Greg Shapiro Creates VoiceMap tour for Amsterdam City Center
15 April, 2026
Would you like a guided tour of Amsterdam’s historic center on your mobile phone? Because I just made one. The app is called VoiceMap. And my tour is called ‘The Dutch invented that an irreverent intro to Amsterdam.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE TOUR
There’s this startup from South Africa called Voicemap. And this young go-getter contacted me in Amsterdam based on the fact that I have written a book about moving to the Netherlands, and I clearly know my way around a voice studio.
I downloaded the app and checked out some of the existing audio tours. But I thought they were too dry, too formal. It sounded like the audio you hear coming from the boatloads of tourists doing their canal tour. Also, the audio tours can get quite complicated. Boo.
So I designed a route that starts right in front of Amsterdam Central Station. Which is the first thing I saw when I stepped off the train in 1994.
Take the tour
But it’s also the mouth of the Old Amstel River, where Henry Hudson departed on the voyage that would result in the city of new Amsterdam, now in New York. Yes, my route celebrates the origins of modern capitalism and the first ever stock exchange. But it also celebrates the first coffee shops and the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.
The app works with GPS to play the appropriate chapter at the right time. I’m impressed with how well it functions.
I’ve walked the tour a few times now with people who have lived in Amsterdam for years. But I was happy to hear them say they discovered new insights into their own city that they’ve never heard before.
The whole tour takes about an hour, and it ends at a hidden gem of a bar terrace right off of Dam Square. Wijnand Fockink!
Click here for the VOICEMAP app
