West

West (stadsdeel West) was created on 1 May 2010 by merging four former districts: Oud-West, Westerpark, De Baarsjes and Bos en Lommer. In 2015 the part of the Westpoort port area east of the A10 ring road was added. It covers roughly 9.5 to 9.9 km² of land, depending on the source, and had about 148,900 residents on 1 January 2022, the second-largest population of the seven districts after Nieuw-West and the highest population density in the city.

West covers most of the city that was built before 1940 to the west of the Singelgracht. In the seventeenth century this was an area of industrial windmills, especially sawmills serving shipbuilding; the large residential expansion followed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under city architect Kalff's extension plan, and later in the 1920s to 1950s further west.

The district is a patchwork of more than thirty named neighbourhoods, each with its own feel.

• Oud-West (Kinkerbuurt and Overtoombuurt): dense nineteenth-century streets along the Overtoom and the Kinkerstraat, bordering the Vondelpark (see the Oud-West profile).
• Westerpark area (Spaarndammerbuurt, Zeeheldenbuurt, Staatsliedenbuurt, Frederik Hendrikbuurt, Houthavens): named after the park and the Westergasfabriek, a former gasworks turned cultural park (see the Westerpark profile).
• De Baarsjes: residential streets west of the Kostverlorenvaart, with the Mercatorplein as a local centre.
• Bos en Lommer: built mainly from the late 1920s to the 1950s, including early examples of open row housing, around the Bos en Lommerweg and the Erasmuspark (see the Bos en Lommer profile).

Architecturally, the older parts have quickly and cheaply built nineteenth-century blocks (revolutiebouw) that are now valued for their urban character, and later parts show the brick Amsterdam School style of the 1910s and 1920s.

West is well connected to the centre by tram, and its western edge lies on the metro ring line.

• Trams: lines 1, 7, 13 and 17 connect the Overtoom and Kinkerstraat corridors with Leidseplein, and continue west towards Slotermeer, Geuzenveld and Osdorp; 12 runs from the Frederik Hendrikbuurt via the Bilderdijkstraat and Van Baerlestraat to Museumplein, De Pijp and Amstelstation; 5 starts at the Westergasfabriek and runs via the Marnixstraat to Leidseplein, Museumplein and Station Zuid; 19 links the district with Station Sloterdijk.
• Metro: lines 50 and 51 stop at Sloterdijk, De Vlugtlaan, Jan van Galenstraat and Postjesweg on the western ring.
• Train: Station Sloterdijk in the north-west has regional and intercity trains as well as metro.
• Ferries: from the Pontsteiger in the Houthavens, free ferries F6 (to Distelweg, weekdays) and F7 (to the NDSM wharf) cross the IJ to Amsterdam-Noord.

Roadworks on the De Clercqstraat/Rozengracht axis (the Oranje Loper project) divert lines 13, 17 and 19 into 2027. The tram network as a whole was reorganised on 29 March 2026, so check the GVB or 9292 planner for current routes.

Most homes are rented flats in buildings of around four storeys: nineteenth-century blocks in Oud-West, the Kinkerbuurt and parts of the Westerpark area, Amsterdam School housing from the 1910s and 1920s, and interwar and post-war blocks in Bos en Lommer. There are few houses with gardens.

Flats are often compact for their price. There is no official rent figure for West alone. According to I amsterdam, rents in Amsterdam are among the highest in the Netherlands and social housing has waiting times of typically 8 to 18 years, so most newcomers rent privately; check whether a rent falls under the points system before you sign (see our tenant rights guide).

Because the district is so dense, private outdoor space is scarce and families rely on public parks: the Westerpark and the grounds of the Westergasfabriek, the Erasmuspark in Bos en Lommer and the Vondelpark on the southern edge of Oud-West. There are community gardens near Sloterdijk.

Many primary schools keep waiting lists, so register in good time; I amsterdam recommends comparing schools near your address by postcode on Scholen op de Kaart. Our schools and childcare guides explain how places are allocated and paid for.