What It’s Like to Visit Amsterdam Now
As it grapples with both overtourism and the pandemic, the city looks the same but feels completely different.
Herengracht canal in the center of Amsterdam.
Photographer: George Pachantouris/Moment RFTracey Ingram is editor at large of the Amsterdam-based Frame magazine
On Saturday, June 26, Amsterdammers celebrated the lifting of pandemic restrictions by symbolically throwing their face masks into the air as if they were new graduates tossing their mortarboards. Summer holidays were no longer mere fantasy. Even nightclubs could reopen under the “test for entry” system, with no social distancing or masks required as long as attendees produced a negative PCR test upon entry.