A Little History: How the Rosse Buurt Began Before the red lights, there were rosse ones. The Dutch word “Rosse Buurt” literally means “red neighborhood,” a name born from the warm glow of lanterns that marked entertainment houses centuries ago. Long before Instagram tours and bachelor parties, De Wallen was where sailors stumbled ashore after […]

The Untranslatable Word Every culture has its magic words, but the Dutch may have the most stubborn one of all: gezelligheid. Ask for a translation and you’ll get shrugs, grins, and half-baked attempts like “cozy” or “friendly.” But gezelligheid is more than that. It’s warmth, connection, and the feeling that life is best when shared. […]

If Amsterdam had a square that could paint its own self-portrait, it would be the Rembrandtplein. By day, you’ll hear coffee cups clink, bikes whizz past, and pigeons audition for a table at your café. By night, neon lights hum, basslines shake the cobblestones, and Rembrandt himself keeps a calm eye on the chaos, as […]

Amsterdam without its bridges would be like Paris without its cafés: unthinkable. The city has over 1,500 of them, but only a handful truly capture both the history and the heart of the city. On this walk, you’ll meet four of the most iconic bridges: from hidden prison cells to cinematic love stories. Lace up […]

From Workers’ Rows to Amsterdam’s Sweet Spot Back in the 19th century, De Pijp was Amsterdam’s answer to a housing crisis — a fast-built district for factory workers, tradesmen, and migrants. Designed in a long, narrow layout known as the “pipe model,” it was cheap, crowded, and full of life. People called it “the Jordaan’s […]

A Street That Held Back the Sea (and Now Holds a Lot More) Before the bubble tea, before the bao buns, before the oesters at Nam Kee — the Zeedijk was built for one thing: survival. It was a sea dike, plain and simple. A wall between salty chaos and soft cheese. For centuries, this […]