Arguably, the best place to get such a view (275 feet up in the air, to be exact), would be the Westertoren, which is the bell tower of the Westerkerk. It was built in 1638.

You can climb to the top of the tower for 7 euros. A guide will bring you up and stop on each floor to give you some background/history of the tower. It lasts about 30 minutes, which includes climbing up, about 10 minutes for pictures at the top, and climbing back down. It seems like a quick and easy climb, but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, as there are some areas where you’d have to climb ladder-like stairs. Visit their site for exact seasons and hours. You can’t buy tickets in advance so your best bet to guarantee your spot would be to go early so that you can get the time slot you want, or any time slot for that matter. Ben and I got there at about 11 am on Wednesday and earliest climb available was at 1 pm.

We didn’t get the chance to check out the church itself because they were filming a television show that day. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that happen but I guess that just means Westerkerk isn’t your average church!