The Rijksmuseum is among the world's finest art museums, packing in works by local heroes Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh as well as other masterpieces in the 8000 works on display over 1.5km of galleries. To avoid the biggest crowds, come before 10am or after 3pm. Start on the 2nd floor in the Gallery of Honour with the astounding Golden Age works. Prebooking tickets online provides fast-track entry.

Offering a wonderful introduction to Dutch and Flemish art, this splendid museum is set in a 17th-century mansion built for wealthy sugar trader Johan Maurits. It became a museum housing the Royal Picture Collection in 1822, and acquired a swish modern wing in 2012–14. The 800-strong collection of paintings focuses on works created between the 15th and 18th centuries. It includes masterpieces such as Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring (c1665) and Rembrandt's intriguing The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp (1632).

Designed and built between 1925 and 1931, this modernist World Heritage–listed factory northwest of the city centre is an icon of 20th-century industrial architecture. Often described as a 'glass palace' (it's largely constructed of steel and glass), it functioned as a state-of-the-art coffee, tea and tobacco factory until the 1990s and now houses creative industries. Though closed to the public, the factory sometimes offers guided tours on weekends at 1pm (adult/child under 13 years €8.50/5); check the factory website for details. Urban Guides also runs one-hour guided tours (€15 per person) at noon on most Saturdays and Sundays (book ahead).

Impressive for both its size and its magnificent stained-glass windows, Sint Janskerk had chequered beginnings: previous incarnations of the building burned down with ungodly regularity every 100 years or so from 1361 until the mid-16th century, when the current structure was completed. At 123m it is the longest church in the country. A free audioguide in English gives loads of information about the 72 windows, which together form the largest cache of in-situ 16th-century stained glass in the world.