Places to go in Amsterdam during WOC

The World of Coffee Amsterdam is coming closer and closer, and questions for tips are rolling in.

I have a running list of best coffee places in Amsterdam separated into bars and roasters. Personal favourites are: Sweetcup, Scandinavian Embassy, East57, but all of them are great.

But ofcourse there is more to do than drink coffee; eat, drink, shop, hang... Below all my Amsterdam fav's.

Most the places mentioned below can be found on this map.

Food - chains

There are a couple of chains throughout Amsterdam worth the visit:

Sla is a place where you can get a great bowl of salad.

The Burgerbar has some of the best burgers in town.

Burgermeester is one of the first burgerbar places in Amsterdam, and still delicious. 

Ijscuypje has great ice-cream and has several locations throughout Amsterdam.

Febo is the place for fast food and snacks. An Amsterdam original, it is the place to go and eat snacks out of the wall, a typical Dutch thing to do. Want to go really Dutch middle of the night snack route? Eat a diagonal, where you eat one snack from every column in a diagonal line. 

Food

The Avocadoshow, all dishes are made with avocado. Fully instagrammable dishes too. 

De Japanner has small Japanese bites.

AN, in my opinion some of the best sushi in town.

Instock Amsterdam has great food and a great philosophy where they use ingredients which would otherwise be thrown out.

De Vergulden Eenhoorn, a small oasis in the middle of Amsterdam, with a farm-like feel. Great for lunch.

De Vrouw met de Baard, very small and busy, so book in advance. Indonesian inspired and super tasty.

Burgers'n Shakes serve great burgers and shakes, is not too expensive, and it's halal.

Djago, close to the expo centre has great Indonesian rice table, a typical Dutch food. 

Bijvangst, a restaurant serving fish that was accidentally caught in the nets. Try a fish you never tried before.

De School is a great place in the West of Amsterdam.

De Hallen is the Amsterdam version of a Food Hall. You can get some great ice cream next door at LaLa IJs.

Hotel de Goudfazant is a very industrial place in the North of Amsterdam, take the free ferry and get some great food. Great for groups too.

Cafe Keppler, also in the North of Amsterdam is a place where one of the founders is a great coffee roaster. So get some great food and some great coffee in the new 'cool' area in town.

La Vallade is quite small and French inspired. You get what they cook. Just sit down and see what shows up. High end food in a very accessible location. The interior is extremely cute.

Hanneke's Boom is a bit more quirky, located on the water, the atmosphere is great.

The Burrito Maker, with a location in the East and West is the best place for burritos and tacos. They have a couple of stools, but it's best to get a take-away and sit outside enjoying the sun.

Vegetarian/Vegan

Spirit is a buffet style restaurant, where you pay for how much you scoop onto your place. A bit more expensive than you might expect, but super delicious and great for bigger groups.

Meatless District, the name alone is cool.

Betty's is a real OG for vegetarians and vegans in Amsterdam.

Restaurant de Waaghals, Mana Mana are also great places to go. 

Drinks

GlouGlou is a natural wine bar, located close to the amazing coffeebar the Scandinavian Embassy

4850 has a beautiful wall of amazing wines, serves specialty coffee and great food. 

Hopp is a relatively new place, a roof top bar serving bites and great beer.

De Wildeman is the best beer place in Amsterdam in my opinion. They have the widest selection I've ever seen and can give great advice on what you should try, served up with typical Amsterdam attitude. 

For cocktails, Hiding in Plain Sight is the best place I've ever been.

There are a couple of breweries as well. Brouwerij Troost and Brouwerij het IJ are probably the best known ones for Amsterdam. Brouwerij het IJ additionally has a great terrace underneath an authentic windmill, just across the best burritos in town.

Hang-outs, shopping and culture

The Albert Cuyp is the market of Amsterdam. Get some fresh made stroopwafels, some raw herring and some fries with mayo.

The Noordermarkt is also a great market to visit. On Monday morning they have vintage and second hand clothes. On Saturday there is an organic food market.

Nemo is an institution for Amsterdam. The science museum for kids is shaped like a boat. The roof is open to everybody and its a great place to sit in the sun in the afternoon and just hang out, looking at the boats in the harbour.

For shopping there are multiple cools places to walk around. Close to the Albert Cuyp you can go to the van Woustraat or the Ferdinand Bolstraat.

Other great places if you want to try something else than the highstreet, are de 9 straatjes.

Go to the North of Amsterdam to the A'dam tower, get the lift to the top (this will cost you money) and see the best view of Amsterdam. For the people who are not afraid of heights, at the top you can swing over the side of the building on the highest swing of Europe. 

Finally, for the botanical and/or coffee history lovers, go to the Hortus Botanicus, the place where one of the first coffee trees was grown, of which the seedlings were spread across the world. You can read a piece on Sprudge about this history as well.

An other must visit is Chocolatl. This 'eclectic premium chocolate' shop will give you a sensory experience to remember. Selling mostly bean to bar, they will guide you through their selection, allowing you to taste the chocolate, and give their expert advice to get you to your favourite bar of chocolate. 

Hotels

I never stay in hotels in Amsterdam or the area, but there are some considerations:

Casa400 is less than 10 minutes by train from the expo, and they have specialty coffee in their hotel bar, and a beer bar on the roof. I love hanging out there.

Hotel de Hallen is in the bustling Kinkerbuurt in Amsterdam. It's a quirky hotel next to a big foodhall.

The Netherlands is small. Everything is close. If you want something cheaper than Amsterdam, check out hotels in Amstelveen. You can take a metro to the expo centre from there quite easily. You can also check out Hoofddorp, which is close to the airport and a 10 minute train ride from the expo centre. 

Other cheap options are the campings that have small houses on them, such as Camping Zeeburg. 

other...

Of course to get around you can rent a bike. However if you are expecting to use it during rush hour (8:30-9:00 and around 17:00) expect the bike lanes to be very crowded and people annoyed. If you are not used to riding a bike, be ready for an adventure and some sweaty times. 

Public transport is pretty good, but a bit expensive. Best to get a card valid for multiple days. 

Be careful when walking. Amsterdam is an easy place to walk around, however there are a lot of bike lanes that look like foot paths. Usually bike lanes are coloured red and walk paths grey. Bike lanes also have white bikes printed on them. Cyclists will ring a bell if you are in the way, or just yell at you.

Amsterdam, and the Netherlands in general, does not have an eat breakfast out of the home kind of culture. A lot of places will open quite late. Especially on Mondays, most places, including shops will not open before 10am and sometimes noon. 

Get breakfast at your hotel. Or, find a couple of places who do do breakfast. Such as Drover's Dog, Bakers and Roasters, Teds, the Breakfast Club, Mook or bakeries. 

You can easily go running in Amsterdam, a lot of people do, either in one of the parks, on the canals, or just on the streets. A medium post set out some really great routes. A great place to go running as well is either down along the river the Amstel, or in Diemerpark or Westerpark. Don't want to run alone? The Running Junkies offer runs, free of charge, which you can join. There is a pot where you can leave some money if you want. 

The best parks in Amsterdam are, the Vondelpark, Westerpark and the Amstelpark. We have some 'forests' too, het Amsterdamse Bos and the Vliegenbos.

Links

map of coffee places: goo.gl/daoqGq
map of tips: goo.gl/U9W7fa