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The 21 best restaurants in Amsterdam

The very best restaurants in Amsterdam perfectly capture the city's knack for blending innovation and tradition

Whether you’re headed to Amsterdam to tour its world-class museums and galleries , pop out on a canal cruise, visit centuries-old cafés or sample one of its notorious coffeeshops , there is one thing you absolutely should not miss – and that’s the food scene, which has got better and better. 

Now might be the best time to pay the city a visit, as there are eateries for every taste (and budget). Classic, family-run Dutch food. The freshest vegetable-driven menus. Exciting Michelin-star dining. Whatever tickles your fancy, there’s a restaurant in Amsterdam for you, guaranteed. Read on for our top picks across a range of categories right now.

RECOMMENDED: 📍 The best  things to do in Amsterdam 🍳 The best  brunches in Amsterdam 🍷 The best  bars in Amsterdam 🏘️ Where to stay in Amsterdam 🏨 The best   hotels in Amsterdam

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Best places to eat in Amsterdam

1.  Flore

Flore   was previously Bord'eau, but took on the change in 2021. With two Michelin stars, an award-winning wine list and a spectacular canalside location, this is special-occasion dining at its finest. Executive chef Bas van Kranen’s fixed veg-led menus focus on showcasing top-notch local ingredients through simple but innovative flavour combinations and elegant plating. The service is impeccable, the setting classy but unfussy. Reservations are a must.

Price:   Blowout

2.  BAK

What started as a pop-up restaurant has become a go-to destination in Amsterdam’s former lumber port. After climbing the wooden stairs to the third floor of an old warehouse, you’ll step into a minimalist whitewashed room with huge windows overlooking the River IJ.   BAK   was originally a vegetarian restaurant, and while the set menus now incorporate local meat and fish, veg is still the star of the show.

Price:   High-end

3.  Kaagman & Kortekaas

Local foodies have been loyally placing themselves in the practised hands of chef Giel Kaagman and sommelier and host Bram Kortekaas since 2015. Their eponymous eatery, which has played a pioneering role in the local bistronomy movement, is situated in a meandering medieval alley in the heart of the Palace District, where multiple levels arranged around a recessed kitchen allow a few lucky diners to feel like they’re in on the action.   Kaagman & Kortekaas is known for its high-end, nose-to-tail dining in a casual space, where regularly changing chef’s menus keep things fresh. Usually, there’s housemade charcuterie, plenty of foraged ingredients, venison and a few offal surprises  –   picky eaters beware. 

Price:   Mid-range

4.  Daalder

A monumental former Goldsmith’s College serves as suitable lodging for the gold-standard cooking by chef Dennis Huwaë and his team. At  Daalder , the internationally-inspired food is always original, flawlessly presented and, at times, unafraid of some serious spice. The restaurant reflects its surroundings in upcoming De Baarsjes. All that refinement never feels stuffy and a friendly vibe harks back to the restaurant’s beginnings as a convivial Jordaan café (now home to its charming sister restaurant, neo-brasserie  Gossler & Florin ). Choose from a six-course tasting menu or seasonal a la carte offerings, but don’t miss the signature elevated  stroopwafel . Maitre Sommelier Saskia Smeenk – one of the city’s best sake and wine specialists – adds to the sparkle of this Michelin-starred marvel. 

Price: High-end

5.  De Kas

If the finest, freshest produce, beautifully cooked, is what you’re after, then a trip to De Kas is a must. Tucked inside a set of greenhouses that date to 1926, they serve a fixed daily menu – you simply choose how many courses you want – prepared with vegetables and herbs grown in their own nursery. Their farm-to-table credentials are impeccable, and the dishes showcase each ingredient at its best.

Price: Blowout

6.  Troef

Sure, there are a lot of fancier French restaurants in the city – De Juwelier, Vinkeles and Ciel Bleu to name a few – but what’s not to love about a buzzy Eastside eatery, where you get to eat food from former Michelin chefs without the eye-watering prices? Here at Troef , you’ll find bites from €5 and a la carte mains between €18 and €28 (though there’s lobster for €58 and a €900 Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2012 too). Oenophiles will go wild for the wine room, which is home to over 2,000 bottles, from impressive vintages to wines in the €30 to €40 range. In an understated dining room, down a canal on the Amstel River, chef Raymond Plat Plat (formerly of 212 and De Juwelier) dials up the decadence with dishes like pork cheek croquettes with oyster cream, plump pies with oxtail and sweetbreads swimming in a mushroom foam, with morels and lashings of truffle. Chef’s kiss. 

Price: Mid-range

7.  Rijsel

When the craving for exceptional rotisserie chicken hits, head to this French-Flemish restaurant next to the Amstel River. Set in a former domestic sciences school, it’s a no-frills space with an open kitchen. The menu changes daily but always features classic French bistro classics with a Flemish twist – Rijsel , after all, is the Flemish name for the French town of Lille. This is a locals’ favourite that’s always packed, so book well in advance.

Price:  Mid-range

8.  Hotel de Goudfazant

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The ‘Golden Pheasant Hotel’ is not a hotel at all, but an enormous restaurant housed in a former garage in Noord (with some quaint old cars still left inside). Located on the River IJ, this is a particularly good choice in summer, when the garage doors open wide and it feels like the entire dining room is outdoors. It’s not fancy – you’ll sit on red plastic chairs – but servers are attentive. Modern bistro-style French food is prepped in an open kitchen and served at reasonable prices.

Price:  Mid-range

9.  Wilde Zwijnen

The industrial, shabby-chic interior and ever-changing daily menu of modern Dutch cuisine have made the ‘Wild Boar’ a popular haunt in Oost. The idea at Wilde Zwijnen is simple – choose three or four courses, order some wine, and let the kitchen work its magic with fresh, seasonal produce. And if something a little lighter is required, head next door to Bar Bachrach, where they offer smaller, individual Middle Eastern and Mediterranean plates at delightful prices.

10.  Klein Breda

Just around the corner from Rembrandtplein, you’ll find this two-storey spot that focuses on international dishes and barbecued meat, fish and vegetables, with a decent Europe-focused wine list. Lunch and dinner are served as a three, four or five-course set menu. Formerly called Guts & Glory, this long narrow room used to change its theme with a new ‘chapter’ every season. Now, Klein Breda has settled into a menu guided by seasonal ingredients rather than a quarterly concept – though the inventiveness remains.

11.  Café Restaurant Amsterdam

There are few better places to get stuck into seafood and brasserie classics than at Cradam  (Café Restaurant Amsterdam), a cavernous, 19th-century monument. This former water pumping station now pumps out sumptuous seafood platters and brasserie fare like oeufs mayonnaise , coq au vin and steak frites to adoring fans of all ages (there’s a kids menu, too). If it’s sunny, order some chilled white wine and grab a spot on the terrace.

12.  Box Sociaal

Just across the road from the city zoo, this Australian-style restaurant serves brunch every day until 4 pm, making it the ideal place to nurse a hangover after a big night out. Come evening, a menu that flirts with Asian and Australian influences will have your taste buds tingling. Throw in some excellent coffee and better booze, and you've got yourself something special. Plus there's now a second Box Sociaal location to check out in the Jordaan area. 

Price:  Affordable

13.  The Cottage

If you find yourself craving a Sunday roast, head to The Cottage for a plate piled high with meat, veg and Yorkshire pudding. Though the owners are Dutch, they’ve mastered British classics like sausage rolls and shepherd’s pie – while including plenty of vegetarian options, too. The scones are good, but the homemade orange and cardamom jam takes them to the next level. Don’t miss the triple ginger cake for dessert.

14.  Restaurant Blauw

For a modern take on Indonesian food, head to this high-ceilinged room in the Oud-Zuid neighbourhood, just southwest of Vondelpark. It may be called ‘Blue’, but this peppy spot is done out in black, white and red, with a mural-sized family portrait dominating one wall. At Blauw you'll find traditional rijsttafels (including a vegan option), or opt for the ‘Biru menu’ to sample a selection of Indonesian street food.

15.  Restaurant de Plantage

Right next to the city zoo, this ultramodern brasserie boasts quite the setting. There’s a spacious bar area serving ace cocktails, wines and nibbles, while the restaurant proper sits in a cavernous 19th-century conservatory. Contemporary European dishes – some available in small and large sizes – sit side by side with sandwiches and lighter lunch plates. If the weather permits, bag a table on Restaurant de Plantage ’s terrace, which overlooks part of the zoo and is lit with fairy lights.

16.  Pesca

Ever been to a self-proclaimed ‘theatre of fish’? We’re guessing not. But what exactly does that mean? On arrival at Pesca , staff offer a glass of champagne to enjoy while you peruse the day’s catch – cod, mussels, octopus, scallops – stylishly laid out on ice. Once you’ve made your selection, drinks and sides are added, you grab a table and wait for a plate of near-perfectly cooked fish. There’s a buzzy, fast-paced atmosphere to complement the food, making it the ideal starting point for a night on the town.

17.  Cannibale Royale

Meat lovers rejoice, for this brasserie tucked away at the bottom of De Pijp is a mecca for all things chargrilled. Impeccable burgers – try the house speciality, with added pulled pork – jerk-style roast chicken and the best ribs in town are just some of the delights on offer. Steak lover and hungry? Their 1kg Absurde, which must be ordered 24 hours in advance, has you covered. Their craft beer menu is excellent, too, with a constantly rotating range of local brews on draught. There's also locations in Centrum, Zuid and Noord.  

18.  Pizza Beppe

Surprisingly for a city with so many Italian restaurants, quality pizza used to be something of a rarity. We said 'rarity', not 'impossibility'; enter Beppe and neophytes like nNea. Delicate dough with a perfectly charred crust, sauces made with San Marzano tomatoes, and gooey puddles of Buffalo mozzarella have given way to four further branches and membership of the prestigious Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana – one of only six other pizzerias in the country to be accepted. Pizza doesn’t get much better than this.

Price:  Budget

19.  Meatless District

Traditional Dutch cuisine, with its penchant for rookworst -topped pea soup and bacon-studded stamppot , isn’t particularly kind to vegetarians, and vegans even less so. However, several addresses have popped up to fill this important void, and this chic, airy bar-restaurant in Old West is the best of the bunch. With a seasonal menu that’s 100 percent vegan – and organic where possible – Meatless District  is open every day for lunch, light bites and dinner and lunch on the weekends.

