Escort Amsterdam West: Markets, Gasworks and Easy Evenings

In the north of the district, the Westerpark wraps around the Westergas, a former gasworks whose brick halls and tall chimney now host restaurants, a cinema, concerts and weekend markets. Nearby, the Spaarndammerbuurt holds some of the finest Amsterdam School architecture in the city, including the curving brick housing block known as Het Schip, now a museum. Further south, Oud-West gathers around De Hallen, a converted tram depot with an indoor food hall, a cinema and small shops beneath its high roof.

Between them run the everyday arteries: the Kinkerstraat for shopping, the Ten Katemarkt with its stalls, the Overtoom leading towards the Vondelpark, and the canals of De Baarsjes around the Erasmuspark. On a warm evening the cafés around the Bellamyplein and the quays of the Kostverlorenvaart fill with neighbours rather than sightseers.

Hotels here are smaller in scale than in the centre, and often more personal. Boutique and design addresses sit in converted schools, workshops and townhouses in Oud-West, many a short stroll from the Vondelpark. Near the Westerpark you will find modern hotels beside the cultural park, and to the northwest, around Sloterdijk station, larger business hotels serve guests with meetings in the surrounding offices and a quick train to the airport. Receptions tend to be friendly and informal, and several of the smaller properties close their front desk in the evening.

West borders the Jordaan, where seven of our companions live, so about an hour after confirmation is normal for Oud-West and the Westerpark. Trams along the Kinkerstraat and the Overtoom are frequent, and taxis can usually pull up at a hotel door without the detours of the canal ring. For business hotels around Sloterdijk, allow up to an hour and a quarter, because the roads near the A10 interchange slow down at the end of the working day. Late in the evening the district is calm and journeys often run ahead of schedule.

If your boutique hotel has an unstaffed entrance after a certain hour, say so when you reserve and plan to open the door for your companion yourself, so she is never left waiting on the pavement. Hotels beside the Westergas get busy on concert and festival nights, when the park paths fill up and taxis queue at the gates, so an earlier arrival or a pick-up point on a side street helps. Near Sloterdijk, several office and hotel towers share similar plazas, which is why the exact hotel name is more useful than the station.

West rewards guests who like to wander. Many evenings start with small plates in the food hall at De Hallen or a cocktail near the Westergas, followed by a short walk beneath the trees of the Westerpark and a relaxed return to the room. Tina, confident and easygoing, shares the district's taste for record shops, craft cocktails and fashion. Jasmin, bubbly and curious with a flair for mixology, brings a playful spark to a bar hop of one or two stops, and Nora, spirited and warm, loves flower markets and a glass of champagne, turning any evening into a small celebration. For a longer evening of bars and music, see our night out experience.

West has its own railway link to the airport. Trains from Schiphol reach Amsterdam Lelylaan and Amsterdam Sloterdijk in around ten to fifteen minutes, which makes the western hotels among the quickest in the city to reach after landing. A taxi from the airport takes roughly twenty minutes along the A10 when the road is clear. From Centraal, trams run out along the Rozengracht, the Kinkerstraat and the Overtoom, and a taxi to Oud-West is usually ten to fifteen minutes.

For a companion, the journey is equally direct. Those living in the Jordaan are practically next door, and companions from Centrum and Oud-Zuid cross into West in a few minutes by tram or taxi.

Push a little further west and the city opens out. The Rembrandtpark and the Erasmuspark are neighbourhood parks with ponds and long lawns, busy with families by day and very peaceful at dusk. Further out, the Sloterplas, a large lake ringed by paths and small beaches, is where Nieuw-West comes to swim and run in summer. Closer in, the Bellamyplein and the Mercatorplein, with its tall brick gateway building, show how Amsterdam's builders gave even everyday squares a sense of occasion.

Guests who stay in West tend to enjoy its unpolished character: fewer tourists, more neighbours, and restaurants where the menus are written for locals. It makes a relaxed backdrop for an evening that does not need to impress anyone but the two of you.

The canals of the Jordaan begin just east of the Westerpark, and Oud-Zuid, home of the Vondelpark, lies directly south of the Overtoom. You can compare every district in our areas overview.