On 20 June 2009, Queen Beatrix, together with the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev opened Hermitage Amsterdam after extensive renovations and expansions. As the western arm of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, this new museum gives an insight into worldwide culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century, collected by the Russian institution.

This major new addition to a city already bursting with art history re-enforces Amsterdam as a cultural capital of the world. www.hermitage.nl If you are visiting Amsterdam then a canal cruise is an absolute 'must'! Cruising along the canals is a real journey of discovery. The cruise boats will take you on an hour-and-a-quarter trip past the stately canal houses, the colourful houseboats, the canal with seven arched bridges, the Dutch East Indies Company replica ship and much more. http://www.canal.nl/

A visit to the Van Gogh Museum is a unique experience. The museum contains the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world. It provides the opportunity to keep track of the artist's developments, or compare his paintings to works by other artists from the 19th century in the collection. http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

After drastic renovation work the Stedelijk Museum, one of the pillars of Amsterdam’s museum world, will be reopening its doors to the public in spring 2010. The renovation work comprised the complete restoration of the existing building and the construction of a new extension. The renovation has turned the new Stedelijk Museum into one of the finest modern art museums in the world. http://www.stedelijk.nl/

At the Anne Frank House on Prinsengracht 263 Anne Frank and her family lived in hiding in the annex of the building where Anne’s father, Otto Frank, had his business, for more than two years. The Van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer were in hiding with them. The doorway to the annex was concealed behind a moveable bookcase constructed especially for this purpose. The office personnel knew of the hiding place and helped the eight people by supplying them with food and news from the outside world. On August 4, 1944, the hiding place was betrayed. The people in hiding were deported to various concentration camps. Only Otto Frank survived the war. Nowadays, the rooms at the Anne Frank House, though empty, still breathe the atmosphere of the hiding period. Quotations from the diary, historical documents, photographs, film images, and original objects that belonged to those in hiding and the helpers illustrate the events that took place. Anne’s original diary and other notebooks are on display in the museum. http://www.annefrank.org/

The former Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam, a national monument and listed in the European Route of Industrial Heritage, has now been transformed into the Heineken Experience. Millions of hectolitres of Heineken beer have been brewed here until 1988, when the Heineken brewery in Zoeterwoude took over production from the Amsterdam brewery. http://www.heinekenexperience.com/

For more than 400 years Amsterdam has been the ‘City of Diamonds’ as its extensively known for its great quality of polishing. Visit the diamond factory Gassan Diamonds for the ultimate diamond experience. Gassan Diamonds is the historical diamond polishing factory of Amsterdam. Experience the craftsmanship of the diamond polishers, while multilingual staff presents the dazzling world of diamonds. http://www.gassandiamonds.com/

An absolute must for anyone who wants to visit the crème de la crème of Dutch art from the Golden Age is of course the Rijksmuseum. The museum is the largest, most important museum in Holland, with a collection of almost a million objects, among which are many masterworks. The museum’s greatest treasure is probably Rembrandt’s Nightwatch. www.rijksmuseum.nl Museum Van Loon is the residence of the Amsterdam merchant family of Van Loon. In 1602 Willem van Loon was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company (the VOC).

Several members of the family were on the city council of Amsterdam. In the early nineteenth century the family was raised to the peerage. Right into the twentieth century the family played a significant role on the Amsterdam stock exchange. http://www.museumvanloon.nl/