What different parts of Amsterdam are like to live in — character, transport, green spaces, housing and honest trade-offs.
Amsterdam is described here by its districts and the localities inside them. This page currently covers 7 districts and 9 localities.
There is no “best neighbourhood”: what suits you depends on your work, budget, family and lifestyle. We describe places — we do not score them.
Larger pins are districts, smaller ones localities. Every place is also listed below.
Map of neighbourhoods in Amsterdam
District
Amsterdam's historic core inside the Singelgracht, with the UNESCO-listed canal ring, the Jordaan, the Plantage and the old harbour islands. It is the hub of the transport network and of cultural life, but busy with visitors, densely built and among the most expensive places to live.
District
Amsterdam's largest district by population, built mostly after 1950 as the Western Garden Cities around the Sloterplas lake. It offers green, spacious layouts, a large stock of post-war housing that has been extensively renewed, the old village of Sloten, and metro and tram links to the centre.
District
Amsterdam's largest district by area, across the IJ from Centraal Station. It combines 1920s garden villages, post-war estates, former shipyards turned creative and residential areas such as the NDSM wharf and Buiksloterham, and rural Waterland villages, linked to the centre by metro 52 and free ferries.
District
A large and varied district east of the Amstel, from the nineteenth-century streets of Oud-Oost and the Indische Buurt to the Watergraafsmeer, the redeveloped Eastern Docklands and the island neighbourhood of IJburg, with the Oosterpark, Flevopark, good tram and rail links and free ferries.
District
Amsterdam's most densely populated district, just west of the canal ring. It brings together Oud-West, Westerpark, De Baarsjes and Bos en Lommer, mostly late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century flats, with the Westerpark, busy shopping streets and dense tram and metro links.
District
A largely prosperous district south of the canal ring, from the museums and Vondelpark of Oud-Zuid and the dense streets of De Pijp to the Rivierenbuurt, Buitenveldert and the Zuidas business district, with excellent tram, metro and rail links and some of the highest housing costs in the city.
District
A green and diverse district south-east of the city, built largely from the late 1960s around the Bijlmermeer and renewed since the 1990s. It has three metro lines, two railway stations, the Johan Cruijff ArenA and Amsterdam UMC's AMC location on its edge, and large parks around the Gaasperplas.