Why a workshop beats another museum visit

1. Soap Making Workshop at Nature Bar — De Hallen, Amsterdam West

Our top pick:

Every Saturday morning, Nature Bar opens the doors of their working soap studio and store in De Hallen for a hands-on soap making workshop. You mix real oils, add natural scents and leave with your own handmade soap. It smells incredible in there.

Nature Bar is an actual soap studio where Jaros and Marlies make every single soap bar that ends up in their shop and retailer partners across the Netherlands. When you join the workshop, you’re working in the real soap studio, with the real tools, next to the real soap that’s curing on the shelves.

That’s rare. And it shows.

What you’ll do

• Learn the basics of cold process soap making — without the chemistry lecture
• Mix your own blend of organic oils and essential oils
• Blend and pour your soap
• Take a big soap bar of 350 grams home

Good to know

• Price: €74,95 per person, all materials included
• Duration: approximately 2-2,5 hours
• Location: De Hallen, Amsterdam West — tram 17, stop Bilderdijkstraat
• Suitable for beginners, no experience needed
• Private workshops available for groups

The workshop is also one of the best gifts you can give someone in Amsterdam. Better than a spa voucher, more interesting than a cooking class, and you end up with something you’ll use every day. Their gift vouchers are available online.

Pro tip: the soap needs a few weeks to cure before you can use it. But it goes home with you on the day, wrapped and ready.

2. Pottery Workshop — Amsterdam Centre

Pottery has had a massive comeback and Amsterdam has some great studios offering wheel-throwing classes for beginners. You’ll be covered in clay within ten minutes and completely at peace within twenty. Most studios offer two-hour intro classes and the option to glaze and fire your piece afterwards. A bowl you made yourself hits different on the breakfast table.

Look for studios around the Jordaan or Amsterdam East for the best independent options.

3. Natural Dye Workshop, Amsterdam North

A handful of small studios across Amsterdam offer textile workshops where you dye fabric using plants, flowers and food waste. Onion skins, avocado pits and indigo leaves produce colours that are genuinely beautiful. You leave with a piece of fabric or a tote bag, and a new appreciation for the colour yellow.

These workshops tend to book out fast in spring and summer — check the program at local cultural centres in Amsterdam Noord for upcoming dates.

4. Bread Baking Workshop — Various locations

Sourdough never really went away in Amsterdam. Bread baking workshops are a staple at several cooking studios and neighbourhood cafes, usually on weekend mornings. You’ll learn the basics of fermentation, shaping and scoring — and eat very well. The Foodhallen area has a few good options within walking distance of Nature Bar, so you could make a day of it.

5. Illustration or Linocut Workshop — Amsterdam East

For the creatively inclined, linocut printing workshops have become a quiet favourite in Amsterdam. You carve a design into a lino block, roll ink over it and print onto paper or fabric. The result is graphic, satisfying and completely your own. Several independent art spaces in De Pijp and Amsterdam East run these on weekend afternoons.

How to make it a full day out

If you’re doing the Nature Bar soap workshop on a Saturday morning, you’re already in De Hallen — one of the best spots in Amsterdam West. After the workshop, walk through the market hall, grab lunch at one of the food stalls and browse the independent shops. It’s an easy, unhurried Saturday with something real to show for it at the end.

The Nature Bar shop is open in De Hallen too, so you can pick up extra soap bars, reed diffusers or a gift set while you’re there. Their Sinaasappel & Calendula soap — the one you’ll likely make in the workshop — is the bestseller for good reason.