Amsterdam in 4 days

The Bloemenmarkt is the only floating flower market in the world: the stalls sit on barges moored on the Singel since 1862, and the market is walked through more than visited — it runs one block of stalls along the water, and you cross it looking. At nine the shutters still go up unhurried, before the coaches arrive: it's the right hour to pass by, and the reason the day starts here. If you plan to take tulip bulbs home, one warning that spares a disappointment: check the packet carries the export certificate, because without it they stay at customs. Then you continue along the Singel and down Heiligeweg: five minutes to the little gate on Spui.

Suggested time here: 40 min

The Begijnhof is Amsterdam's secret courtyard: you slip through a narrow door and the noise of the city vanishes at once — a lawn, two churches and the houses of the beguines, the lay women who lived here as a community from the Middle Ages. At number 34 stands Het Houten Huys, from 1528, one of the only two wooden houses left standing in the city: stop and look at it, because it's a piece of Amsterdam that barely exists anymore. Entry is free and only one thing is asked, silence: people still live here, and the pact between courtyard and city has worked for centuries. The Spui, the booksellers' square, is just outside: three minutes on foot.

Suggested time here: 57 min

The Spui is the square of booksellers and students: on Fridays it hosts the second-hand book stalls, on Sundays the painting stalls, and around it stand some of the truest bruine kroegen in town — the "brown cafés", named for wood darkened by centuries of smoke. The ritual is simple: you sit at whatever table is free, order a coffee and pick up the newspaper, still clipped to a wooden stick like in the old days. Half an hour like this is worth as much as a museum, because the brown cafés are Amsterdam as much as the canals are. Then you head off towards the old town: twelve minutes through Nes and Oudezijds Voorburgwal, to the square of the Waag.

Suggested time here: 1h 48m

The Nieuwmarkt is dominated by the Waag, the 1488 city gate that later became a weigh house and an anatomical theatre — the one in Rembrandt's "Anatomy Lesson", which still feels at home here. Around the square are terraces and neighbourhood places where at midday you eat well and without ceremony: a broodje, a soup, and the Chinatown of the Zeedijk starting two steps away if your eye catches the signs. It's the right pause halfway through the first day: a real square, honest prices and the old town all around. The Oude Kerk, the next stop, is five minutes on foot.

Suggested time here: 1h 25m

The Oude Kerk is the oldest building in Amsterdam: consecrated in 1306, it stands planted in the middle of the red-light district — a very Dutch contrast, which nobody here finds odd and which tells you more about the city than many museums. Inside are the medieval wooden ceiling, the grave of Saskia — Rembrandt's wife — and contemporary art exhibitions in dialogue with the ancient space. Entry costs €14.50, or €22 with the tower climb: allow a good hour, because the nave asks for calm. On the way out you head for the civic heart of the city: eight minutes through Warmoesstraat and Damstraat, to Dam square.

Suggested time here: 1h 22m

The Royal Palace on the Dam was born in the seventeenth century as the city hall of the richest city in Europe, and that is why it is outsized: in the Citizens' Hall the floor is inlaid with maps of the world, because the ships were commanded from here — the most concrete idea of power a floor can give. It is still a working palace of the royal house, so it closes at short notice for court engagements: check the calendar before going. The ticket costs €13.50, audio guide included, and the palace stays open until 6 pm: this day's late-afternoon visit fits comfortably. Dinner on the Zeedijk is ten minutes on foot.

Suggested time here: 2h 5m

The Zeedijk is the oldest street in Amsterdam — it was the dyke that kept the sea out — and today it is the spine of the city's Chinatown: Cantonese, Thai and Indonesian kitchens one door after another, and halfway along, the He Hua Buddhist temple. This is the night for rijsttafel, the "rice table" Indonesia left to Dutch cooking: many small dishes to share, the perfect way to close the first day as a pair. One practical warning that applies everywhere in Amsterdam: a great many places are "pin only", card or phone — better not even to pull out the cash.