Ghost Walking Tour And Dark History In Amsterdam

It was a very good time of the year to do this as the streets was not too busy so you got to see and hear the tour . The guide Maria was very good

If you like ghost stories and some history this is a tour for you. You do cover a lot of ground walking so if you have mobility issues you may want to rethink joining this tour.

I do some kind of haunted tour everywhere I visit and Sunil was one of the best tour guides I’ve ever had. He was entertaining, engaging, and passionate about the history of Amsterdam and the stories he was telling. Would recommend this tour 100%

Maria was a fantastic guide. She was soo knowledgeable and it was such a fantastic tour the time just flew by.

Sunil was absolutely fantastic! We did two tours while we were in Amsterdam, and this was easily the best of the two. He was SO knowledgeable, not just about ghosts and local lore, but about Amsterdam’s history and the actual places we were standing in. It became obvious very quickly that this was not some guy who memorized a script and was walking us from spooky building A to spooky building B. This man KNOWS his stuff! 👏🏽 We covered a surprising amount of Amsterdam, starting at Dam Square and making our way through places like the Begijnhof, Oudemanhuispoort, Spinhuissteeg, Nieuwmarkt and De Waag, Spooksteeg, and eventually the Tower of Tears. Along the way, Sunil kept pointing out things we absolutely would have walked right past without ever realizing what we were looking at. We learned about Amsterdam’s old orphanage, a women’s correctional workhouse, Aletta Jacobs, the first female doctor in the Netherlands, a centuries old apothecary that is somehow STILL OPEN, public executions, haunted alleys, blood streets, old city gates, anatomical theaters, and all kinds of wonderfully weird, macabre, and occasionally horrifying pieces of Amsterdam history. So, naturally, I was having a GREAT time. 💀 One of my absolute favorite parts was that Sunil brought a MASSIVE packet filled with old photographs, historical images, maps, and information about the places we visited. And I mean an actual, substantial packet. Not three sad laminated pictures being passed around like they have been surviving the same tour since 2007. 😂 As we stood in these places, he would pull out historical images so we could actually compare what was in front of us with what had once been there, then connect it all back to the history and stories he was telling us. I freaking LOVED this! 🤓 I’m a visual person, and it made everything infinitely more interesting. I’m also exactly the kind of person who hears one bizarre historical fact and then needs to know EVERYTHING, so this was basically catnip for me. Sunil also has a fantastic sense of humor and, as we unfortunately discovered, the patience of a freaking saint! We had one particularly pestering fellow American on our tour who seemed physically incapable of allowing a thought to pass through her head without immediately sharing it with the rest of us. She interrupted, questioned, corrected, and repeatedly inserted herself into what Sunil was trying to tell us. You could practically feel everyone else’s patience evaporating, except, somehow, the woman she came with. As a fellow American, my internal monologue eventually boiled down to, “OH MY GOD. LADY. PLEASE. SHUT. UP!” 🤦🏽‍♀️ And to be VERY clear, that is the heavily sanitized, family friendly translation. 😇 What made it even more infuriating was watching her somehow embody every obnoxious American tourist stereotype at once without the slightest hint of self awareness. I genuinely do not care about defending America’s reputation abroad, but for the love of everything, we already have enough problems without someone showing up in another country and enthusiastically providing live supporting evidence. And she. Just. Kept. Going. I was raised to at least TRY not to say anything if I couldn’t say something nice, and by that point there was absolutely NOTHING nice left in the chamber. I knew whatever was threatening to come out of my mouth was definitely not suitable for Viator, so against my usual instincts, I kept my actual thoughts mostly to myself. I make no such claims about the increasingly frequent grunts, sighs, and eye rolls. There are limits, and frankly, I thought I was showing remarkable restraint. 😌 The rest of the group had already endured enough, and the level of hostility I was containing did NOT need to disturb the otherwise peaceful streets of Amsterdam. Which only made Sunil’s ability to handle her more impressive. Through ALL of it, he remained patient, gracious, funny, and completely professional. He answered her when appropriate, redirected when necessary, somehow kept us on track, and never let one person derail the experience for everyone else. I do not possess that level of restraint. Not even remotely. Five stars for that alone! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beyond his apparently superhuman patience, I really appreciated how Sunil handled the supernatural side of the tour. He’s clearly well traveled himself and genuinely interested in history, folklore, different cultures, and the way stories evolve over time. He never tried to convince us that ghosts are real, but he also never treated the stories or the people who believe them like they were ridiculous. He gave us the history, the legends, the possible explanations, and the weird stuff people have reportedly experienced, and essentially said, “Here it is. You decide.” THAT is exactly how I want a ghost tour handled. I HIGHLY recommend this tour, especially if your idea of a good evening involves history, folklore, ghosts, executions, creepy alleys, bizarre facts, and learning things you will inevitably spend hours Googling later. We laughed, learned a ridiculous amount, saw parts of Amsterdam we never would have noticed on our own, formed what I can only describe as a mild trauma bond over one particularly relentless American Karen 🫠, and came home still thinking and talking about the tour. If we’re ever back in Amsterdam and Sunil is leading another tour, just tell me where and when. I’m there! No hesitation. He was THAT freaking good! 👻

