Two Days in Amsterdam

Definitely Anne Frank house, I think you might need reservations but don't remember We also took a very small personal canal cruise out of Boom Chicago run by an ex-pat, think it was 15 euro and we brought our own wine and cheese and boat only held about 10 people and was very personal, great. Enjoy.

There's a floating chinese restaurant, which is a novelty ... you could get legally stoned ... then there's the Heineken brewery... and everyone will ask you if you had a walk round the red-light district ... and the night-time boat rides around the canals are good. (Sorry if these suggestions are too low-brow!! :-) There are plenty of museums as well!)
Roger

I agree with the other posters on everything they suggested. There's also the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum; the Stedelijk Museum may be open now. It's very nice just to talk a walk along the canals and soak up the atmosphere. If you like biking, there are plenty of bike-rental shops. The Begijnhof is a cool area also - it's an old neighborhood behind a wall where nuns used to live. A church is there and visitors are welcome but must stay in the public area because the Begijnhof is surrounded by private homes. It's very peaceful and a unique place to see. Damrak is a big, busy, touristy street with lots of shops and restaurants (mostly American fast-food places), but it's a great place to go if you're looking for souvenirs. It leads from near Centraal Station to Dam Square, with the Oude Kirk and Madam Toussaud's.

A reservation is available, but not mandatory. When will you be there? If it is 'tourist season' you might want to make the reservation, which can be done online. Or...you can chance going without a reservation hope you won't have to stand in a long line. I highly recommend going either way.

What are you interested in? If you are interested in how the Dutch coped with Nazi occupation during WWII, the Resistance Museum is great and definitely a must-see.

We spent two days in Amsterdam on our trip last fall. Our stay was pretty fast paced, and a little tiring as it was the last stop on our trip, but I feel like we got a good "taste" of the city in such a short time. We checked out the Rijks- and Van Gogh Museums, browsed Albert Cuypmarkt and strolled through Vondelpark, walked what felt like the entire city core, did Rick's self-guided tour of the Red Light District, and checked out a few bars/restaurants/coffee shops. Make sure to allot a good amount of time to the museums -- they took longer than we thought! The only thing I wish we'd done was the Anne Frank house. Like I said, this was the last stop of our nearly 3-week trip, so we were tired, homesick, and museum'd out at this point. Hopefully there is a next time!