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Girl with a Pearl Travel

Amsterdam's Hidden Gems and Local Wonders

Let's Explore

Why Choose Us

Tailored Trips

Bespoke travel curated just for you

Experience Amsterdam like a local

Embrace the city's laid-back, vibrant essence

Travel with confidence

Knowledgeable, reliable and fun local guides

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Our story

Lauren Comiteau

A native New Yorker, I made the move from New Amsterdam to Old a couple decades ago. I’m a working journalist, columnist and mother of two Gen Z girls and one very loud Jack Russell, Lucy.

Amsterdam is our home. It’s also the place where I’ve been covering the stories of other people who also call it home—the fishmongers and cheese sellers, the artists and restaurant owners, the World War II survivors and museum curators, the flower growers, musicians and mayors.

 

I’ve been privileged enough to enjoy a dinner cooked by a famous Dutch chef in the stately dining room of a canal house museum, an up-close and personal look at the most Vermeer paintings ever gathered in one place by the director of the Rijksmuseum (including our namesake, Girl with a Pearl Earring!), fished plastic out of Amsterdam’s UNESCO World Heritage designated canals aboard a boat made from the very plastic someone caught before me, and cycled through the tulip fields and up to a nearby beach for uniquely Dutch treats and a North Sea sunset.

At Girl with a Pearl Travel, we aim to share such unforgettable experiences with you, introducing curious, luxurious travelers to the wonders, hidden gems, living histories, artworks both classic and modern, the delicacies and even the quirks we’ve come to love in our adopted home. We thrive on being seasonal and sustainable, contributing to the local economy and leaving the smallest environmental footprint possible.

Drawing on our insider knowledge, extensive contacts and local experts, Girl with a Pearl Travel will open the city’s doors —from the elusive to the exclusive—providing discerning travelers with bespoke, one-of-a-kind experiences.

Welkom bij ons thuis!

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Excursions & experiences

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Amsterdam by boat

Private Salon boat tour

Cruise the city's canals in style in a traditional wooden salon boat that oozes Old World charm. This private boat tour features drinks and 2/3-course lunch and dinner menus upon request.

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Tasting and shopping tour

​Food & shops of the Jordaan

Herring and apple pie are just two of the treats awaiting you in a tour of the 9 Streets, or de 9 Straatjes. This charming neighborhood in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Canal Belt boasts family-owned specialty food shops, quaint cafés and enough art galleries and stylish boutiques to keep even the most discerning foodies and shoppers content for hours. We will stop, shop, taste and talk our way through the best of them!

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Walking tour

Jewish Amsterdam

Visit both the highlights and lesser known corners of Amsterdam’s old Jewish Quarter. Amsterdam’s Jewish community dates to 1492, when Jews from Spain and Portugal fled the Inquisition and landed in Amsterdam, also called Mokum, named after the Yiddish word for safe haven. This walking and/or driving tour will take you through the essential sites of Amsterdam’s Jewish Cultural Quarter—from the Portuguese Synagogue to the last place Jews were held before being deported to concentration camps--bringing to life the history of the city’s Jewish community, its contributions to Dutch society and the personal stories of survivors, spies and saviors. Plus: the city's Jewish community today.

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Family fun

Plastic fishing in Amsterdam's Canals

Explore Amsterdam's scenic canals while helping to clean them up. Clean family fun! A unique way to travel through Amsterdam's iconic Canal Belt, this environmentally-friendly boat ride lets you help clean up the city’s canals one catch at a time. Food, drink and life vests included.

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Family fun

Treasure hunt in the Vondelpark

Emma and Sophie take the kids through Amsterdam's largest city park with fun, flare and games! (Can you spot the Picasso?)

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Luxurious night out

Chef's dinner in a 17th century Canal House

Step into the Golden Age during a private meal in a majestic home. Unforgettable! This truly once in a lifetime experience begins with a private tour of a 17th century canal house museum, followed by a sumptuous chef meal in the house's stately dining room. A wonderful way to celebrate holidays, special occasions or exceptional get togethers with loved ones.

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Shopping tour

Shop til you drop!

From local Dutch designers to iconic Dutch products and mouth-watering treats, we have you covered! Whether you’re looking for the luxury brand’s of Amsterdam’s “Madison Avenue” or one-of-a-kind Dutch designs, we’ll show you the best of the best!

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Tasting and shopping tour

​Albert Cuyp Market & de Pijp

Lauren shares the sights, shops and food in Europe's largest (& her local) street market. The beating heart of the de Pijp neighborhood (Amsterdam’s “Latin Quarter”), the Albert Cuyp Market’s 260 stalls sell everything from cheese to herring, flowers to fabric and distinctly Dutch trinkets. Lauren will guide you through her daily haunts and the quaint streets surrounding it, stopping to sample all it has to offer and hearing the stories of some 3rd generation sellers along the way. Come hungry!