20.  China Sichuan Restaurant

Ignore its location in the middle of tourist hell – the hordes of Chinese expats gobbling up spicy boiling sea bass, Kung Pao chicken, mapo tofu and Sichuan steamed beef are proof of this restaurant’s authenticity. It’s small but open until midnight, and diners tend not to linger. In Sichuan cooking, chilli is king, but they’ve also got plenty of specialities for those not so keen on spice, including a mean Peking duck. Portions are huge at China Sichuan and come with mountains of rice, making this a great place for groups.

21.  Hap-Hmm

Looking for no-fuss, no-frills classic Dutch food? This is the place. Around since 1935, Hap-Hmm is a friendly old-school neighbourhood joint with a daily changing menu, and without a hefty price tag. Simply good quality, home cooked comfort food. Despite its popularity, the prices have stayed reasonable, so you can get beef stew, schnitzel and homemade pud and have plenty of funds for drinks after. Show up, queue if you need to and settle in for a great meal. For poshed-up Dutch cuisine, head to Michelin-starred RIJKS instead. We promise you won’t regret it. 

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The top 15 places to eat in Amsterdam from fast food to fine dining

Dec 15, 2023 • 6 min read

Stop by Vleminckx for a cone full of crisp frites while you explore Amsterdam © Alexander Spatari / Getty Images

Amsterdam continues to carve out a niche as one of Europe's most exciting food and drink scenes.

The Dutch capital combines its respect for tradition with its flair for design, global outlook and commitment to sustainability in everything from bite-sized snacks to fine dining and fearlessly original new concepts. These are our top picks on where to eat in Amsterdam .

1. Helling 7

Amsterdam's hottest dining space isn't post -industrial; it's industrial. Built over a slipway at the Damen ship-repair yard from recycled and reclaimed materials, including steel-hull plating and boat-deck timber floors, diners at  Helling 7  look over cranes and container ships.

Virtually everything, including the  cote de boeuf (rib steak) and catch of the day, is cooked over the flaming wood-fired grill in the open kitchen and served at white-clothed tables in the cavernous, glass-paned interior or vast wharf-side terrace with a retractable roof.

2. D'Vijff Vlieghen

The enchanting D'Vijff Vlieghen (Five Flies) rambles over five Golden Age canal houses in Amsterdam's medieval center. Romantic nooks and crannies retain features such as carved timber paneling, Delft blue-and-white tiles and extraordinary antiques and art (including Rembrandt originals), complementing the refined, Dutch-sourced cuisine such as Zeeland seaweed–wrapped herring with red-beetroot and rye-bread crumble, and oyster crème.

3. REM Eiland

A red-metal former North Sea pirate broadcasting station, REM Eiland now rises 22m (72ft) above the IJ in Nieuwe Houthaven. A rockstar team of Amsterdam restaurateurs took over the extraordinary structure in 2021, with TV-famed Dutch chef Bobby Rust flexing his creativity in four- to six-course chef's menus and inspired bar snacks (tandoori chicken tacos; ribs with smoked eel…). The rig's three platforms have 360-degree views, including from the former helipad rooftop.

4. Restaurant Floreyn

Dutch cuisine is at the cutting edge at Floreyn . Its sparing dining room references its locale with a wall-mounted bike sculpture (seemingly fished from the canal) and a central pillar marked with a NAP zero-elevation marker so you know you're dining below sea level.

The star of the show is the food – bread with freshly churned goats-milk butter; pickled mackerel with horseradish ice cream; clear, deconstructed mustard soup with cheese foam; roast roe deer with deer-liver balkenbrij (traditional Dutch offal); and for dessert, speculaas spice cake with galangal mousse and coffee soil – paired with Dutch wines.

5. Vleminckx

Frites (fries) have been sizzled up at Vleminckx for decades and have gained this little hole-in-the-wall cult status. Deliberate over more than two dozen different sauces – from classic mayonnaise to spicy ketchup, sambal or satay – to slather on a coneful while you stand in the inevitable line. This place is popular for good reason. 

6. Ciel Bleu

Fine dining reaches dizzying heights at twin-Michelin-starred Ciel Bleu , on the Hotel Okura's panoramic 23rd floor, with glittering skyline views. Multicourse menus are intricately crafted, and an entire degustation menu is dedicated to caviar (you can also order caviar tastings in increments of 10g). For the ultimate indulgence, book a front-row seat at its chef's table.

7. Miss G's Brunch Boat

Amsterdammers love brunch as much as their canal-woven city, so what better idea than to combine the two? The " world's first brunch boat " departs from Keizersgracht for a leisurely 1½-hour cruise. Revitalizing brunch dishes include eggs Benny, chicken and waffles, breakfast burritos and a Dirty North (toasted brioche with smoked salmon, avocado, mascarpone and chives), with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices. Best of all is the bottomless option with unlimited tipsy drinks, including five different Bloody Marys.

8. Restaurant Blauw

An unmissable Amsterdam dining experience, given the Netherlands' historical links to the islands, is a rijsttafel ("rice table" aka Indonesian banquet), made up of tiny, aromatic sharing dishes in a rainbow of colors and spice levels and served with white rice. Stylish Blauw stakes a justifiable claim to being the best in the city, with meat, seafood and vegetarian versions, as well as a vegan variation.

9. Morris & Bella

Proving that vegan dining and gastronomy aren't mutually exclusive, Morris & Bella utilize produce sourced from local farms and foraged from meadows and forests in stunning creations like green beans with lemon, white-bean miso, fermented kohlrabi and piccalilli ice cream; potato muffins with char-grilled celeriac, baked chicory and apple-and-sauerkraut puree; and hazelnut sponge with spiced-pumpkin chutney, cocoa foam and candied pine cone. Its sophisticated, bare-boards dining room opens to a sunny street-side terrace.

10. Stubbe's Haring

Amsterdam once had haringhuizen (herring houses, ie fish stalls) by bridges all over the city, but today, only a handful remain. On the Singel canal near Centraal Station, Stubbe's Haring is one of the hold-outs, going strong for over a century. Brine-cured herring is served chopped and eaten with a toothpick or in a fluffy white-bread roll, accompanied by diced onion and sweet pickles.

11. Kaasbar

Kaasbar ingeniously delivers 24 Dutch varieties of cheese handcrafted by small-scale producers beneath glass cloches aboard its kaastrein ("cheese train"), a sushi-style conveyor belt that circumnavigates the bar in front of you. Each cheese comes with an accompanying garnish and wine, beer or cocktail pairing suggestions. Blue cheese or truffle Gouda fondue are awesome winter warmers.

12. Foodhallen

Burgers by Amsterdam icon The Butcher and popular Dutch bar snack bitterballen (meat-filled croquettes) are among the choices at Foodhallen , an airy communal dining space surrounded by 21 food and drink stands. It's located within the larger De Hallen complex, made up of former tram sheds built in 1902 and repurposed over a century later as a cultural center. Stalls piled high with fresh produce and delicacies set up outside at street market Ten Katemarkt .

13. Hap Hmm

From the moment you sink into a velveteen chair and look up at the family photos, Hap Hmm feels like a warm hug. Dating back to 1935, this home-style treasure serves comfort food like chicken cooked in Amsterdam beer, grandmother's-recipe meatballs and local award-winning schnitzel, with sides such as stewed rhubarb or pear, and Dutch favorite pancakes (with whipped cream and ice cream) for dessert.

14. Vegan Junk Food Bar

Steps from Amsterdam's "floating" flower market, the Bloemenmarkt, this Vegan Junk Food Bar is an innovator of plant-based, meatless alternatives, like tapioca-starch seafood, loaded fries sprinkled with flower petals, and burgers with neon-pink or black buns that echo its vivid street-art-style décor and hip-hop and R&B soundtrack. Craft beers come from local success story Two Chefs Brewing.

For a spin around Amsterdam without leaving your seat, head up to the A'DAM Tower's 19th floor and its revolving restaurant, Moon . Three- to seven-course menus, either "full moon" (sea- and land-based) or "green moon" (vegetarian), change monthly in tune with seasons and can be paired with wine or tea. It takes around an hour for a full revolution of the city.

This article was first published March 2020 and updated December 2023

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The Best Restaurants In Amsterdam

photo credit: Laila Lopes

Paolo Española

February 2, 2024

Amsterdam may have built a reputation around red lights, herb-centric coffee shops, and an endless sense of debauchery. But the food scene in the capital of the Netherlands goes way beyond bitterballen, fries, and Argentinian steaks. Get an intro to Dutch drinking snacks at a bruin café, hang with a crew on a canal-side terrace, and explore Indonesian and Surinamese warungs, all by bike. (And if you’re looking for the best bars , we have a full guide for those as well). The Dutch value gezelligheid, which roughly means “cozy togetherness,” at mealtimes and have a thing for planning ahead, so reservations are a must. Dinner starts as early as 5pm and doesn't last till the wee hours—restaurant staff want a bit of gezelligheid, too.

Cafe 't Papeneiland

Grabbing an appeltaartje (a Dutch apple tart) with whipped cream at a canal-side café is about as Dutch of an experience as it gets. The ones here are piled tall, with minimal sugar masking the slightly crisp apples. With views of intersecting canals, a cozy upper room for cooler days, and a slower pace, Café ‘t Papeneiland should be your pick when you need to escape the Noordermarkt crowds or you’re just wandering around the Jordaan and need a bite to eat. Standard bruincafé fare (beer and fried snacks) are also available, if you’d rather go in that direction later in the day.

d'Vijff Vlieghen

For a restaurant that calls itself a culinary museum, d’Vijff Vlieghen seems to cater to out-of-towners looking to experience something both Dutch but also safely familiar menu-wise: there are delicious but recognizable things like pan-fried fish, roasted vegetables, and a duck breast. Depending on which of the individually-themed, 17th-century dining rooms you’re in, you might find original etchings by Rembrandt, chairs stamped with the names of famous celebrities who’ve sat in them, or antique suits of armor and Delft blue tiles adorning the walls. If you’re here with a crowd for dinner on a cool, autumn night, you’ll feel like you’re in your own private house at Hogwarts.

De Plantage

The Plantage neighborhood’s namesake cafe functions somewhat like your run-of-the-mill museum or tourist attraction eatery, but feels more like the lobby of a nice hotel. The globe-trotting lunch menu has several varieties of shakshuka, a chicken liver parfait with madeira gelée, and Amsterdams pekelvlees, an open-faced sandwich topped with Dutch corned beef, horseradish, and pearl onions. This is where you'll want to start or end a visit to the ARTIS zoo—its compact, winding layout is jam-packed and engaging enough to get lost in for hours.

