Tropenmuseum

This is a handsome and vast building, sitting rather grandly in a slightly out-of-the-way (by the pocket handkerchief standards of Amsterdam, anyway) location. Better still: the exhibitions in the Tropical Museum are terrific. Through a series of informative and lively displays - the majority of which come with English captions - the visitor gets a vivid, interactive glimpse of daily life in the tropical and subtropical parts of the world (a strange evolution for a museum originally erected in the 1920s to glorify Dutch colonialism). Exhibits - from religious items and jewellery to washing powder and vehicles - are divided by region and broad in their catchment. A musical display allows visitors to hear a variety of different instruments at the push of a button (the Tropenmuseum is also the city's leading venue for world music); walk-through environments include simulated North African and South Asian villages and a Manilan street; and a Latin American exhibit is highlighted by a fun room complete with videos of sporting highlights and a jukebox. The new Africa exhibit is particularly inspired as it foregoes the usual history of decolonisation and merely presents beautiful objects. Temporary art and photography exhibitions fill a large central space on the ground floor, the shop has an excellent selection of books and souvenirs, and the restaurant offers fine global eats with a view-worthy terrace.