How does the Amsterdam scavenger hunt work?
The Amsterdam scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from the station through the old centre to the canal ring, solve a riddle at each of 10 landmarks by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories behind it. It takes about 3 hours at a relaxed pace, with around 52 minutes of actual walking over 3.8 km, and you start whenever you like.
Highlights include the Basilica of Saint Nicholas, the Oude Kerk with its floor of gravestones, the Beurs van Berlage, the National Monument and the Royal Palace on Dam Square, and the Westerkerk with its crowned tower. The centre of Amsterdam is flat and compact, and canals, bridges and gabled houses line almost every step of the way.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 52 min · 3.8 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
Playing the hunt in the old centre
One riddle, one building
At each of the 10 stops a single riddle waits, and the answer is somewhere on the brickwork in front of you: the figure of Saint Nicholas high up between the two towers of his basilica, the inscriptions on the 40-metre clock tower of the Beurs van Berlage, Atlas holding up the globe on the rear gable of the Royal Palace. Nobody needs to know anything about Amsterdam beforehand.
Gravestones, gables and a lost grave
Solve it and the stop gives up its history: the roughly 2,500 gravestones that pave the Oude Kerk, among them Rembrandt's wife Saskia van Uylenburgh, buried in 1642; the 13,659 wooden piles that hold the Royal Palace out of the mud; the grave in the Westerkerk where Rembrandt was laid in 1669 and which can no longer be located. If reading on the move is awkward, the audio narration does it for you.
Short and flat on foot
Google Maps walks you from one stop to the next, 3.8 km and 52 minutes of walking from the station to the Nine Streets. There is not a hill on the route, only canal bridges and a lot of cobbles.
Pause whenever it suits
No timer is counting and no group is waiting for you on a bridge. Stop for a broodje or a beer on a terrace, pick the riddles up again later the same day or on the next one, and rearrange the stops in the app if you are coming from a different part of town.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who takes on the Amsterdam hunt
Newly arrived in Amsterdam
Centraal Station, the Damrak, De Wallen, Dam Square and the canal ring are joined up in 3.8 km, which is about as neat an introduction to the centre as the map allows. You come out of it able to tell the Oude Kerk from the Westerkerk and knowing which one Rembrandt lies in.
Children and canal bridges
Children usually see the clue before the adults do, and this route is full of things to point at: Atlas with the world on his shoulders, the imperial crown on top of the Westerkerk tower, street names such as Huidenstraat that say what was once traded there. A team with children needs a grown-up in it. Canal bridges and cobbles make the route impossible with a wheelchair and tiring with a buggy.
Friends and company outings
A team can have up to 5 players, each with the game on their own phone, so a group of friends or a department splits into teams and settles the arguments afterwards in the Nine Streets. Nothing on the route is booked or reserved, because all of it happens on public quays and squares.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Great information and fun riddles. We would have liked the walk to be a little longer though.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Es war sehr schön!
Aicha– Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
J’ai préféré le fait que les endroits visités sont très facile d’accès, l’itinéraire bien expliqué, l’ajout de photos du site est un plus. Je n’ai pas aimé quelques expressions usités quand on ne trouve pas la bonne réponse.
ErFe– Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Lekker toch met puzzeltjes. Aanrader om te doen om een mooi beeld van Helsinki te krijgen. Echter zie je met deze 10 punten ook een heleboel dingen niet haha
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Daniela– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide