Take a free tour with these guys - www.newamsterdamtours.com. It's free, so great if you're on a budget, and even if you're not the guides are great and you'll learn tonnes and have a good walk at the same time! They do a bunch of other European cities too, including Paris.

www.newamsterdamtours.com

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Go to the old Heineken brewery early and book yourself on the second tour of the day, the entrance fee for which goes to charity.

You have time for breakfast in a local bar before the tour. Your visit goes through the stainless steel fermentation tanks to the top of the building, where you'll discover the best view of Amsterdam, and ends in the hospitality lounge.

Prove it’s your birthday and you are presented with a Delft tankard!! Afterwards, stroll to the Albert Cuypstraat market, enjoy the street-life and pick up supplies for a picnic lunch in Sarphatipark.

www.heinekenexperience.com/

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Forget organised tours around the city, rent a boat and go around the canals in style and comfort. It also works out quite cheap (around £15pp for 2hrs), especially if you're a large group of people!

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This is a canal trip with a difference. The club are a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic boats on the Amsterdam canals. The club will take your group on a trip round the lesser known canals and sights, with the knowledgeable captains gauging and tailoring the trip to your particular needs. It's free, although giving the captain a gratuity is polite (around 10 euros is normal). Best of all, you can take your take own supplies, be that food, drink, or smokes.

Inside Boom Chicago, Leidseplein 12, Amsterdam;

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A gentle bike ride around Amsterdam that takes you all around the city and then down the Amstel into the countryside (where you can add a windmill and cheese farm/clog factory to your sightseeing list).

Our guide, the irrepressible and engaging Egg, was incredibly learned on the city's history and liberal sex and drugs laws. All of which he assured us he'd researched in depth purely for our benefit. An excellent introduction to the city that makes you understand what Amsterdam is all about. Oh, and there's a free beer token in it too ... what more could you possibly want?

www.mikesbiketoursamsterdam.com/

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Glide.cc offers tours through Amsterdam on Segways - those futuristic, two-wheeled, self-balancing vehicles. You ride through the city for a couple of hours, see the interesting sites with a narrated tour, and are hardly tired at all at the end! Plus, people often want to take your picture when they see what you are gliding around on! A great way to see a lot of Amsterdam with little effort.

glide.cc

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An office on Damark offers a range of cheesy tours round Amsterdam and its environs. I recommend the 24 euros Holland countryside tour, comprising of a cheese-tasting visit to Edam, a look at the area's windmills, a visit to a clog factory and a lunchtime stop-off at a lakeside fishing village.

Touristy and tacky, but a great way of spending four-and-a-half hours (especially if it's raining - which it was). The guide talks in English and Spanish, and it's a great way of learning about the area's history and geography without spending hours with your nose in a guidebook.

City centre, on Damark. A few doors down from the Sex Museum and quite near Centraal Station

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