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 IJburg, where 45,000...

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, creamy colours and a...

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 give the feel of a...

From the Taittinger poster to the glowing fittings to the midnight-blue leather seats, this place oozes understated class, though it's not in the slightest bit snooty. Half of...

A takeaway - with a few chairs - with superlative soups, sandwiches, salads and meals. Ask for a fork and hit a canalside bench.

Service at this teashop is friendly but can tend to be on the slow side. Everything is freshly made, though, so forgive them: cakes, scones and muffins are baked daily on the...

In a nutshell, this is a brown café with knobs on. It's occupied a lovely site on the river near Amstel station for 110 years, and offers all the joys of an old-fashioned...

Mankind is quiet locals' place tucked down a side-street near the Rijksmuseum and the antique shops and art galleries of Spiegelstraat. Not just an excellent stop for culture...

Hipsters make the trek to the unlikely environs of a Ukrainian fishing boat for the fusion food and the revamped interior. The vibe is 1970s James Bond filtered through a...

Sleek lines, burnished mahogany, banquettes and voluptuous lounge decks: all create the mood of a yacht fit for a Greek shipping magnate. You'll need the wealth of one, too, to...

Welcome to a hip cultural venue. Pakhuis de Zwijger is a former warehouse that has been refitted to house various media organisations. It also hosts a cutting-edge array of...

This transformed old ferry in the Western havens - amidst a neighbourhood of students living in revamped shipping containers - is all-round intriguing, if a bit out of the way.