Ter Marsch & Co

Eating fries is pretty essential in Amsterdam, and while there is surprisingly little variation in town, the real spin is in the dozens of sauces. And yet the friethuisjes frequented by most usually list the same ones from the mayo-like frietssaus to the nutty oorlog. Not at Ter Marsch though, which has one that’s topped with black truffles, parmesan, dried sausage, and fried parsley. Get a portion to go at their Kalverstraat outpost—and for a heavier meal, the burgers are also worth a try. If you’d rather sit and eat, head to their Vijzelstraat location, where tables are ample.

Experimental

Steps away from the riotous bars, coffeeshops, and clothing stores where several major canals meet the river Amstel, Flore is an oasis you’ll want to dress up for. Lunch and dinner tasting menus are hyper-seasonal, like the springtime Botanic menu focused solely on plants: an entire kohlrabi stalk with local wasabi, bites of pumpkin chawanmushi, bee pollen-dusted mochi, and herbs and flowers like dune foot and nasturtium. Nab an aperitif at Freddy’s Bar, since you’ll pass through it (they’re both located in the De L’Europe hotel) and try to book table #1 or #4 (of 11) by the windows overlooking the canals. Service goes above and beyond the typically straightforward Dutch sentiment, and you might even get taken into the kitchen for a course. 

The theatrics of this self-proclaimed “theater of fish” in Jordaan may be more subdued than a Vegas clubstaurant, but they still know how to make their seafood the star of the show. You can’t go wrong with appetizers like oysters (French ones will do, the Dutch options even better) or whatever crudo or ceviche is on hand, but definitely check if they have soft shell crabs—on one of our past visits, they were so good that we had them as a starter and dessert. Select one or two of the gleaming fish laying on ice in the front of the restaurant for your main with a basic side of salad or fries. Then, you’ll walk over to a wall of wines and liquors so you can choose something to pair with your meal. 

Dignita should be your all-day brunch move in Amsterdam, especially if you’re looking to be closer to calmer canals. The Hoftuin location by the Plantage has a spacious lawn to stretch out on, a hefty buttermilk fried chicken sandwich called the Chook Norris, and sits a mere five-minute walk away from the Magere Brug. Another reason we love this place: all of the Dignita restaurants are non-profit social enterprises opened by Not for Sale , an organization fighting modern slavery and providing career opportunities for former victims.

Amsterdam-Oost

The Dutch certainly know a thing or two about greenhouses, so when you want to experience the best of the produce that grows in them, come to De Kas. You’ll dine inside one (De Kas literally means “the greenhouse” in Dutch), eating things that will make you say things like “so THIS is what a tomato should taste like.” It’s a perfect location for group dinners, and somewhere you should take your proudest vegetarian or vegan friend. Ask for a corner table and check out the actual working greenhouse and gardens in between courses.

If you’re gearing up for a heavy day of biking and need a good source of fuel, come to New Draver and order a plate. While you can still get the usual nasi, bami, and roti, the best stuff from the constantly-changing Surinamese menu are the Creole dishes they specialize in. The moksi alesi, or“mixed rice,” is a favorite with meat and sometimes beans, while the Surinamese national dish of pom is a slightly sweet casserole of grated pomtajer, a root crop, mixed with chunks of chicken. If this is actually the end of your bike route, get a shot of their liquors infused with a house blend of spices to help you digest.

Pannenkoekenhuis Upstairs

Dutch directness is epitomized at the aptly named Pannenkoekenhuis Upstairs. What do they serve? Pannenkoeken. Where do they serve it? Upstairs, in a snug, 4-table space surrounded by old-timey photos under a canopy of suspended tea pots. If you’re new to the thinner, crepe-like Dutch pancake, go for the classic King with strawberries and whipped cream, or go savory with bacon and cheese. Call and make reservations up to a week in advance if you don’t want to be among those who gingerly descend the flight of narrow stairs empty-stomached.

Warung Mini

This entire guide could be dedicated to Surinamese cuisine in the Netherlands and we’d easily run out of space. The typical menu blends influences from China, Africa, India, and Indonesia (among others), and is a mainstay of the Dutch culinary landscape given their colonial ties. If you’re new to the cuisine, you’ll be in good hands at Warung Mini. Order some of the thick, yellow-pea-filled roti, plus some chicken or lamb curry that you can pair it with. They have a few tables inside if you just want to quickly slurp on some saoto soup and snack on some banana or prawn chips, but a better move is to get a full meal or to-go broodje and head to nearby Sarphatipark.

Rudi's Stroopwafels

Aside from friets, the stroopwafel is an inescapable Dutch eating to-do. Many a stroopwafel slinger will claim theirs as the best, but for the actual best, head to Rudi’s. The thin wafel comes out softer (use both hands to hold it vertically) with a slight crunch compared to other doughier, shatter-prone versions, and the syrup is freshly made with more warming spices, like cinnamon, that most industrial ones skimp on. They’re located in Albert Cuyp Markt , one of the largest markets in Europe, where you can also find other local specialties like cured herring, fried cod, and poffertjes. There are plenty of other stalls that have fancier digs and toppings, but Rudi's is where you should buy stroopwafels to bring back home with you.

Restaurant Blauw

Amsterdam Oud-Zuid

Because of the centuries-long Dutch occupation of the islands, it’s pretty easy to find Indonesian food in the Netherlands. Popular dishes include nasi rames, loempia, and spekkoek, but to get an expansive intro to the Dutch-Indonesian table, order a rijstafel at Restaurant Blauw. Originally a Sumatran meal, rijstafels can only really be found in the Netherlands and the one at Blauw comes with the requisite rice and multiple shareable dishes. Bring at least one friend, order the meat and fish version, and you’ll get 17 dishes that come out all at once, from beef rendang and spicy shrimp belado to refreshing acar and gado gado. 

A restaurant that can straddle the line between comforting familiarity and buzzy newness is a rare find. If you want something interesting but aren’t necessarily willing to gamble on the hottest spot in town, 101 Gowrie is where you want to be. The kitchen churns out culture-straddling dishes like tagliolini bolognese with ramen and North sea squid, Chinese pancakes doused in hollandaise, and crispy new potatoes floating on vanilla espuma that remind us of dipping McDonald's fries in ice cream. Come here when you’re looking for food that’ll surprise you, but know that the dining room atmosphere is more straightforward than the menu and the background hip-hop adds to the low-key feel.

Batoni Khinkali

Museumkwartier

There’s plenty of bread and cheese to eat in Amsterdam, but much of it ends up consumed in a utilitarian affair: cold slices of cheese stuck between thick slices of equally cold bread. For a different approach, head to Batoni Khinkali for the acharuli khachapuri, a boat of warm dough filled with melted, salty cheese, pats of butter and an egg. Order one for yourself, or share it and save room for the khinkali, which are some of the best dumplings in Amsterdam. The Caucasus Mountains region lays claim to being the oldest wine-producing area in the world, so there’s a great selection of Georgian vintages.

Wijmpje Beukers

So you ignored us when we told you to make reservations ahead of time and are now wandering around aimlessly but not in the mood for a late-night kapsalon that comes with layers of fries, döner meat, and molten gouda cheese. You want an eetcafé, a Dutch bistro that caters to the neighbors and focuses on smaller menus, doesn’t take reservations, and in the case of Wijmpje Beukers, usually has ample space on a quiet, tree-lined street. Ease into their rotating menu with a cava or negroni, proceed to pretty appetizers like mackerel with buttermilk, green tomato, and dashi, and get a main like a corvina filet with bone marrow. Order an espresso martini nightcap and wilfully ignore our advice to plan ahead next time as an excuse to come back here.

Coffee & Coconuts

Don’t let the communal table packed with laptop jockeys on Coffee & Coconuts’ first floor fool you into thinking this is your run-of-the-mill digital nomad hotspot. This renovated cinema is also great for breakfast or lunch any day you just need some quick nourishment that you can pair with the extensive drink menu. Sit at the calmer top floors if it’s raining outside and get the coffee that’s being roasted right below you or grab a table outside on a sunny day and order fresh juice—which they can spike for you, if it happens to be that kind of brunch.

While you can sample Dutch cheese at the open-air markets, take your time and share with friends at Kaasbar. Their wide selection of local cheeses is divided into white, red, hard, and blue types for a la carte sampling or as chef’s choice boards. Sprawl out on the terrace for prime people-watching or sit at the counter and choose off a conveyor belt. Each cheese comes with a paired garnish, so you could go with the Alphenaer with coffee grounds and honey, Brabants Blauw with mejdool date and hazelnuts, or an aged option with cumin that’s paired with curry mayo and lemon zest. They also come with a suggested wine pairing and optional charcuterie add-ons.

Le Salonard

De Pijp locals flock to this wine, bread, and cheese shop to prep for a picnic or pre-dinner party spread. But before filling their shopping bags, their move is ordering a sandwich, like the 43 Special with giant meatball slices, aged cheese, truffle mayo, and mushrooms. Some are even named after regulars who frequent the place—we wonder how many sandwiches Robert (pata negra) and Yasmin (brie) had to order to get immortalized on the menu. 

Night Kitchen

Mediterranean

Cremerbuurt

Considering that Night Kitchen has a “Dinner with Friends” menu, you really should be coming here with a big group. The menu is personalized and tailored to different tastes—picky eaters welcome—and the food comes out family style. Expect ceviche that took a detour through the Mediterranean with medjool dates, chickpeas, and yogurt. Or a flat iron steak you can top with rich marrow and even richer garlic confit. If you’d rather just take that one person you insist is “just a friend”, sit in the adjoining bar and sample the cocktail menu that features a hibiscus and chamomile long island iced tea, and a mule with just a hint of cardamom. 

Public Space

Amsterdam-Noord

If you’re on the Noord side of the river and want something a little more pensive than the massive joints the rest of the public frequents by the ferry stops, head to Public Space. There are pastries in the morning, milk bread sandwiches midday, and seasonal spring peas with chermoula for a light dinner. Drink specialty coffee from Brooklyn, craft beers from Sweden, and wines with labels that don’t take themselves too seriously. With laptops only welcome til noon—tempting as the long wooden tables are for deep work sessions—the space will feel private enough no matter what time you pop by. 

It’s not easy to find many taco spots, let alone good ones, in Amsterdam. Case in point: Coba. You will have to venture out a bit further and cross the river Ij on a 10-minute subway ride from Station Centraal, but the daily-changing menu with things like an oyster tostada and soft shell crab taco alone is worth it. Come here with three to four other friends and order everything, then settle into the low stools and soak in the abundance of agave plants and groups sipping on small glasses of mezcal and beer. Follow suit and sample something from the extensive list of agave spirits that also includes things like sotol, bacanora, and raicilla before taking a short walk and hopping on the free ferry back instead of the train.

photo credit: Sarah Junker

No one comes to Amsterdam for the balmy weather and beaches, so if you find yourself in the city on the rare warm day, you’ll want to hop on the free ferry to the NDSM wharf across the Ij and claim any number of spots at the multi-purpose Pllek. The food is mostly plant-based and does the job in between morning yoga and late-night clubbing: falafel with eggplant cream and pomegranate, portobello mushroom burgers with kimchi mayo, and salad with fried cod. Just don’t forget to head back on the last ferry at 2am if you’re not staying in Noord (buses and trains still run if you forget).

