Tourists Can Attend A Top-Notch Concert For Free In One Of Europe's Most Popular Cities

The only thing better than getting to see live music at a concert is to be able to do it for free. In Amsterdam in the Netherlands, there are a number of wonderful performances that you can see without paying. It's the perfect break after you've worn down the walking shoes you packed, traipsing around Amsterdam all morning or taking day trips from the city. One venue with free concerts that you should definitely take advantage of is The Royal Concertgebouw, just a bit over half a mile from the city's famous Van Gogh Museum, on the Museumplein square. Other than July and August, this spot has free lunchtime concerts that last around 30 minutes on Wednesdays (though they occasionally happen on other days). These slices of audio art happen in either the Recital Hall or the Main Hall. For the Recital Hall events, you purchase a ticket online (with a transaction fee of less than $3, and two per person). If they're in the Main Hall, you don't even need a ticket. They start at 12:30 p.m. 

The content of the concerts are usually announced a week in advance, but there are several at the time of this writing that are already up, including a quartet, an international vocal competition, world music, and a children's concert. You can find the schedule for The Royal Concertgebouw free lunchtime concerts here. You may also get to see things like public rehearsals by the Concertgebouworkest, chamber music, or young artist performances. It's the perfect topper to some of the wonderful experiences that Amsterdam can offer. 

Less than 4.5 miles away from The Royal Concertgebouw is Muziekgebouw, which also has free lunch concerts with a paid ticket for a guided tour. They have them regularly and the tours themselves are between $8 and $11. There's also a free monthly concert at De Waalse Kerk, played by the organ class of the Conservatory of Amsterdam, on the 1734 Müller organ, the second Tuesday of every month at noon, which last 30 minutes. At the De Thomas church at the edge of Zuidas, you can find bi-monthly free 30-minute classical lunch concerts at 12:30 p.m. Every Wednesday at the Westerkerk, which has the highest church tower in Amsterdam, there are also free lunchtime organ concerts. These last 30 minutes. In August, they have a free concert series called "Geen dag zonder Bach," or "No day without Bach."

It's not just music. There are a few other free things you must do while you're visiting this lovely city. One spot to check out is the Bloemenmarkt, or floating flower market. It's on the Singel canal, and you can see the gorgeous flowers on barges lined up in the water. Of course, if you purchase flowers, it costs money, but just getting to experience the sights and scents is worth your time. Another free experience that's perfect for sightseers is in an unlikely place. When the city dug the Noord Zuidlijn metro line, they found artifacts from the 20th century all the way back to 2400 B.C.E. While you have to have a ticket to get into the station, you can see the artifacts at the Rokin metro station exhibit called "Below the Surface." It's between the station's elevators, and you can observe things like coins, pottery, pocket watches from the 19th century, and even Middle Ages ice skates.