10 Must-Do Walks in Europe

I’ve never walked the East End of London, but my friend and I are planning on spending four days in London before our Eastern Europe tour, so we may do so then. We are hoping to join a couple of London Walks as well. I’d like to go on the Westminster Abbey walk, as it was closed the last two times I went to London, and she wants to go on the Jack the ripper tour. The London Pub Walks and Harry Potter Walk also appeal to me.

What tour are you going on? The Best of Holland or Best of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg? During my extra day in Amsterdam, I went to the Van Gogh Museum in the morning with a person I met on tour who also had an extra day in Amsterdam. We spent about three hours there, which was long enough to see everything. We went on a Friday, and I found out afterward our visit that it was open until 9:00 p.m. that night. If I had known that earlier, I would have went there in the evening, as a lot of other places I wanted to visit closed at 4:00 pm.

After the Van Gough Museum, we walked along the canals, and then had some lunch on a patio. We then walked to the The Koninklijk Paleis and Nieuwe Kerk, however, by the time we got there, both were closing, so we only had a few minutes to look around the Nieuwe Kerk. I liked what I saw though, and if you’re into churches, I would recommend going there. From here we went to a tourist place to find out what was open after 4:00 p.m., and then took the bus to the Heineken Factory. I didn’t enjoy the Heineken Factory as much as I enjoyed the Guinness Factory in Dublin, however, as there was not much else opened, it was something to do. After that we walked around a little bit more, and then had dinner on a patio.

I’m not sure what you will see while on your tour, but I also recommend visiting the The Westerkerk, which is the site of Rembrandt's grave. Our tour director told us that Anne Frank would hear the church bells from this church while she was in hiding. The Anne Frank House is also a must see, as is The Rijksmueum (this is included with the tour, however, you only spend about 1.5 hours here, and it’s not enough. I recommend going on your own if you have time). A walk thought the Red Light District is also interesting, although I know not everyone would agree with me.

The people I’m travelling to Eastern Europe with this fall have asked me to join them on this tour in 2017, along with the Northern Spain tour. I’m not sure yet if I will be able to join them, but I’ve been wanting to go on this tour since going on the Best of Holland tour.

On my tour of Holland, our tour director added a walk through the Red Light District to the optional dinner offered in Amsterdam. There are some beautiful old homes in this area, and I really enjoyed our walk through the area. Our tour director told us that a lot of students live in the area because they can get a nice apartment for less money, because the rents are lower in that area.

I personally found our trip to the diamond factory boring. Unfortunately, it’s hard to skip as you get dropped off there after the included boat ride of the canals, and you can’t get back to the coach without walking through the factory. I don’t remember it being very long though, and if you’re daughter is into diamonds, I’m sure she will love it.

If you decide you want to see the Anne Frank House, I recommend joining the optional tour in order to skip the line-up, which can be quite long. Also, I noticed the one of the optionals offered on your tour is Kinderdijk Exploration And Boat Ride. I highly recommend that you take this optional tour. It was one of the most beautiful boat rides I’ve ever been on, and I would do this optional again if I went back to Holland.

I’m sure you’ll find a lot of things to see and do during your free time. You can spend a whole day just walking the city, and another whole day at the museums.