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Tasting

Dutch cheese & wine

Vicky pairs premium Dutch wine with unique organic Dutch cheeses (move over Gouda!) in this 2.5 hour-long tasting in a venue sure to inspire.

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Tiptoe through the tulips! (Literally)

Tulip Tour: Keukenhof & surroundings

Until mid-May, Holland is in bloom! Visit the country's world-famous tulip fields on this scenic driving tour that includes skip-the-line tickets to the renowned Keukenhof gardens and a private tour. Visit a third-generation flower farm to pick your own bouquet of tulips and take the ultimate Dutch selfie among the flower fields. A trip to the nearby North Sea to enjoy local seaside snacks and a look at a German bunker, one of thousands the Germans built along the North Sea during WW2, complete this unforgettable experience.

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Amsterdam by bike

West to East: Amsterdam by bike

We start at the Vondelpark in the west of the city and take a leisurely bike ride towards the east, ending at a local brewery where you can enjoy a beer and some typical Dutch snacks (bitterballen anyone?) under a windmill. Along the way, you’ll cycle under the Rijksmuseum, explore the de Pijp neighborhood and visit its famed Albert Cuyp Market. We’ll also cycle along the Amstel River and bike across its famous Skinny Bridge. Lauren tells you the areas’ history, culture and folklore as you peddle along.

Meet the Team

Girl with a Pearl Travel works only with local experts we know, trust and love.

Reliable, knowledgeable and fun, everyone from our tour guides to our drivers are the best of the best. Here are just a few.

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Founder & tour guide

Journalist and long-time Amsterdammer, Lauren is passionately committed to sharing the sights, sounds and soul of the city she loves. A big talker with an insatiable curiosity, expect the unexpected!

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Wine connoisseur

Amsterdam and wine? You better believe it. From orange wine to Dutch, wine writer Vicky explains why the Dutch are innovators when it comes to all things grapes. Wine tastings will be paired with Dutch cheese to make believers out of everyone!

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Tour guide

Growing up with an English father and a Dutch mother, Talia is your perfect local English-speaking guide. With a passion for history and storytelling, she glides you through hidden areas, imparts fun facts Dutch people don’t even know and makes you feel right at home in her beloved country.

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Family fun

Lauren's daughters, born and bred Amsterdammers, will show the kids how the Dutch have fun. From treasure hunts in Amsterdam's forests and parks to age-appropriate local hot spots, these college students know where it's at!

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Travel guru

Based in both the US and Israel, Sherry has spent years immersed in the world of travel and tourism. With her talent for putting together luxury trips and her love for exploring far-off places, she’s all about creating adventures as unique as the travelers she plans for.

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Driver

Our driver Reine can trace his family’s Amsterdam roots back to the 18th century. So yes, he knows the city. And its other routes, too. He'll drive you seamlessly through them in a luxury Mercedes electric SUV (or similar).

Get inspired

Traveler Stories

“A+ tour guide. Lauren provides a full 360 experience of Amsterdam. With her unique flair, expect colorful tours of the culinary hotspots, both renowned and local favorites. Her knowledge of the city is unmatched, replete with the history of the communities that only an award-winning journalist can impart.”

Jeff, NJ, USA

"The dinner cruise exceeded every expectation! The boat was so charming, the food was delicious, and we had an incredible host and skipper, who
even dropped us off at our hotel at the end of the night.
Thank you for putting together an unbelievable experience. We were beyond wowed!"

Meg, NJ, USA

“Every time we visit Amsterdam, Lauren takes us inside her world, showing us things we never would have found on our own. Whether it's eating at a popular local, shopping for Amsterdam designers or walking through a city whose history—and contemporary life—she knows so well, Lauren's love for Amsterdam is infectious. Which is why we keep returning! ”

Angela, NY, USA

Gillian, CA, USA

"Lauren was an amazing tour guide. We had the best time on our bike tour (she somehow managed to take 11 of us around the city), and to top it off we got amazing stroop waffles!"

Home: Testimonials

“I do”: 25 years of gay marriage in the Netherlands

A laughing matter: Boom Chicago turns 30

Highway to hell: confessions of a would-be Ring reveller (Dutchnews)

Highway to heaven: Happy 750th birthday, Amsterdam! (Dutchnews)

What is the Dutch obsession with pavement cafes all about? (Dutchnews)

Manahahtáanung or New Amsterdam? Tackling 400 years of history

Some of
Lauren's recent
Amsterdam musings

Get in Touch!

Linnaeusstraat 45A-h | 1093 EG | Amsterdam

lcomiteau@gmail.com | +31 (6) 51 33 7654

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