The western islands feel like a secluded retreat from the city's bustle, and this modern glass cube is great for a break after aimless exploring. Food...

Being 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the sea, Amsterdam was hardly anyone's choice for a beach holiday until sand was tipped on the artificial islands of...

A justifiably popular neighbourhood bar on the eastern fringes of the Pijp, the dark wood interior is enlivened with old posters and chandeliers. A kitchen...

Despite its Swiss origins, the Dutch adopted the cheese fondue as a 'national dish' long ago. Sample its culinary conviviality at this suitably cosy brown...

Definitely the smallest bar in Amsterdam at just a handful of square metres, the Doctor is also one of the oldest, dishing out the cure for whatever ails...

Totally touristy and thus thoroughly uncool, this deserves a mention for its utterly unreconstructed 1970s interior. Forget ironic retro reinventions. This...

Popular with the neighbourhood's more affluent young people, there's a mod-retro feel here - lacquered walls, 1970s lamps, school chairs - and weekends are...

If 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...

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...

Light from the enormous windows floods this delightful locals' café that's busy at all hours with students taking advantage of Wi-Fi, parents treating...

A slice of Paris on the Spui, waiters in long white aprons glide among tables, serving a huge range of drinks, (reasonably good) Dutch brasserie food and...

So slick a bar comes as a surprise plonked canalside in an unremarkable residential area not far from the Vondelpark. Inside it's all blonde wood, cool,...

The grandness of this vast café on the corner of the Stopera complex belies the fact that it's modern: velvet drapes, Chesterfields and faux oil paintings...

An old-fashioned drinking hole - complete with gritted floors - on one of the main tourist drags. Rough edges are smoothed out by sophisticated breakfasts...