micropia makes that visible through microscopes, body scanners and interactive displays that are as beautifully designed as they are genuinely mind-bending.
For a couple who love art, science, and things that are genuinely off the beaten track, a visit here is an extraordinary shared experience — slightly unsettling, completely captivating, and unexpectedly intimate. Check out the Micropia Museum.
Local tip: Go on a weekday morning to avoid school groups at the hands-on stations.
3. Dine in the Dark at CTaste
What would it be like to eat in total darkness? With only your other senses to guide you? Imagine yourself there together in the dark at CTaste, where you are served by waiters who are blind immersing yourselves in this extraordinary sensorial experience. Deliciously weird and wonderful.
Without sight, everything else intensifies: taste, smell, texture, the sound of each other’s voices, the warmth of hands across a table you cannot see. Couples consistently describe this as one of the most connecting evenings they have ever shared — and one of the most genuinely unusual things to do in Amsterdam.
Are you curious about more romantic restaurants? Read here my 20 favourite restaurants in Amsterdam.
4. High Tea in Amsterdam’s Smallest House
What about having high tea in the smallest house in Amsterdam? Cute and quirky and a little bit romantic, the Smallest House is a tiny tea shop right in the heart of the city — measuring just 2.02 metres wide — that most visitors walk straight past. Sitting inside a space so beautifully small that the outside world seems to shrink around you, sharing tea and sandwiches while Amsterdam goes about its business just outside the door, is one of those experiences that is very easy to love.
Location: Oude Hoogstraat 22 — five minutes from Dam Square. Best time: Weekday afternoons to avoid a queue.
5. Our Lord in the Attic: A Secret Church in a Canal House
Hidden in the heart of Amsterdam’s city centre is one of the most extraordinary unusual things to see in Amsterdam: a fully intact Catholic church concealed inside the upper floors of three 17th-century canal houses on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal.
During the Reformation, Catholic worship was banned in Amsterdam. So in 1663, a wealthy merchant built a working church inside his own home and kept it hidden for nearly two centuries. Climbing through the narrow canal house rooms and then arriving in that soaring, decorated space — with its baroque altar and pipe organ — is a moment that genuinely stays with you.
Book at: opsolder.nl Best time: First thing in the morning when the upper windows fill the space with beautiful early light.
6. The Houseboat Museum: Take a Peek Inside
Hundreds of houseboats decorate the canals of Amsterdam. The Houseboat Museum is the only museum of its kind that celebrates and illuminates what it is actually like living on a houseboat. It is small, warm, and surprisingly absorbing — and gives you a perspective on Amsterdam life that almost no other visit can offer.
I also wrote about fantastic museums in Amsterdam. Read all about the best museums for couples.
Location: Prinsengracht 296K, facing the Westerkerk. Tip: Combine with a slow walk through the Jordaan neighbourhood afterwards.
7. A’DAM Lookout Swing: Step Off the Edge Together
For couples who believe shared adrenaline is one of the fastest routes to closeness, the A’DAM Lookout Swing delivers. On the 11th floor of the A’DAM Tower in Amsterdam Noord — directly across the IJ from Central Station — a swing extends beyond the edge of the building, 100 metres above the city. You sit side by side, buckled in, and swing out over Amsterdam together. Terrifying, beautiful, and completely unforgettable.
The observation deck itself offers a full 360-degree panorama of the city, and the SkyLounge bar on the same floor is one of Amsterdam’s best spots for cocktails with a view.
Book at: adamlookout.com Getting there: Free ferry from behind Amsterdam Central Station. Best time: Late afternoon for golden light over the canal belt.
8. The Begijnhof: Amsterdam’s Best-Hidden Courtyard
Behind an unmarked wooden gate on the Spui — a gate that looks like it belongs to a private residence — lies the Begijnhof: a medieval courtyard of houses arranged around a quiet green garden, where the noise of the city disappears the moment you step through.
Built in the 14th century for the Beguines, a community of devout women who lived outside the formal convent structure, the Begijnhof still functions as private housing today. The oldest wooden house in Amsterdam (built around 1460) stands here. Standing in that garden together, surrounded by 600-year-old facades in complete quiet, is one of those rare Amsterdam moments that asks nothing of you except to be present.
Entry: Free. Look for the small wooden door on the Spui — no signage. Best time: 9–10 am before the day’s visitors arrive.
9. NEMO Rooftop: The Free View Nobody Talks About
The rooftop terrace of the NEMO Science Museum is one of Amsterdam’s best-kept secrets — freely accessible via an outdoor staircase without a museum ticket, and offering one of the finest panoramas in the city. From here you look directly over the old harbour, across church spires to the Westerkerk, and out over the IJ waterway. There is a café on the terrace, and the whole copper-sloped space makes a wonderful, unhurried spot for couples who want something the guidebooks skip.
Access: Free via the east-side outdoor staircase. Best combined with: The Hortus Botanicus and Plantage neighbourhood on the walk back.
10. STRAAT Museum: Street Art on a Former Shipyard
For couples who love art that refuses to behave itself, STRAAT Museum on the NDSM Wharf in Amsterdam Noord is one of the most visually extraordinary unusual things to do in Amsterdam. A vast industrial hall where over 150 artists from around the world have painted directly on the walls and structures — some pieces covering entire warehouse walls — it feels nothing like any other museum in the city.
The surrounding NDSM Wharf, a former shipyard turned creative district, rewards slow exploration afterwards: open-air murals, design studios, and Pllek — a beach bar on the waterfront with beautiful views back across the IJ towards Amsterdam.
Getting there: Free NDSM ferry from behind Central Station — 15 minutes.
11. A Private Canal Tour to Places Nobody Else Goes
I have saved this for last because, in my experience, it is the one that couples remember most.
The commercial tour boats follow the same routes — the Herengracht, the Prinsengracht, the main tourist channels. Beautiful, but crowded. A private canal tour with a small boat and a skipper who actually knows this city takes you somewhere completely different: the quieter canals of the Jordaan, the narrow bridge-lined waterways most visitors never reach, the hidden stretches where the canal houses lean at impossible angles and the city suddenly feels like it belongs entirely to you.
This is the Amsterdam that locals know. For something even more special, our private dinner cruise combines the canals with a candlelit dinner, and our marriage proposal experiences use these same hidden locations as their setting.
For more evening ideas, our guide to things to do at night in Amsterdam as a couple is the perfect companion.
One Last Thought
I hope these unusual things to do in Amsterdam have inspired you to take a trip here and take a walk on the wild side with these fun, unusual and delightful activities. Amsterdam rewards the curious couple at every turn — you just have to know where to look.
If you’d like help discovering these places with someone who lives here and has been guiding couples through them for years, I’d love to show you the Amsterdam I know. Download our free Romantic Amsterdam Guide or contact us directly.
With love, Rocco Romantic Amsterdam Tour