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How Amsterdam Is Becoming a New Culinary Powerhouse

Amsterdam is celebrating Holland’s vast larder and embracing its Dutch character.

Raphael Kadushin is an award-winning food and travel writer based in Wisconsin. In addition to Food & Wine, his work has appeared in Bon Appétit, National Geographic Traveler, Condé Nast Traveler, MSN, BBC, and others. His fiction and journalism have also been anthologized in three editions of Best Food Writing and National Geographic’s Behind the Lens .

I was 4 years old when I truly tasted food for the first time. My family had moved from the American Midwest to the northern Dutch college town of Groningen, where my father had accepted a professorship, and every new flavor I encountered was a revelation. My palate was awakened with a jolt by ropes of licorice, black as tar, that were somehow both salty and sweet; by thick, creamy Frisian milk; by chunks of soft, nutty Gouda cheese; and by the gingery heat of speculoos cookies. The only thing I avoided before we returned home years later was the street vendor's daily haul of silvery little sea monsters—rows of herring posing against banks of ice.

But when I returned to the Netherlands as an adult in the aughts at the start of my annual pilgrimages to Amsterdam, I was disappointed. While the herring stands parked all over town stayed true to fishy tradition, the city's most vaunted restaurants lacked the distinctive Dutch flavor I still remembered from Friesland. The serious dining scene was largely limited to stuffy and somber French restaurants, where the duck à l'orange was on point but any distinctly Dutch taste was missing. Holland's bulging larder—North Sea fish, Frisian dairy, Texel lamb, the roll call of cheeses—was nowhere in evidence in the city's restaurants.

"That's because most of the Dutch chefs 20 years ago all trained in France!" says Joris Bijdendijk, the executive chef at Rijks , a prime example of a whole new breed of patriotic Dutch chefs more likely to train in Leiden than Lyon. Located in a wing of the Rijksmuseum, Rijks sources largely from Dutch suppliers. The payoff is a proudly homegrown menu that includes a sublime plate of local Anna Dutch caviar paired with scallop. "There is so much from our North Sea alone: bass, mullet, gray shrimp, sea bass, sole, turbot," says Bijdendijk. There is one standout dish in particular that is inspired by the Rijksmuseum's Dutch Master paintings themselves. Focusing on precise presentation, Bijdendijk centers a striking mille-feuille of beetroot on the plate, a playful, veg-centric homage to Rembrandt (whose self-portraits often feature the artist's face placed dead center on the canvas, staring at the viewer).

The fact that the restaurant sits in a wing of the Rijksmuseum suggests that more than a culinary renaissance is afoot. Amsterdam in recent years has been making a concerted push to bury its old image as a bachelor party gone wrong and regain its status as a cultural epicenter. All three of its world-class museums—the Rijksmusem, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum—have been refurbished, the red-light district is in the midst of gentrification, and the sinking gabled houses of the Vermeer-worthy arc of western canals are being raised up from their marshy moorings. The recovery of the singular Dutch table, proudly emphasizing the locavore larder, is part of a larger reclamation of Amsterdam's essential, original self.

The rebranded Amsterdam is on overt display at Moon , which revolves on the 19th floor of the A'DAM tower, offering a 360-degree view of the canal-seamed city. True to Dutch understatement, Moon rotates at a stately pace, and the view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows can come in second to a set menu that may include a plate of organic locally sourced chicken served with artichokes, a Dutch beef tenderloin paired with haricots verts, and a strawberry, rhubarb, and yuzu panna cotta. The only Amsterdam restaurant boasting a more dramatic setting is the pioneering De Kas , where diners eat in a circa-1926 greenhouse surrounded by gardens growing the fruits, herbs, and vegetables that land on their plates.

Not every new Amsterdam restaurant comes tucked into a theatrical setting. On my most recent visit to the city, I went looking for the smaller, scrappier chef-driven kitchens popping up all over town. At BAK , located in a whitewashed former timber warehouse overlooking the northern docklands, chef Benny Blisto was plating dishes like quail roused by tomato, saffron, and baked bell peppers, and fettuccine tossed with Zeeland mussels.

The same mantra—sustainable, seasonal, local—drives the kitchen at Stork , where you can dine on the freshest Dutch seafood on a long terrace next to the River IJ. And at Restaurant 212 , the only appropriate finish after a plate of langoustine confit accompanied by duck liver, dashi vinegar, arabica bean, and katsuobushi is the 99% Dutch cheeseboard. (At the time of writing, Restaurant 212 is undergoing construction following a kitchen fire; they are projected to reopen by July this year.)

Chef Bas van Kranen ups the ante at Flore , where the walls are painted with a pastoral scene and the menu zealously embraces biodynamic ingredients. Kranen's dish of a single deep-sea shrimp swimming in a consommé made from shrimp heads paired with preserved raspberries is a lesson in simplicity, while his artichoke tart filled with bagna cauda mousseline, preserved truffles, and spicy brassica flowers is pure flamboyance. The culinary showstopper, though, is a plate featuring 30 biodynamic vegetables that have been variously smoked, barbecued, and cooked in hay.

That was the last dish of my most recent trip, but it was not my final bite. I figured it was about time to face my aversion to Holland's signature dish. As I approached a herring stand on the central Spui square, I circled warily, flashing back to my boyhood fear. I relented, and the minute I dropped a piece of salt-cured herring in my mouth, it was the best surprise—a sweet, briny, delicious lick of the North Sea.

Where to Stay

Ambassade hotel.

This venerable 54-room hotel is composed of 10 primarily 17th- and 18th-century townhouses joined together, so the interior resembles a kind of Escher print and offers the most ethereal views from its canal-side rooms. Among the added bonuses: a brasserie that moves outside along the Herengracht canal when the sun shines and a library lounge filled with 5,000 books, all signed by authors on tour who have stayed here, literally making the Ambassade the most storied hotel in town. Rooms from $167, ambassade-hotel.nl

Canal House

This haven in a refurbished 17th-century burgher's canal house features 23 guest rooms replete with contemporary artwork and designer Marcel Wanders' neo-Gothic accents. Out back blooms one of the largest private gardens in central Amsterdam. Rooms from $262, canalhouse.nl

This tranquil, supremely stylish 40-room retreat overlooking the Keizersgracht canal offers a variety of guest room styles, but for the best splurge, book one of the heavily beamed lofts on the top floor. Its Michelin-starred restaurant Vinkeles is inside an 18th-century former bakery, and an all-day brasserie is located in the hotel's peaceful inner courtyard. Rooms from $381, dylanamsterdam.com

Where to Lunch

Café luxembourg.

The most popular café lining the city's favorite living room, Spui square, serves lobster croquettes and a dame blanche sundae while you watch the passing impromptu fashion show worked by students from the neighboring University of Amsterdam.

The perennial crowd admiring Pompadour's seasonal window displays (from chocolate Easter bunnies to Saint Nick) are the sign you've arrived at Amsterdam's best patisserie. Go early—the peach and rhubarb tarts and handmade chocolates (like green tea bonbons) are often sold out by noon.

Amsterdam's best food court, this vast hall features a range of stalls selling everything from new twists on classic snacks like bitterballen to crab bao buns, tacos, and a superb white bean falafel.

Café 'T Smalle

This circa-1786 classic bar is famous for its barrels of jenever, juniper-flavored Dutch gin, and its plates of bitterballen, the traditional deep-fried meat croquettes that taste better than they sound!

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48 hours in Amsterdam

By Charukesi Ramadurai

There is something special about Amsterdam in springtime. The Keukenhof gardens are open for a couple of months, as the tulips paint the landscape in brilliant colours. The city is on party mode all through April in anticipation of Holland's biggest holiday—Queen's Day, on the last day of the month.

If you are in Amsterdam for only a couple of days, here is how to get the best of it. First, buy the 48 hour IAmsterdam Card, which allows free public transport and entrance to key attractions, discounts at some restaurants and even on bike rentals. Pick it up at the main tourist office ( www.iamsterdam.com ) opposite the Amsterdam Centraal (sic) railway station. Also pick up a guide to Keukenhof gardens. Or, since Amsterdam is cyclist heaven , hire a bicycle for the duration of your stay—choose from one of these options recommended by the authorities. ( www.iamsterdam.com/en-GB/experience/plan-your-trip/getting-around/rental/bike-hire )

Once you're set, here's how you can make the most of your two day in the city.

DAY ONE 9am: Start your day with a leisurely breakfast at an open air café on the Leidseplein (translated, Leiden Square), watching the city slowly come to life.

10am: Head to one of the many fabulous museums in Amsterdam for a morning of high culture. Choose from the Van Gogh Museum ( www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp ) orthe newly renovated Rijksmuseum ( www.rijksmuseum.nl/en ). The two are located close to each other, so you can quickly take in the highlights of both.

1pm: Have lunch at one of the Indonesian restaurants that the city is known for. Order the Rijsttafel (Dutch for ‘rice table'), which is a meal of several, tiny side-dishes accompanied by rice.

3pm: Pose for photographs on the iconic IAmsterdam installation (some tourists try to climb on top of the letters for that quirky photo) and then make your way to the sprawling Vondelpark for a walk in the spring sunshine. If you are feeling particularly sporty, join in a raucous game of football that is sure to be on at several places in the park.

4pm: Walk or bike your way along the main canals of Amsterdam that form a ring in the inner city—the Prinsengracht, Keijzersgracht, Herengracht and Jordaan. The canal ring is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage ites and celebrates its 400th year in 2013. There are beautiful old buildings lining both sides of these narrow streets and several canal-side cafés to nip inside for a quick coffee.

6pm: Take an open boat ride on the canals, which comes with a guide and usually lasts for an hour. This is a great way to see the city and know a bit of its history.

7pm: Devote the evening to beer quaffing at a pub of your choice; you can never go wrong with beer in Amsterdam. Our recommendations are the ‘t Smalle, a distillery set up way back in 1780 near a picturesque canal (Egelantiersgracht 12), and In De Wildeman (Kolksteeg 3) famous for its Dutch and Belgian beers. And if you must, then take a stroll around Amsterdam's (in)famous red light area, De Wallen. It is in Amsterdam's old side, in the vicinity of the Oude Kerk (Old Church). Be sure not to point your camera at people or shops there since it is frowned upon.

