From pickles to magic: 11 great things to do in November

It’s November, the quiet before the Christmas cheer storm. But there’s still much non-festive fun to be had, as the list will show.

Make a night of it

It’s Museumnacht in Amsterdam this month. Some 65 museums are keeping their doors open and there is a raft of night-time activities, including Ask an Imam where visitors can discuss matters of faith, a trip on a boat used by refugees, and many more. November 7. Website

Spot the differences

The Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem is planning its own blockbuster exhibition with the succinctly named Hals-Rembrandt, which focuses on the differences and similarities in the styles of the two Dutch 17th-century masters. The museum will open earlier and use time slots to give visitors the opportunity for a proper gaze at the juxtaposed works. From November 6. Website

See ancient Egypt come to life

The Olympisch Stadion in Amsterdam is hosting Tutankhamun – the immersive exhibition, where VR wizardry takes you to the heart of ancient Egypt without getting sand between your toes. It’s a pretty amazing spectacle and children will love it too. From November 6. Website

Spare five minutes

The Orange Theatre Company presents a series of five-minute English language monologues around the theme ‘In the Flesh’ as part of its Tiny Theatre programme. It’s all about desire, so it might get a bit steamy in the Oedipus Brewery in Amsterdam. November 11. Website

Get into a pickle

It’s American Pickle Day on November 14 and Amsterdam, like New York, a traditional pickle city, is getting in on the act. A Big Dill celebrates that history with an exhibition of pickle paintings by New York painter Harvey Herman, himself a member of the Tannenbaum pickle family and a former seller of “pickles for a nickel”, pickle history from both cities and, of course, pickle tastings. It’s on at the st-Art Centre in Amsterdam-West. November 14. Website

Praat Nederlands

People from the Leiden region are invited to join fellow expats/immigrants/internationals  struggling to learn the language and speak Dutch all day long. Practise Dutch in “a safe space” to boost your confidence and meet like-minded folk to have a good moan about the pitfalls of this wonderful and useful language. There are activities as well. November 26. Website

Catch Shrek in Amsterdam

Grab your chance to take the nippers to Shrek The Musical, the jolly story of the ogre, the princess and the talking donkey. It’s on at the Amsterdams Theaterhuis and we are including the December dates in case you want to avoid the December festive reservation surge. It’s in English, by the way. November 27-29, December 3-6. Website

Say hi to the Sint at Soestdijk

Sinterklaas is always met with a warm welcome in the Netherlands and that includes a well-deserved stay at the sumptuous, former royal palace Paleis Soestdijk. The Sint will not just be luxuriating in a royal bathtub, of course. The Blue Corridor (the former royal residence) has been turned into a Pieten Palace where Pieten are busy sorting out the presents and poems for December 5. Sinterklaas will make time for children wanting to see him, and they can even take a peek at his bedroom and do lots of activities. Children can bring a drawing to butter the Sint up. November 27, 28, 29. Website

See the seedy side of the Herengracht

The opulence of the houses on Amsterdam’s Herengracht finds its origin in the slave trade. Number 605, now the Willet-Holthuysen museum, named after its last owners who left the double canal house and its contents to the city, is a good example. Previous owners financier Willem Deutz (1697-1757) and merchant Fredrik Berewout (1692-1777) grew massively rich on the profits made from the slave trade, as the current exhibition Plantation along the Canal makes clear. Among the exhibits is a complete inventory of the Jagtlust plantation in Suriname, owned by Berewout, including the names and value of 125 slaves.  Until April 4. Website

Find out how it’s done

Abracadabra, at the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam, is a fascinating look at the world of Jewish illusionists around 1900. The “Golden Age of Magic” included such famous names as escape artist Harry Houdini, and Horace Goldin and Okito (the stage name of Dutch magician Theo Bamberg) among others. World-renowned Dutch illusionist and collector Hans Klok became the chosen recipient of Bamberg’s tricks of the trade and decided to share them with the world, along with other magicians’ lore. Klok himself puts in an appearance on video to explain some of the tricks and visitors are invited to have a go as well. Until March 29, 2027. Website

Mind your ankles

Yay! Get your platform shoes on and dance to the music of the 70s at the Wereldmuseum in Amsterdam. There is much more to disco than glitter and glam. Its history is tied up with the emancipation of gays, queers, Latinos and other marginalised groups who created their own fabulous world of music and art. You can bop your way through hundreds of disco tracks, videos, artworks, fashion pieces and design objects, including works by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Kwame Brathwaite, Michael Abramson, Meryl Meisler and many others.  Until August 22, 2027. Website