ice skating
If you visit Amsterdam in the winter months, one thing you’ll probably notice is that the Dutch love to ice skate. When the temperatures drop low enough the canals freeze over and many Dutch locals will take to the ice with their own skates, zooming up and down the canals.
If risking it on the canals isn’t your thing, you can check out one of the other picturesque places to hire skates and swoop around the ice.
1. Rijksmuseum
Perhaps one of the most popular places to hire skates is at the Rijksmuseum. With a lovely backdrop of the museum, this temporary rink is set up in Museumplein from November until early February each year.
Brasserie Winters is located next to the rink, a wooden chalet offering a range of Dutch and international dishes. You can also buy glouwijn (mulled wine) or a beer and watch the skaters from the bridge (personally, my favorite way of enjoying ice skating…)
2. Ice Rink Rembrandtplein
Located in the buzzy drinks square of Rembrandtplein, this temporary ice rink is surrounded by wooden stalls selling food, drinks and christmas-y trinkets.
3. Canals
During colder winters Amsterdam’s iconic canals will occasionally freeze over creating a really beautiful scenery and a space perfect for ice skating. The temperature has to remain below -4 degrees Celsius for 4 nights in a row, and then the council closes off certain canals and actually lets them freeze for the very purpose of ice skating!
Many Amsterdammers possess their own ice skates. If you manage to get hold some, perhaps from one of the daily markets or Dutch sports shops, then this can be a unique opportunity to skate along the canals.