DAY TWO 8am: Grab a quick croissant and coffee on the run and make an early start to the Keukenhof gardens. Devote the entire morning to tulips and all the other attractions of Keukenhof.

1pm: Try some local specialties like Bitterballen—minced beef fried with a coating of bread crumbs at a brown café, so called for its darkwood panelling (and not because of the ‘substances' they deal in, as some people think).

2pm: Take a lazy saunter through the floating flower market on Singel canal and the Albert Cuyp street market ( www.albertcuypmarkt.nl/ac_english.html ).

4pm: This is a must-do for any visitor to Amsterdam, the Anne Frank House. It is a grim reminder of the city's Nazi history. Note that entry here is not included in the IAmsterdam card and that it may not be suited for small children. Buy your tickets online ( www.annefrank.org ) to avoid the long queues.

5pm: Pick up a helping of poffertjes (Dutch pancakes) and patat (fries) and sit at Dam Square watching buskers ply their trade. Or, walk around the shopping haven of Negen Straatjes or "nine streets" around the canal area, filled with pretty boutiques, art galleries and vintage stores

7 pm: Have a quiet dinner at Hap-Hmm ( www.hap-hmm.nl ) for Dutch food "like grandma used to make" and at prices that make you hum with happiness. The restaurant is justly popular among both locals and tourists.

More on tulips: No visit to Amsterdam in spring is complete without a trip to Keukenhof gardens ( www.keukenhof.nl/en ) just outside the city. The garden is open from 8am to 7.30pm (till May 20 this year) and it is best to arrive early to beat the crowds and get the most of your morning. Buy tickets for a boat ride around the gardens as soon as you arrive, since these are very popular and tend to get booked fast. Apart from the thousands of tulips in myriad colours, Keukenhof has other attractions like rows of daffodils and hyacinths, greenhouses for orchids, play areas for children and cafés dotted throughout. There are buses to Keukenhof from Schipol airport (easily reached from the centre of the city by bus or train) and it is best to buy a combination ticket online before you go.

Bikes are the best way to explore Amsterdam

Bikes are the best way to explore Amsterdam.Photo:Charukesi Ramadurai

The IAmsterdam installation

The IAmsterdam installation. Photo:Charukesi Ramadurai

Cafes dotting the canals

Cafes dotting the canals. Photo:Charukesi Ramadurai

Tulips at Keukenhof gardens

Tulips at Keukenhof gardens. Photo:Charukesi Ramadurai

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The 50 best new restaurants to visit in Amsterdam

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20 Best Restaurants in Amsterdam

By Meredith Bethune

While traditional Dutch food might have a stodgy reputation, the chefs dominating Amsterdam's food scene today are showing off the more sophisticated side of the country's cuisine. They have a new reverence for local ingredients like Gouda cheese, farm fresh vegetables, and the omnipresent herring, and are incorporating them into intricately composed dishes with international influences. This world-class city has long been receptive to global cuisines, so it's no surprise that Amsterdam offers everything from Michelin-starred kaiseki from Japan, to rijstaffel from Indonesia. Here are our picks for best restaurants in Amsterdam.

Click the link to read our complete Amsterdam guide .

Ron Gastrobar Arrow

In 2013, Amsterdam star chef Ron Blaauw closed his two-Michelin-starred restaurant and reopened this more easygoing spot in its stead. Since then, the Gastrobar has been setting the tone for Amsterdam's unpretentious, next-gen dining scene. There's a mix of expertly executed small plates, like dim sum-style shrimp dumplings in shiitake and chorizo broth. But the restaurant is really known for its dry-aged steaks and gin and tonics.

The White Room Arrow

The White Room is considered the oldest operating restaurant in Amsterdam, having opened in 1885 inside the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky on Dam Square. Today, renowned chef Jacob Jan Boerma makes surprising use of fruit flavors and aromatic spices in the beautifully-presented dishes that comprise the five-, seven-, and nine-course menus. Think North Sea Crab with beetroot, watermelon, and buttermilk or venison with pumpkin, Delcorf apple, and chicory.

Pannenkoekenhuis Upstairs Arrow

Everything about this tiny, four-table café is quintessential Amsterdam: It's set in a 16th-century house on the edge of the Red Light District , you can only access the dining room via a narrow staircase, there are quirky teapots hanging from the ceiling, and the menu consists of pancakes, only pancakes. That is, the Dutch variety served with savory, and sometimes sweet, toppings. For a traditional order, try the sweet-and-savory combination of bacon, cheese, and apple. Dessert might be the Indonesian-influenced "Bali" pancake topped with bananas, coconut, cream, and Pisang Ambon Dutch liqueur.

Yamazato Arrow

You came to Amsterdam, not Tokyo , so you probably didn't plan on eating Japanese food, but you might want to rethink that. Yamazato, which excels in kaiseki cuisine, was the first traditional Japanese restaurant in Europe to be awarded a Michelin star in 2002. The decor is decidedly Japanese and the dining room even overlooks a garden. Kaiseki menus are the main event. Expect a flurry of delicate creations, like shrimp sushi wrapped in bamboo leaf, or sashimi of tuna, yellowtail, seared seabream, squid, and sea urchin.

Jessica Puckett

Cassie Shortsleeve

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Spectrum Arrow

Spectrum is like a posh cocoon—gray walls, plush chairs, white table clothes—hidden away inside the Waldorf Astoria and overlooking a garden. Executive chef Sidney Schutte, a De Librije alum, holds his own, mixing Dutch ingredients with global influences to create innovative dishes like local lobster flavored with lemon geranium and lychee. Spectrum is the kind of place where you, without question, splurge on the tasting menu.

Foodhallen Arrow

The Foodhallen stands out among other food halls thanks to its top-notch offerings, serving everything from reimagined Dutch classics to Vietnamese and Mexican treats. Housed inside a former tram depot, the venue is buzzing at all hours of the day. Aggressively guard your table if you manage to get one at all. Gin & Tonic Bar makes what you’d think it would with a range of different ingredients (try the one with jenever for something a bit different). Beerbar, meanwhile, pours more than 60 different local and international beers, including two brewed specifically for Foodhallen. It’s an ideal refueling stop at any time of day, particularly in winter when you need to thaw out after a long day of sightseeing.

Waterkant Arrow

It's easy to miss this spot, wedged between a monstrous concrete parking garage and the Singel canal, unless you notice the strings of colorful outdoor lights hanging on the patio. A young crowd refuels here before going out, especially in the summertime, when everyone's hanging out at picnic tables and taking in the waterfront setting. Waterkant bills itself as a Surinamese restaurant. Indeed, dishes from the former Dutch colony in South America are on the menu, like Surinamese buns filled with salted codfish, snake beans, pickles, and sambal. But you can also expect global favorites, like Chicken Tikka.

Vermeer Arrow

Vermeer is located in the NH Collection Amsterdam Barbizon Palace Hotel , one of the first buildings you'll see as you exit Centraal Station. A recent renovation (and modernization) of the dining room swapped out chandeliers for hanging bulb light fixtures and plush bucket chairs instead of high-backed seats. Choose from four-, five-, and six-course menus of inventive dishes that change daily. Ingredients are highly seasonal—British-born chef Christopher Naylor sources many of them from the rooftop vegetable garden.

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While open kitchens are commonplace these days, this one has very little separation from the dining room. It truly feels as if you're dining in someone's home, which is the goal of chefs Karin Gaasterland and Alain Parry. The three-course menus tend towards the rustic and seasonal, with dishes like Red mullet with saffron and candied lemon risotto and guinea fowl with roasted potato, onion, and Brussels sprouts.

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The Asian influences evident in chef Dennis Huwaë's tasting menus are a bit startling given the European café vibe of the restaurant (take note of the affordable selection of continental wines). But we can get down with contemporary flavor mash-ups like codfish with carrot, curry, and rose or langoustine with broccoli and green nori. Go with your significant other for a weeknight indulgence, or on the weekend with a group of friends and catch up in a convivial atmosphere.

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The clean and bright dining room at Rijsel (the Dutch name for the Flemish city Lille, which is also a perfect day trip from Paris ) masterfully mixes traditionalism with today's industrial-inspired design trends. It's remained perennially packed with locals since opening in 2012 (book in advance). Opt for a three-course meal to taste as many of the constantly changing Modern Flemish dishes as possible. Expect expertly-prepared classics like Russian salad, fish soup, juicy roast chicken, or côte de boeuf. Rijsel is casual enough for a weekday meal but also special enough to warrant the trip outside of the Canal Ring.

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The food of a Tel Aviv street café is transported to the Netherlands at this perpetually packed spot. Find all the required hummus variations with beef, chickpeas, and mushrooms. Also, find different shwarmas (including vegetarian and vegan iterations), fried cauliflower, and crispy potatoes served with a zhoug mayonnaise. Here, you will feel as comfortable grabbing a drink and snack at the bar as sitting down to a full dinner with old pals.

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No first-time visitor should come to Amsterdam without visiting the Rijksmuseum , home to several masterpieces by the Dutch Masters. Now, thanks to Michelin-starred Rijks, the food at the museum is as good as the art. The dishes by chef Joris Bijdendijk are playful yet precise and usually include a few international ingredients (think fermented celeriac embellished with coconut and sambal). The wine list features bottles from around the world but also includes a few surprising choices from the Netherlands. In keeping with the Dutch theme, they also offer several Dutch beers, as well as jenever.

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This De Pijp restaurant by chef and restaurateur Jan de Wit somehow manages to feel fancy yet cozy at the same time. Diners can watch as the energetic staff prepares the multi-course, French-inspired menus (with a few global influences) from within the open kitchen. Prepare to be wowed by dishes like mackerel with dashi, asparagus, and scallops St. Jacques or spring vegetable bisque with mussels.

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This vegetable-forward menu here matches the setting inside a pair of greenhouses that date back to 1926. Plant-based ingredients for the five and six-course dinner menus depend on recent harvests from the nursery, while fish and organic meat are sourced from local suppliers. Look for thick white asparagus topped with hollandaise, thinly sliced vegetables and edible flowers in spring; delicately prepared and composed salads and other vegetables year-round; and architecturally stacked roasted whole fish when it's fresh. The wine list offers 40 sustainable options, almost all of which are affordably priced.

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Café Schiller has been anchoring Rembrandtplein for over a hundred years. The dimly-lit interior shows off original period pieces, including Art Deco lighting, wallpaper, and furniture. You'll find French wines by the glass and a nice selection of Belgian beers: Stop in for a drink and some snacks to take refuge from the tourist crowds just beyond the door. The menu is full of French classics , like fish soup and steak tartare.

