1 day in Amsterdam

Lots of possibilities, a lot depends on your interests.
The most popular sights include the Rijsk Museum, Van Gough, Anne Frank House, Resistance Museum, Zoo, Tropical Museum, Botanical Gardens, FOAM photography museum, or the annual World Press Photo show at the Old Church. If you want to do some fun and silly sights head to Madam Tussuad Wax Museum, the Heineken Experience, or the Hemp Museum. Make sure to have your hotel hold your luggage for the day, as lockers at Centraal Station only accept European credit cards with smart chips.

Get out of the Damm square area & wander around the canals. Look at the architecture. Relax in a brown cafe with a drink. If you want to visit museums, buy your tickets ahead of time so you don't spend most of your day in line. I like to see some of the canal house museums to get an idea of what they were like inside (at least for the wealthy). Also, I think the Rembrandt house is interesting. For some people (me included), Amsterdam takes a little getting used to. At first all I saw was the grunge. I've visited a few times & now it's one of my favorite cities. So try to filter out the sex & drug culture & grafiti unless that's what interests you.

Amsterdam is the perfect city to walk and wander. The canal rides are also a good option. We went to the Rijks Museum and the Van Gogh, but were overwhelmed, not necessarily impressed. We did enjoy Rembrandthuis (the Rembrant museum) which is located in Rembrandts old house, rather than a typical museum.

Kavita - We also were in the city for the day and left on a night train. We arrived early (0730) and strolled the city, had a leisurely coffee and stopped in an internet cafe to purchase our museum tickets. We went to the Anne Frank and the Van Gogh. We also had a leisurely lunch by the park and strolled the park, went to a flea/street market and all in all just relaxed in the beautiful city. We might have missed many big attractions but loved the sites and architecture while not feeling rushed. Whatever you choose to do, give yourself enough time to soak up the atmosphere. Enjoy!

Thank you all!
is there a good way to see city throgh canal rides? which one is good? any recommendation?

Also, remember that the easter holiday weekend may affect your stay,depending on when youre in amsterdam; good friday all the way to monday.
It looks like most museums/attractions will be open but may run on different holiday schedule. Probably not a huge deal.
For the canal tours, i decided on the holland international ultimate package. Its €18, 90min long,and has a live tour guide (hir.nl). Lots to choose from though.

Good luck, hope the weather holds out. Looks like a mixed bag over the next 10 days; rainy with a few days that might be sunny.

There is a free walking tour (tip the guide) you can do that will give you a little overview of Amsterdam. It ends by the Anne Frank house, so you could go there after the tour. If you do go to the Anne Frank house you can prepurchase your ticket online and avoid the line. They are sold in one hour increments. We booked from 4:30 - 5:30, which was perfect as the afternoon walking tour ended about 4:45.

any info available online on free walking tour?