Maria was delightful and informative. Lots of fun!

The tour was a lot of fun and very informative. Maria our guide was lovely, she is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the paranormal history of Amsterdam.

The tour was great and Sunil was incredibly knowledgeable and engaging. We had the benefit of no one else on our tour, so had a private family tour. Sunil walked us around some mainstream and some certainly not mainstream areas offering facts, insight and entertainment. Ghosts are a little back seat, but misery, murder and intrigue are all there. Would highly recommend both Sunil and this alternative tour.

We loved this tour with Sunil! Thank you for sharing the history with us and little trinkets of extra info. It is a must do to find out the deeper levels of the city. Thank you so much 😁

More of a history and interesting places walk than a spooky kind of tour. This is comparing it to a New Orleans tour, so perhaps not a fair comparison. Regardless, we enjoyed it and the guide, Maria was knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

We strolled around Amsterdam for 2 hours having a very friendly chatty tour based on atrocities and human misery , our guide delivered an awful lot of information with humour and passion which stuck in the mind of my 16 year old to the extent that miraculously he continues to discuss it. Not as terrifying as we expected - we did a similarly advertised trip in Edinburgh which frightened the hell out of us - but just as enjoyable, in amongst all the nastiness we learnt a lot about the economics, geography and politics behind the development of Amsterdam and picked up a bunch of sites/ restaurants and bar recommendations. Well worth it.

Such a fun tour! So interesting learning the darker history of the city. Maria was a fantastic guide, very knowledgeable and entertaining.

Maria was an amazing tour guide! She provided so many amazing stories, showed us places off of the busy main streets and kept the entire tour interesting!

Maria did an absolutely amazing tour! She provided amazing history, along with incredible ghost stories! I highly recommend!!

I recommend this ghost tour as it’s a unique way to learn interesting stories about the city and history! Our guide was fun and attentive to her group. We’ve been on several ghost tours, and felt the tour matched many great tours we’ve been on. Thanks!

The guide was very knowledgeable and passionate about the ghosts of old Amsterdam. She was also willing to set a pace that matched the oldest couple in the tour group. My minus one star was for understandability. Some of the stops were in noisy areas and she frequently dropped her voice for dramatic effect and turned toward the building she was talking about rather than towards us. It would be much better with the radio earphones used on other city tours.

Maria. Did a great job telling us the dark side of the city. We had a small group which made it better as could be close to her to hear her stories. A lot of the stops was in a loud area

Great stroll through the heart of Amsterdam with a knowledgeable guide! We saw historical sites, heard some dark stories, and got to experience the nightlife of the city. Maria was great and I would recommend this tour.

The tour was subpar. The guide Maria was very nice, but her story telling was lackluster and had no rhythm or flow. The ghost stories were very plain, predictable and anti-climatic. There were a lot of quick stops but you spend most of your time walking with no interaction in between. I’m was pretty disappointed and would not book again.

Maria was brilliant! Such an interesting tour, covers a lot of the centre of the city and some really interesting stories! She was a great guide, answered all our questions and was lovely to talk too ☺️

My family really enjoyed this ghost tour. Maria guided us through the streets of Amsterdam tying together the dark history of the city with the ghostly tales of the area. You will learn plenty about the old buildings in Amsterdam.

Very interesting to learn more about the City. It would be great to hear more about people’s experiences and a greater focus on the ghosts but it’s well worth doing.

This tour was so fun! It’s a great way to see Amsterdam and learn about some darker history! The tour guide was very knowledgeable and informative as well!

