Hortus Botanicus is one of the world's oldest botanical gardens established in 1638 as an herb garden with medicinal plants for Amsterdam doctors and pharmacists. The plants were brought here from all over the world by the traders of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Today, Hortus Botanicus holds more than 6,000 different plants, including unique ones, like the 2,000 years old agave cactus and a 300-year-old Eastern Cape giant cycad. The garden's orangery has a beautiful cafe with a large outside terrace open to the garden. Find some peace and quiet here, especially on a drizzly day.

Added in early 2002 as the second main pillar of the Kunstsammlung and accommodating contemporary art was the Ständehaus am Kaiserteich, until 1988 the seat of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Four wings with continuous arcades surround the building’s central public area, a spacious plaza. The creative treatment of this representative building in the Historicist style (1876-80) by the Munich architectural office of Kiessler + Partner created a modern museum building with a striking glaze domed roof which shapes the building’s aesthetic and at the same time spans an expansive sculpture garden located on the uppermost level. Together, a flexible hall for temporary exhibitions in the ground floor level and the upper galleries comprise more than 5300 m² of surface area. Installations and artist’s rooms are an important focus of the Kunstsammlung, an area which has been expanded continuously in recent years.

Dive into the wonders of the Indian River Lagoon at the Marine Discovery Center, a non-profit dedicated to preserving this unique estuary and educating the public about its fragile ecosystem. Visitors can join guided boat or kayak tours to explore the lagoon’s rich biodiversity, with opportunities to spot playful dolphins, manatees, and an array of bird species.

The Anne Frank House is the hiding place where Anne Frank wrote her famous diary during World War II. Now a museum, it recreates the war and holocaust years. Quotations from the diary, photographs, films and original objects belonging to the people in hiding and those who helped them all serve to illustrate the events which occurred at this location. Anne's original diary is on display in the museum as well.