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.

The twentieth-century Teatro Municipal magnificently overlooks Praça Floriano, contrasting against neighbouring modern skyscrapers with its splendid facade. The theatre is a symbol of architectural renovation promoted by the early 1900s republican regime and is inspired by Paris of that period. Its luxurious interiors are decorated with statues, paintings, and frescoes. You can attend one of the many shows or book a guided visit.

Haarlem’s Frans Hals Museum is home to the largest collection of paintings by Frans Hals in the world. Hals, the most famous Haarlem painter of the Golden Age, specialised in portraits. In addition to paintings by Hals, the museum has works by his predecessors and his contemporaries, as well as furniture, ceramics, glass and silver.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art offers a journey through centuries of art and culture, from Italian Renaissance masterpieces and Asian ceramics to African art and contemporary installations. Don't leave without taking a picture in front of the museum’s iconic, giant badminton shuttlecocks on the front lawn. Admission is free to most exhibitions, and once you get your fix of classical and contemporary art, you can finish the tour at the café or the restaurant on the spot.