María was our guide through the streets of Amsterdam. It was just me & my sister so it felt like a private tour which was great. Maria talked easily about the history of Amsterdam and told the dark history stories like they were people she truly cared about. Nothing felt rehearsed or rote and I appreciated that. All the locations are interesting and may be spots you wouldn’t normally notice, so we liked that too.

We were the only two on our tour tonight with Maria which made it feel very personal. Maria was knowledgeable and friendly which made for an interesting tour.

Very informative and enjoyable activity. Our guide Maria was excellent and we had a great evening :)

Definitely don’t book this tour for your last day in Amsterdam. Our guide pointed out so many interesting spots to visit after the tour! Very interesting with many quaint details. We very much enjoyed this tour! Highly recommend!

Loved our tour operator, Maria. What a wonderful walking tour of the city at night. It was interesting to hear about the dark history of the area. Convenient meeting location.

This is an amazing experience that everyone coming to Amsterdam should check out. So much rich history and if your ghost tour lover, this is the one for you.

Had a lot of fun on this tour. We went all around the center city area, I felt some cold spots in some haunted areas. And Maria is a great guide and I learned a lot of spooky and dark things!

Great experience with our guide Maria! Highly recommended. Very interesting evening walk through Amsterdam with spooky details.

I really enjoyed this super-interesting tour of the dark history and ghost stories of Amsterdam. Our guide Maria is an expert in this topic and she provided a very engaging perspective with different points of view. What I liked the most was all the stories about historical Amsterdam that you won't be told about in any other tour.

The tour was amazing and Maria was an excellent tour guide. Maria was very knowledgeable about the history. We would recommend this tour to anyone!

We had a fantastic time! Maria was very knowledgeable, and told stories in a very engaging way. I would highly recommend this tour!

After doing many ghost tours in different cities, we were disappointed by this one. You dont get a whole lot information/stories and you never go in anywhere. We were ultimately not very impressed by the guide.

Very informative, interesting, and fun tour. Maria is a wonderful guide! Would highly recommend if you want a good mix of history and paranormal stories.

Maria was an amazing tour guide. The tour was a wonderful mixture of Amsterdam history, dark history, and ghost stories. Perfect Amsterdam evening adventure!

Lovely ghost tour! Our guide was patient and helpful when part of my group had to arrive late. The tour hit some really cool parts of the city I’d never seen and gave an in depth overview of the darker parts of Amsterdam.

We had a very knowledgable tour guide and a great storyteller. We learned about Amsterdam and about some of its dark history.

Really enjoyed Maria’s explanation at all the spots she took us. Very informative and interesting historical ghost tour.

Had so much fun! Maria was or guide, very friendly and knowledgeable! She took us all over town sharing incredible stories. Thank you!!

Pilar was a great tour guide. She’s been living in Amsterdam for many years and is very knowledgeable about the city. Our tour was during the King’s Day Celebration, so it was nice to see the city so lively. It was a bit loud due to this, but Pilar did a great job of making sure we were able to hear her. You get to learn a lot about the dark history of Amsterdam. The tour is about two hours and goes by quickly.

Maria was a great guide, really enjoyed the tour. Interesting facts and history told through a dark lense

We had a wonderful time with Maria touring the city! Despite having trouble finding the right spot (head to Naked Espresso and you’ll see the entrance - it’s NOT the gate Google takes you too) - the city was beautiful at night and the stories were an awesome reflection on the darker history of Amsterdam.

Maria del Pilar was an excellent guide, learned a lot and she was attentive to any questions. Early tour allows you into the museum since they close at 6pm

It was amazing experience. Maria was very friendly and told us very interesting stories about the ghosts of Amsterdam.We definitely recommend this ghost tour.

Our guide was great and our family had fun. She’s very knowledgeable and great for Amsterdam. Enjoy!

The guide, Maria, was knowledgeable on the history and stories. Dam Square was designated a safety risk from 3pm until midnight on the day of our tour. Our meeting location was Dam Square. During the tour we entered a different location where the protest was in full force with at least 30 police vehicles and dozens of officers present. The protestors were loud and we felt unsafe. We verbalized our concern to Maria and she said it wasn't a problem and began her next story. We were not comfortable being there and we left the tour. We feel that with the safely risk designation these two squares should have been avoided.

Maria Pilar was amazing. She pointed out a lot of points of interest and had a lot of facts and made it very interesting. Because we went on a Sunday a few of the places were closed but she recommended we go back and visit the sites. We did and it was well worth it.