Located on the 19th floor of the A'DAM Tower , right across the water from Centraal Station, this sleek rotating restaurant offers one of the most spectacular panoramic views of the city. Expect the unexpected when you order Chef Hans Geertsema's two-course lunch menu or three-course dinner menu. They could include langoustine with wasabi, ginger, and papaya, or sweetbreads and artichoke with orange and clove. Whatever is on the menu, this is a restaurant you can rely on.

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Restaurateur Adriaan Verkerk, chef Thomas Kooijman, and local brewery Two Chefs Brewing all work together to pair beer with four-, six-, and seven-course menus. The decor is sparse and leans industrial (black granite bar, subway tiles, Edison bulbs), but the seating is plush. Courses might include fettuccine with black truffle & Comté aged for 48 months or North Sea crab with grapefruit. The menu leans French, with Mediterranean influences in the summer and Dutch and Nordic touches during the winter.

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 Chef Walter Marskamp's plant-forward menu offers something for both vegans and omnivores alike. The a la carte or five-course tasting menu is focused on produce. Find seasonal items such as spiced zucchini beignets with zhoug and dill yogurt or winter mushroom pie with beluga lentils. There's a wine list with a large selection of natural wines. It's perfect for a quiet night out to catch up with a friend, especially if one is vegan or vegetarian.

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Adapting to the pandemic, this vegan restaurant serves multi-course meals to diners enclosed in individual greenhouses with waterfront views. Dishes could include mushroom soup or pumpkin risotto. This is an ideal place for a date night with your partner or an outing with your family, or a quarantine pod. The greenhouses seat four but are most comfortable with  two.

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The best hotels in Amsterdam

By Lauren Burvill

Amsterdam , with its spider’s web of canals, charming quarters and quirky corners, is the place to eschew purpose-built hotels and go for buildings with a past: converted canalside mansions, old schools, former almshouses and more. When it comes to our pick of the best hotels in Amsterdam, expect rooms of all shapes and sizes, interiors from the hip to the headily luxurious, and all manner of decor, from starkly minimalist to antique-store clutter and the summits of contemporary design. Their restaurants are often among the most adventurous in town, and the bars are way out front on the best bars in Amsterdam scene.

Which part of Amsterdam is best to stay?

For the quintessential Amsterdam experience, a hotel in the historic central Canal District, happening De Pijp, museum-filled Zuid or über-charming Jordaan is a must, but there are also great places to be found in quarters west and east of the centre and across the water behind Amsterdam Centraal Station.

What are the best cheap hotels in Amsterdam?

Some of our favourite affordable places to stay in Amsterdam include Conscious Hotel Westerpark , where rooms start from £90 per night, and the rock-n'-roll-themed hotel Sir Adam Hotel , which is a short ferry ride away from Central Station. See our edit of the best affordable hotels in Amsterdam for more.

Hotel de L'Europe Arrow

Featured in our Gold List of the best hotels in the world 2024

In a city more known for its scene-y or slick design hotels, De L’Europe resides like a distinguished matriarch on the banks of the Amstel, overlooking the rippling waves – and tourist barges – of the river and higgledy-piggledy mustard-hued merchants’ houses. Once a 17th-century Renaissance-style inn on the site of former defence walls, the hotel has gradually gone upmarket under the ownership of the Heineken family since 1950. A Dutch-focused art collection peers from the walls and a lobby draped in floor-to-ceiling bronze silks and tarragon velvets envelops guests with mirror-walled nooks that become gossipy corners at night, soft-lit by antique crystal chandeliers and fuelled by cocktails that mix cumin seeds with coriander-infused mezcal. Rooms are bathed in light and provide a televisual view of the moving city. Warm-floored marble bathrooms come stocked with Diptyque products, and super-king-sized beds are framed by geometric headboards. As a result of the hotel acquiring the buildings next door over the years, the show-stopper rooms are now the new ‘t Huys suites, overseen by creatives from the art and design world, such as Salle Privée and jeweller Bibi van der Velden, with more in the pipeline. One of the hotel’s biggest draws is Marie, the Côte d’Azur-inspired bistro, with perfect steak tartare and tarte tatin. For a blowout, the two-Michelin-starred Flore’s “conscious fine dining” offers such treats as North Sea crab with sour quince gel, chanterelle mushroom and walnut leaf. Jemima Sissons

The Hoxton Lloyd Amsterdam Arrow

The Hoxton group’s first Amsterdam hotel opened in 2015 across four townhouses on a city-centre canal; this 2023 sequel is a world apart, occupying a 1920s shipping-line HQ in the revived Eastern Docklands, a district that’s been gathering pace since the millennium. But the two share a similar interior-design palette, with two-tone painted walls, angular mid-century ceramics and furniture, and a flurry of geometric fabrics and rugs. The art on the walls is curated by local gallery Bisou, and includes a huge, Fifties-style tile mural above the raw seafood bar in the conservatory-style restaurant, an all-day hub for comfort food such as picahana steak, potato latkes and mussels in vermouth cream. The standalone Barbue bar, set in the original wood-lined booking hall, is one of the Hoxton’s finest – riffing on Argentinian serves such as the Cha Cha (gin, apricot brandy, fizz). Upstairs, waterfront rooms are the best, with several family options including bunk beds; for special occasions, book the Tower Room, with its spiral staircase leading up to a crow’s nest viewpoint. It's a hotel for a fresh perspective on the city, in an untouristy neighbourhood that’s just a short tram or cycle ride from the centre. Rick Jordan

Pillows Maurits at the Park Arrow

Maurits at the Park is a sophisticated boutique hotel next to the leafy Oosterpark, a lesser-known, yet just as enticing,  Amsterdam neighbourhood. Housed in a historic university building the Pillows’ team put a momentous effort into preserving every historical detail of, there are stained glass windows and colourful glazed bricks. Rooms are peppered across the old building and meander into the new as the architecture effortlessly transitions. The decor is inviting yet elegant, and the stone-coloured tones and textures create a serene environment, while the floor-to-ceiling windows seamlessly connect the hotel and the park.

The hotel has two  restaurants - the Spring Brasserie and Van Oost, their fine dining experience. The more casual Spring Brasserie offers fresh and delicious meals from breakfast to supper, while Van Oost, the brainchild of chef Floris van Straalen, celebrates worldly flavours via Dutch ingredients. And let us not forget Fitz’s  bar , a plush, speakeasy-inspired bar perfect for enjoying a cocktail (or two!).

This place is intimate, exclusive and quietly detached from the city’s hurly-burly, yet in the heart of the historic hotel district, with club-like armchairs and a fireplace in the lounge, and a sleeker dark-marble bar. Rooms – some large with canal views, others cosier under attic beams or facing onto a courtyard – are interspersed throughout two august canalside buildings and individually decorated: lush red and copper, perhaps, or cooler white, grey and peppermint green. In Vinkeles restaurant (well-spaced tables in a brick-lined 18th-century bakery), chef Dennis Kuipers serves Michelin-starred new Dutch cuisine, with affordable options from the same kitchen in the bar/brasserie alongside. Read the full review of The Dylan

Pulitzer Amsterdam

Rooms of all shapes and sizes range up and down the stairs and along the passageways of 25 houses stretching between two canals. Designer Jacu Strauss makes delightful use of period features yet gives the hotel a smart-contemporary feel. There’s plenty of cheekiness, too: an archway built of books with a bicycle on top; a Delft porcelain rooster or some other souvenir-shop weirdness placed in a lamp; a wall of 18 brass trumpets (well, one is purple – a delivery error that somehow works). Jansz. restaurant serves assertive dishes – strong on flavour, with subtle twists. Read our full review of the Pulitzer Amsterdam .

The Hoxton Amsterdam

A magisterial canalside façade masks a welcoming, cosily stylish hotel: soft sofas, scuffed leather armchairs, mounds of cushions and colourful scatter rugs fill a lobby lounge bar that is constantly teeming with locals as well as visitors. Vintage furniture rubs against modern design; dotted about are decorative biscuit tins, old prints and bric-à-brac sufficient to fill a hundred grannies’ attics. Rooms come in all shapes and sizes, with the same trendy but homely air, and the big, jolly Lotti’s restaurant (with retractable glass roof) serves plates of flavourful food – juicy burgers, veal with polenta – all day.

Soho House, Amsterdam

Housed in the Bungehuis building in the centre of the city, this canal-side Soho House has a rooftop pool with views overlooking the city. A Cecconi's and a Cowshed spa are landing this September. And in a nod to the cycling city, there will be a bicycle repair shop in the basement too. Read our full review of Soho House Amsterdam .

Conservatorium

Perfectly positioned between Amsterdam’s Big Three museums and the city’s chicest shopping street, the Conservatorium (once a music conservatory) combines original fin-de-siècle splendour (decorative tiles and brickwork) and witty references to its past life (a chandelier made of violins) with sleek, clean-lined contemporary design by Italian interior architect Piero Lissoni. Many of the rooms are duplexes under original high ceilings, mostly tightly minimalistic but comfortable and warmed by colourful touches. A vast, bright atrium lounge includes an excellent brasserie, while the smart Taiko restaurant upstairs offers superb Japanese-influenced cuisine. The Akasha spa ranks among the best in town, in or out of a hotel.

Sophie Heawood

Arati Menon

Lauren Burvill

CNT Editors

Hotel Arena

A former orphanage beside a park, this is now a haven of white minimalism, enlivened by the odd piece of Sixties retro furniture and original 19th-century period design. It’s just east of the city centre, but most sights are a mere 15 minutes away by tram. Rooms are comfortable and in the same white idiom, often with jet-black bathrooms; some are duplexes with high ceilings and large windows. A few look out over the park, as does a glass-walled café and restaurant with a large terrace that leans deliciously towards vegetarian.

Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam

A 17th-century Admiralty building, a 1930s former city hall and an historic canal house or two combine to form a quietly elegant, reposeful retreat, albeit on the edge of the red-light district. The lounge, done up in warm colours with pools of comfy chairs, has a domestic drawing-room atmosphere. Bridges restaurant is up there with the best in town with an inspired menu of curious combinations that really work, and a verdant courtyard garden. Rooms are quietly luxurious, and there is a spa with a good-size pool.

The old offices of De Volkskrant newspaper, turned into an affordable hotel with a club, bar and restaurant, buzz with life again, engaging young staff and even artists-in-residence in studios out the back. The mood is one of a communal workspace that flips over into fun, with surprises along the way, such as a rooftop outdoor hot tub overlooking the city. Rooms are cleverly designed to seem more spacious than they are (those on the north-west corner of the upper floors have fabulous views). A good-value option that offers more than its peers for the price.

