A bunch of generally older gay guys come here to drink, chat and sing along to the Dutch hits blasting from speakers and on video screens, and things go...
Amstel 54Still looking sleek and space age, ARC is well and truly established these days and continues to attract a stylish, moneyed, polysexual crowd who come to...
Reguliersdwarsstraat 44Although there's an odd ski-chalet theme (complete with cable car cabin), the April is at its best when the sun shines and the sexy gay crowd spills out...
Reguliersdwarsstraat 37
When the previous owners hung up their pinnies in the '80s after 40 years behind the bar, they sealed up their café, retired upstairs and eventually passed...
Keizersgracht 157Totally touristy and thus thoroughly uncool, this deserves a mention for its utterly unreconstructed 1970s interior. Forget ironic retro reinventions. This...
Thorbeckeplein 2Neon tat to one side, trendy Wendys to the other; Eijlders is a cerebral alternative to both. A meeting place for the resistance during the war, it now has...
Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 47If you're burnt out by the Museum District, you can do far worse than recover at this smart locals' café set back from the main road. Although it calls...
Weteringschans 267
A glass cabinet of trophies and trinkets and a jukebox give this bar an easygoing 1950s feel. It's an Amsterdam classic, by night full of bar-room...
Utrechtsestraat 76The Nine Streets are littered with characterful bars, and this one is a lovely, old-style, tobacco-stained example with an intellectual bent. Once a Provo...
Huidenstraat 25This small boozer used to be a theatre in its previous life. Punters still liven things up and it can become rather crowded, rowdy and smokey. Its diverse...
Kerkstraat 4Although it looks slightly terrifying from the outside - put that down to the blacked-out windows-- on the inside Entre Nous is actually pretty fluffy, full...
Halvemaansteeg 14One of the city's first designer bars still cuts it after nearly 25 years, from the Rietveld-designed exterior to the great international menu. The clean...
Keizersgracht 449Art students and the terminally hip gather at this red-lacquered temple to pleasure, where there is no food or frippery, just booze and DJ-spun music with a...
Marnixstraat 401Lellebel is a tiny drag bar where the cross-dressing clientele provide all the entertainment themselves . Though most people will be found in drag, admirers...
Utrechtsestraat 4Mankind is quiet locals' place tucked down a side-street near the Rijksmuseum and the antique shops and art galleries of Spiegelstraat. Not just an...
Weteringstraat 60