If it's difficult to lead the course through the nice parts of a city let it lead through the beautiful countryside!

The streets of Amsterdam - one of my favourite towns overall - are definately too narrow for several thousand runners, so the organizers made the wise decision to lead the track through beautiful and quiet nature along rivers and windmills ...
Nevertheless you get also a good impression of the town because the start and goal is in the olympic stadion and several kilometers at the beginning and the end lead through the typical dutch architecture as well as through the famous "Vondelpark".

The date of the marathon is well chosen for running - a very romantic autumnal atmosphere with convenient temperature - a race for those who like nature.