Hotel V Nesplein

A Dutch design makeover has given funky new life to a former office building in a narrow city-centre lane. Inside, old variety posters reference the street’s theatre-district heritage, and a mix of retro furniture (butterfly chairs, Sixties sofas) jostles among mustard-coloured walls, parquet floors and designer cheekiness, such as an open hearth suspended from its own chimney. Rooms vary in shape and design, but most have good-sized bathrooms. Other pluses are the central location and highly popular restaurant and bar, crowded with creative types and spilling out onto a large terrace in good weather.

Grand Hotel Amrâth

The five-storey, turreted Grand Hotel Amrâth occupies the former joint headquarters of a number of Dutch shipping companies and is the first example of the Amsterdam School architecture style, a zany Dutch take on Art Nouveau. It bristles with original features: stone-carved marine creatures, ornate ironmongery, a marble staircase topped by a high stained-glass ceiling. The rooms come with fabrics in carefully researched period designs and are spacious, with large bathrooms. There’s a good spa with a pool (equipped with a jet stream), an Amsterdam School-style café and a reasonably priced restaurant.

Sweets Hotel

Bridge houses once used by operators to open and close drawbridges all over town (it’s now done electronically) have been converted with finesse and an exhilaratingly imaginative use of space into standalone hotel suites. Most of them are dinky, except for one or two that are relatively grand, and date from 1673 to 2009. Interiors in each pick up on the period – a touch of 18th-century opulence, perhaps, or Art Deco curves and angles – and mix in prime contemporary Dutch design. Views, by definition, are of the canals, and lodging in the suites provides an entrée into neighbourhoods you might not otherwise reach.

The College Hotel

The College is 10 minutes’ walk from the Concertgebouw and Big Three museums in one direction, and the cafés and restaurants of De Pijp in the other, and its name refers to both its 19th-century incarnation as a school and its current function as training hotel for hospitality-industry students. This means the occasional learner’s blip in service, but also that room rates are good value. Sometimes-gloomy school rooms and corridors are enlivened by large arrangements of flowers, contemporary Dutch art and soothing colours. Rooms are comfortable, and the restaurant serves tasty standards by learner-chefs.

In hip foodie quarter De Pijp, not far from the main museums, the 23-floor Okura towers over low-rise central Amsterdam. Many rooms, as well as the chic Twenty Third Bar and Ciel Bleu restaurant on the top floor have formidable views. Inside, soft colours, beautiful woods and filtered light create an air of tranquillity. Staff match it with effortless politeness, and rooms and bathrooms are eminently luxurious. The restaurants share three Michelin stars between them: Ciel Bleu (adventurous new Dutch cuisine) has two and Yamazato (classical Japanese kaiseki) has one, and Serre brasserie a Bib Gourmand. There’s also a top-class gym and spa with a 60ft pool.

Seven One Seven

Seven One Seven is a grand mansion in the heart of the Canal District, within easy walking distance of the main museums. Grand it may be, but inside it’s relaxed and domestic – rather like visiting the home of some very fortunate friends who happen to have a passion for antiques and curiosities. Expect honeymoon couples galore. There are nine sumptuously decorated suites named after artists, writers and composers, plus the more prosaically titled Room at the Top. There’s no bar or restaurant: you simply ring and order drinks or high tea in the library or drawing room from the charming staff.

Additional reporting by Rodney Bolt

The best places to eat in Bangkok

By John Brunton

Bangkok has always been one of the top spots in Southeast Asia for eating out, showcasing the dazzling flavours, spices and ingredients of spicy Thai cuisine in a vibrant street food scene that like the city itself, never seems to sleep. While the street scene is alive and buzzing, recent years have seen a food revolution of young local chefs reinterpreting traditional Thai cuisine , alongside the opening of haute-cuisine restaurants overseen by renowned international celebrities like Alain Ducasse, Mauro Colagreco and Gordon Ramsay. So whether you are looking for the ultimate pad thai fried noodles and a wicked chilli green papaya salad or gourmet creations of tamarind glazed quail and sea urchin bruschetta, Bangkok has them all and everything is delicious. Here are the best restaurants in Bangkok.

Grilled veal tongue served at Eat Me, a mainstay on Bangkok's restaurant scene

Hidden away in a quiet side street off busy Silom Road, Eat Me may no longer be a secret address, but surviving as an independent restaurant for 25 years reflects a faithful local clientele and in-the-know foodie travellers who return regularly. Australian owner Darren Hausler is a brilliant host welcoming guests till the early hours, beginning with sundowner cocktails served in the cool ground floor lounge, then dining in a minimalist upstairs salon decorated with avant-garde art or al fresco on the verdant balcony. The kitchen is open till 1am, serving enticing dishes like grilled veal tongue with kimchi and black garlic aioli or clams with spicy Thai sausage and lime broth. Difficult to resist the to-die-for signature desserts; sticky date pudding or passionfruit and mango pavlova topped with whipped cream.

Address: 1/6 Phiphat 2, Silom, Bang Rak

‘Ton’ Tassanakajohn is one of the hottest young chefs in Asia right now with two of the restaurants he created with his brother ‘Tam’ – Le Du and Nasura – winning accolades from both Michelin and Asia’s 50 Best list. Ton’s cuisine is bold, contemporary Thai, but rather than heading to their gourmet guidebook addresses, reserve a table at their more homely, under-the-radar Baan. Here the brothers propose comforting home cooking of heritage family recipes, using high-quality local ingredients, including halal beef and lamb raised by a Muslim community of farmers in the Pak Chong region. This is the place to savour classic Thai dishes cooked to perfection; pad kra prao, minced beef stir-fried with chilies and holy basil, braised beef green curry, som tum pa, an intense papaya salad with fermented crab and clams.

Address: 139/5 Wireless Road, Lumphini Pathumwan

Ms Maria and Mr Singh is known for its whimsical fusion of homestyle Mexican and Indian cooking

Ms Maria and Mr Singh

Bangkok’s most famous chef remains the rock and roll Anand Gaggan who is returning to his glory days of number one spot on Asia’s 50 Best list. His eponymous 14-seater Gaggan restaurant has reopened, offering a 22-course tasting menu of molecular-inspired Indian dishes, including his signature ‘Lick It Up’ dish which diners literally lick off the plate. Unforgettable yes, but not for everyone and the chef himself admitted, “Gaggan once in your life is enough. It’s like a Queen concert, you know?” Fortunately he also oversees the popular Ms Maria and Mrs Singh, a casual, affordable venue where diners discover an intriguing, whimsical fusion of homestyle Mexican and Indian cooking. Oaxaca meets Jodhpur in intriguing dishes like mole madre with lotus roots, eggplant bharta taco and keema quesadilla.

Address: 68/2 Soi Sukhumvit 31, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana

Inddee is the talk of the town in Bangkok right now, the hottest table to be seen dining in after immediately garnering a Michelin star months after its opening last year. This is contemporary Indian cuisine with a difference as chef Sachin Poojary takes diners on a culinary tour across the different regional cuisines of the Indian sub-continent with his seven-course tasting menu; hand-pulled chicken khurchan from Lucknow, Kolkata-inspired black cod with pickled ginger buds, Pondicherry chocolate-coffee pudding. The setting is stunning; a century-old Thai villa with lush gardens in a residential neighbourhood behind Lumphini Park, with a lively vibe each evening as 50 diners are seated, so more a fun sharing experience than intimate romantic dinner. Stellar wine list stretching to 600 different vintages.

Address: 68, 1 Soi Langsuan, Lumphini, Pathum Wan

Eating out at Yaowarat Road in Bangkok's Chinatown

Lek & Rut Seafood

Bangkok’s bustling Chinatown spreads out around the lively Yaowarat Road and is booming right now with both street food favourites and exciting new eateries. Lek & Rut is a neighbourhood institution, plastic tables teeming out across the street corner of what locals call Soi Texas, cooks bent over blazing woks and smoky grills. The perfect spot for a sumptuous meal of the freshest Thai Chinese seafood. The ambience is electric, matched only by the food where the stars of the menu are roasted fresh water jumbo shrimps, barramundi steamed with garlic, chillies, lime juice and coriander, crabs smothered in black pepper sauce. Vegetarians are also well served, with a big choice of locally-grown greens like pad pak krached, water mimosa and a tangy vegetarian tom yam soup.

Address: Phadung Dao Rd, Samphanthawong

Seen Bangkok

With its futuristic high-rise skyline, Bangkok’s nightlife stands out for its shiny rooftop sky bars , seducing locals and travellers alike with spectacular panoramic sunset cocktails, chic fine dining, late night partying. A newcomer on the scene, opening just before the pandemic, Seen sits atop the 26th floor of a waterside hotel along the Chao Phraya river, the latest international venture of Portuguese celebrity chef, Olivier Da Costa. Seen's hip outdoor dining offers creative Asian-twist cocktails, top DJ’s and drop-dead views, but what sets it apart from other sky bars is Da Costa’s signature cuisine, mixing local ingredients and flavours with Mexican, Japanese and Portuguese influences like tacos stuffed with Alaskan crab, guacamole and pomegranate, Hokkaido scallop ceviche and juicy Wagyu beef picana.

Address: 1-3 Charoen Nakhon Rd, Khwaeng Samre, Thon Buri

Pichaya "Pam" Utharntharm, chef and founder of one Michelin-star restaurant, Potong, prepares a dish

In the heart of Chinatown, this stunning address is one of the most original restaurants in Bangkok, perfect to discover the innovative Thai Chinese cuisine of award-winning chef Pichaya ‘Pam’ Utharntharm. Be prepared for another gourmet marathon as Pam takes her diners on a 20-course tasting menu influenced by her Thai, Australian and Chinese heritage, with dishes ranging from a hearty black chicken Chinese herb broth, banana flower and fish garum, five-spiced aged duck to crispy kailan leaves. Potong is located on the second floor of a historic five-storey building that housed her family’s four-generation Chinese herbal medicine business since 1910. The space is magical and mysterious, each floor revealing a different secret; speakeasy bar, private dining, rooftop views or the elegant dining salon where the tasting menu is served.

