5 min
20 min
51 · 52 · 53 · 54 · 2 · 4 · 13 · 14 · 17 · 24
46.7 / km²
83
7
2,151
+28% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Mixed after dark
De Wallen is heavily policed but rowdy after sunset, and the narrow lane north of the Oude Kerk is intimidating late. Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein carry the scams. Pickpockets work the shopping streets and trams all day.
Staying in Centrum
Centrum is the medieval city plus the canal belt: the Binnenstad either side of the Damrak, the Grachtengordel ring of Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, the Jordaan west of it and the Plantage out to the east. The whole thing is a semicircle with a radius of about 2 km, hinged on Centraal Station, and almost every major sight is inside it. You walk out of the hotel into the trip.
The bill comes in three parts. Money: three and four-star rooms run EUR 100 to EUR 200 a night, roughly double in summer, and the cheap end of the stock is old buildings with steep Dutch staircases and no lift. Noise: the Wallen, Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein are the city's nightlife and its tourist traps in the same streets, and a canal-facing room hears all of it. Crowds: the Damrak and Kalverstraat are shoulder-to-shoulder souvenir shops from mid-morning onwards, and the city council has spent years trying to reduce the pressure rather than add to it.
The district is not uniform, and the address matters more here than anywhere else in Amsterdam. West of the Damrak - the Nieuwezijde, the canal belt, the Jordaan - is the same walk to Dam Square, quieter, and better looking. East of it is De Wallen, where the cheap beds are. Book Centrum for a short first visit, ask which canal the window faces, and check on a map whether you have booked next to the Oudezijds Achterburgwal before you pay.
What works
- Dam Square, the Anne Frank House and the whole canal belt within a 20-minute walk
- Centraal Station: Schiphol in 15 to 20 minutes by train, with no change
- Four metro lines and eight tram routes start or stop at Centraal Station
- The free ferries to Noord leave from behind the station every seven minutes
- The canal belt is a UNESCO site and looks it, at 07:00 with nobody in it
What does not
- The most expensive beds in the Netherlands: EUR 100 to EUR 200 for three or four stars
- The Damrak and Kalverstraat are souvenir shops and crowds all day, every day
- Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein are the city's tourist traps, with prices and scams to match
- Cheap hotels here are narrow old houses with steep staircases and usually no lift
- De Wallen attracts vagrants and seedier visitors after sunset, two streets from good hotels
Be cautious in the Red-Light District. All kinds of people walk around there during the day, including families with children, but the area does attract seedier visitors and vagrants after sunset.The smell inside can be nauseating especially if you detest the smell of cannabis or even tobacco - keep in mind especially if you're with a group, as it can be very difficult even with a mask on (pre-COVID, at least).Nowadays, together with Rokin, it's the glue that holds both sides of the city together, and the endless line of tacky souvenir shops won't give a hint about the street's history as a trading quarter.The Red Light District is in the same area, at the Oudezijds Achterburgwal, and dates back to the 14th century. Lustful sailors have been replaced by hordes of curious tourists.