Amsterdam
Where do
locals go.
Restaurants, bars, parks and hidden corners that people who live here actually use.
Not the top ten.
Nobody who lives here has ever been asked for a top ten. They get asked where to go on a Tuesday, where it is quiet, where the good one is.
A city at a time.
Every city is its own guide: its own list, its own map, its own routes. Amsterdam we walked ourselves. Where we have not been yet, the page says so.
Nothing here is for sale.
No rankings, no sponsored rows, no affiliate links. A venue can pay to look after its own page. It can never pay to be on this list.
Start here
Weinlokal Stern
Amsterdam-Centrum
Weinlokal Stern is a modern German bistro and wine bar on the Singel where everything revolves around good food, good wine, and above all, no stuffy atmosphere.
The White Room
Centrum
A nineteenth century dining room that still behaves like one.
AIR
Grachtengordel
Several floors, a lot of haze, and a booking policy with actual opinions.
Blijburg aan Zee
IJburg
An actual beach, with actual sand, inside the city limits.
Routes
A few places, in the right order
The same places, arranged as one afternoon or evening. Walk them in order or take the bit that suits you.
For example
A long summer evening
- 1Vondelpark · Oud-Zuid
- 2Lot Sixty One · Oud-West
- 3Loetje · Centrum
- 4Twenty Third Bar · De Pijp
65 places in Amsterdam
Levain et le Vin
Oud-West
A sourdough bakery that also sells wine, which turns out to be the right combination.
murmur
Noord
A listening bar so well hidden that finding it is part of it.
Weinlokal Stern
Amsterdam-Centrum
Weinlokal Stern is a modern German bistro and wine bar on the Singel where everything revolves around good food, good wine, and above all, no stuffy atmosphere.
Nour
Indische Buurt
Iraqi mezze on the Javastraat, in portions nobody finishes.
The White Room
Centrum
A nineteenth century dining room that still behaves like one.
't Nieuwe Diep
Flevopark
A genever distillery in a little house in the middle of a park.
AIR
Grachtengordel
Several floors, a lot of haze, and a booking policy with actual opinions.
Vermut
Oud-West
A neighbourhood bar on the Jan Pieter Heijestraat, built around vermouth and other aperitifs, in the space where the trattoria Nonna used to
Stadscafé
Westerpark
A cafe, bar, and restaurant in the former borough office on the Westergasfabriek grounds, next to Het Ketelhuis, RadioRadio, and the Gashouder.
Bar Centraal
Oud-West
Natural wine and small plates, in a room that is always one person too full.
De Kleine Bes
Oost
A small coffee bar on the Mauritskade in the Dapperbuurt, opened by the team behind Cafe R.
Pllek
Noord
A shipyard, a beach nobody asked for, and the sun going down over the IJ.
Sloterplas
Nieuw-West
A lake the size of a district, in the part of the city nobody sends you to.
Corner Store
Noord
Dinner and a record collection, treated with equal seriousness.
Blijburg aan Zee
IJburg
An actual beach, with actual sand, inside the city limits.
Bar Babar
Grachtengordel
Natural wine and things bought that afternoon from shops down the street.
Flevoparkbad
Indische Buurt
A fifty metre outdoor pool at the edge of a park, open only in summer.
Dappermarkt
Dapperbuurt
Two hundred stalls, and not one of them selling stroopwafels to tourists.
Hortus Botanicus
Plantage
Six thousand plant species behind a wall, ten minutes from the busiest square in town.
Cafe Publiek
Oost
A cafe on Dapperplein, a square locals have long found a bit bare for what it could be.
OBA Oosterdok
Centrum
The central library: free, enormous, and the best desk in town.
Sassy's Diner
Noord
A fried chicken counter inside Oedipus Craft Space, the brewery's taproom in Noord, from the team behind Box Sociaal and Kip It Real.
Kriterion
Plantage
A cinema run entirely by students, and has been since 1945.
Eurosoft
Noord
Bread, sandwiches and coffee on the Gedempt Hamerkanaal, from the people behind Eurosoft.
Browse by neighbourhood
Where the places are, and how many of them.
By kind
Added by hand
Every spot comes in through a form and gets read by a person before it appears.
Written, not scraped
No star ratings copied off a map. If we cannot say something true about a place, it does not go on.
No paid positions
A venue can pay to look after its own page. It can never pay to be on this list, or to sit higher in it.
For locals
Where do you go?
One place you would send a friend to, and one sentence about why. That is the whole form.
Add a spotFor venues
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