Address: 465-519 Soi Wanit 1, Khwaeng Samphanthawong

Food stands are a big draw to Chatuchak weekend market

The varied regional cuisines across Thailand , like distinctive Isan dishes from the Northeast, can be easily found amongst the labyrinth of Bangkok street food stalls. To taste the much spicier cooking from the South of the country, it is worth combining a shopping and eating expedition by taking the Metro out to the world’s biggest weekend market at Chatuchak, where not only are there 15,000 stands dedicated to fashion, art, design and antiques, but also this hidden gem eatery whose traditional family seafood recipes are dedicated to the fierce curries of Southern Thailand. Wriggling prawns, crabs, fish and lobster fill an array of glass aquariums, and seafood lovers can choose from deep-fried soft-shell crab with garlic, clams sautéed with red-hot chillis, tamarind and basil, a spicy sour turmeric and chili paste grouper fish curry.

Address: 12/12 Thetsaban Songkhro Rd, Lat Yao, Chatuchak

Tasting dazzlingly spicy Thai street food is the ultimate Bangkok food experience

Feasting out on spicy Thai street food is the ultimate Bangkok food experience. The Michelin Guide has bestowed praise on several unique hawker stalls, most notably the begoggled cook Jay Fai and her iconic crispy crab omelettes, though the price of fame is horrifically long queues. Better to trust your nose, be adventurous and make your own discoveries. The one dish everyone wants to eat is emblematic pad thai noodles, revisited by chefs from Gordon Ramsay to Jamie Oliver. There is none better than pad thai Pratoopee, wok-fired over charcoal at the simple family-run Thipsamai who claim to have invented this unique smoky, sweet sour dish back in 1939, still using the original secret recipe today, mixing dry shrimp, palm sugar, tamarind and chilli with crushed peanuts, lime and a wafer-thin egg coating. Irresistible.

Address: 313-315 Maha Chai Rd, Samran Rat, Phra Nakhon

Bangkok's busy Bangrak quarter is where to seek out halal dishes

Muslim Restaurant

Bangkok’s different neighbourhoods all boast a diverse choice of halal locales, but hidden away in the ancient Bangrak quarter, just behind the mythical Oriental hotel, this venerable diner is an institution for tasty affordable halal dishes, a nostalgic step back into the past, the decor and menu pretty much unchanged for 70 years. The dining room is painted a distinctive deep blue, the walls lined by cosy wood booths, where an essentially local clientele feast off copious servings that are an eclectic mix of Thai-Muslim, Malay and Indian influences. Specialities range from mataba gai, a Thai take on murtabak, stuffed with spicy minced chicken to khao mok pae, a succulent goat biryani, while for the adventurous foodie there is curried beef brain and mutton liver marsala.

Address: 1354-1356 Charoen Krung 42

What Summer Travel to Europe Will Look Like This Year

By Arati Menon

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

With additional reporting by Sarah Allard

When travel journalist Jenn Rice decided to spend July and August in Italy and Croatia last year, she wasn’t expecting to be spending most of her time indoors. “It was very very hot, so I booked museum tickets during peak days or just lounged around in my room with a spritz and a book until the sun set.” In Dubrovnik she tried escaping to the sea for a cool dip, but everyone else had the same idea—resulting in sweaty, overcrowded beaches. “In Rome , gelato melted faster than the speed of light,” she says.

Come summer, major attractions like the Spanish Steps in Rome are thronged by international tourists and vacationing Europeans.

Rome and Dubrovnik weren’t the only European destinations overcome with heat. To travel in Europe in the summer of 2023 was to experience first-hand a single season of contrasting extremes. Temperatures swung from hot and dry to cold and wet, and heatwaves broke out across several of the most heavily touristed destinations, with temperatures reaching upwards of 100°F. In Northern Greece, wildfires broke out —the worst experienced there in 20 years —destroying homes, forests, and vineyards.

Yet in the midst of it all, the continent also saw record-breaking tourist numbers —the highest since pre-pandemic levels—even as hotel prices swelled and airfares hit peaks. From scenic escapes like Bellagio in Como and Taormina in Sicily (where the White Lotus effect was on full display) to bucket-list cities like Paris and Madrid , much of touristed Europe was completely overwhelmed.

“We had people calling us from Athens and Rome asking us to get them out [to somewhere cooler in Europe], because it was too hot and too crowded,” recalls Jan Sortland , founder of Scandinavia specialists Norwegian Adventures.

International tourists weren’t the only ones thronging these spots. According to the European Travel Commission , most Europeans took their vacations before the peak month of August, with Italy and France being their top destinations. This resulted in packed crowds at all the major attractions. For John Canning, an LA-based executive who traveled to Paris in July, the crowds were eye-opening. “We didn’t anticipate that everything we would want to see was sold out. We only got Musée d’Orsay tickets through our concierge at a substantial premium and could not get into the Louvre full stop,” he says.

Rice says the summer taught her to plan her travel differently this year—and beyond: “I’m going to try and do coastal Italy early in May, and if I decide to travel in Europe this summer it will be either Asturias in Northern Spain or the Julian Alps in Slovenia to keep cool."

She’s not alone—according to the travel specialists we spoke with, there’s an increased interest in lesser-known destinations offering a more laid back (and cooler) holiday. “Our guests are asking after places where they can be outdoors, yet have access to wine & foodie experiences and culture. Slovenia is a great example of where you can have all that without being overwhelmed with the heat; the Dolomites in Italy is another,” says Rachael Mendizabal, Europe travel specialist at Scott Dunn . Richard Hyde, COO at Small Luxury Hotels of the World , is seeing similar trends across their European portfolio: “Guests seem to be gravitating towards alternative destinations—Milos instead of Mykonos and Slovenia instead of Spain.”

Norway is a popular destination this summer, offering cooler weather and a myriad ways to be active outside, exploring the islands and fjords.

A big part of that shift will play into Sortland’s area of expertise: Northern Europe. With the Med getting too hot to handle, experts predict that tourism will shift northwards. “We’re seeing a lot of interest in Copenhagen and Stockholm for the cultural experience, and then onward to Norway for the nature. Currently, the fjords are still a favorite but Norway is a large country and there’s so much more to see—the Helgeland coast for example with its beautiful coastline and mountainous islands,” he says. The draw is a more moderate temperature and unique outdoor experiences. “ Iceland is a big favorite right now with the Northern lights being the most active this year from September through March,” says Mendizabal.

Jessica Puckett

Cassie Shortsleeve

In turn, for many, the more standard city breaks will fall later in the year. “Athens and Rome will always be desirable destinations, but we’ve seen an uptick in many people preferring to go there in May and October to swerve crowds,” says Carolyn Addison, head of product at Black Tomato , noting the weather in fall has been stable lately and enticing to travelers not tied to school holidays.

With this increased flexibility, shoulder season will become tricker to define, according to Mendizabal. Thanks to hotels extending their season as demand shifts to almost year-round and the high-season pricing window getting longer, the days of “scooping a deal in September are likely over.” At Jumeirah Palace in Capri , the season now runs from March to the end of December. “Thanks to the good weather, guests are staying longer than in the past,” says Ermanno Zanini, regional vice president at Jumeirah Group, Southern Europe and United Kingdom.

Castello di Vicarello in Tuscany 's Maremma countryside has traditionally stayed open in March and November. “We're pushing the low season as much as possible because we truly believe it is a wonderful time to discover Tuscany. There is so much for guests to enjoy from hiking to mountain biking, truffle hunting, and wine tastings,” says owner Neri Baccheschi Berti.

Crucially, traveling in the shoulder and off seasons isn't just about avoiding the crowds; it’s knowing that seasonal destinations are multi-dimensional, with year-round appeal. “One of my favorite things to do in cooler weather is to hike to the peak of Mount Solaro, with its beautiful views of the town of Capri and the bay of Marina Piccola with the Faraglioni, as well as Anacapri. You also see plenty of wintering birds on the island,” says Zanini.

Zanini adds that they are in talks with the island's municipality to consider what it would take to stay open in February and March, traditionally strictly closed off. “It's not as straightforward as you think. There’s a lot of infrastructure that needs to be geared towards the low season: restaurants need to stay open, as do shops, and guides need to be available; it can’t just be the hotel,” he adds.

However, with staying open longer, there’s a real opportunity to engage local communities year-round, not to mention stabilize the hiring pool—and improve work culture. “We’ve already seen the positive impact of a longer season for our partners on the ground and locals in the hospitality and tourism sector,” says Addison, who adds that shifts in travel seasons are far from a fleeting trend. “This pattern for more year-round travel will continue to pick up pace in 2025—and beyond," she says.

Travel specialists are quick to point out that even with some of this rebalancing, summer this year and next will continue to see high demand for travel to—and within—Europe. According to Hayley Berg, chief economist at Hopper, while airfare remains higher than at this time in 2019, 40% of all searches for international trips this summer are to Europe, in line with last year and slightly higher than in 2019.

“Sure, we think that traveler numbers on the Côte d'Azur will smooth out through the year, but summer will certainly remain the festive season—only it will be longer,” says Lucie Weill, owner of wellness retreat Lily of the Valley near St. Tropez , which sees its faire share of packed streets and crowded beaches come summer. Weill adds that the hotel has seen success in extending its season.

For travel specialist Cari Gray of Gray & Co . late requests and a lack of flexibility could mean getting turned away because of a lack of availability. “Whether it’s a visit to the Vatican or dogsledding in Alaska , access is going to be very difficult. And there are only that many high-end lodges in Lapland ,” she says. Addison offers the example of Lake Como , where the best properties can often get booked up a year or two in advance during the busiest summer months. “Knowing that the top hotels and guides are getting booked up and that weather disruptions are increasingly unpredictable, clients who want to commit to the most popular summer hotspots in Europe, like the Greek islands and Sardinia are securing their bookings a year out.”

The Balearic island of Menorca is a charming escape with its rocky coves, white-sand beaches, and green rolling hills.

Ultimately, it’s not about giving up on all the places you love: just about pivoting, even if within the same country. “Why not Menorca instead of Mallorca, with its explosion of fantastic hotels and its great beach front, or Epirus in Northern Greece on the Albanian border with its Stone villages, old-growth forests, and truffle hunts instead of the islands," says Gray.

"In Italy we’re always pushing to discover new areas, even in regions that we’ve been exploring for decades like Tuscany and Umbria because new hotels are opening up regularly,” says Courtney Mundy , a travel specialist at experiential travel experts Butterfield & Robinson.

And, a word of caution for the rising favorites: “Smaller destinations in Iceland & Norway will really need to consider how to manage the higher number of visitors than ever before,” says Addison. “Parts of Iceland are overtouristed,” agrees Sortland, “so, it’s not unreasonable to think that smaller communities in Norway could eventually be at risk, too.” Whether it's through new tourist tax regimens or limits on cruise ship day-trippers to reduce crowding, a shifting tide will need more alert local governments—and as we’re swapping beaches for the mountains or Rome for Stockholm, more responsible travel habits that leave fewer traces behind.

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