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The Singel/Spui district
As we did for the Walletjes tour, we’ll start at Centraal Station.
Exiting the station and crossing the bridge, this time we will turn right. Our heading is the Victoria hotel. Look for it up ahead to your right as you cross the intersection. Turning right, in front of the hotel, walk up Prins Hendrikkade to the next crossing, cross the street, and turn left onto Martelaarsgracht.
Next crossing is the shopping street Nieuwendijk. If you were to go left onto Nieuwendijk, you will after a while end up at Dam Square. If you turn right you will come to the Singel Canal. Singel you say, that is where we are going. Let’s push ahead! But hold your horses for a while. Let’s take another path, so that our route takes us past all the (94) windows in the Singel/Spui RLD.
If you are hungry, stop in at the "Soup Kitchen" in the crossing. It is a pretty good place for an English-style artery clogging breakfast. If not hungry, cross the street, and continue down the street, which has, by the way, changed names to Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.
Up ahead, on the left, the Crown Plaza Hotel. You are now facing a "Y" in the road. Follow to the left beside the Sint Nicolaas Hotel and continue down Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.
Across the street, past a couple of restaurants, you will see "Blue Boy" and "Why Not", a gay sex cinema and club.
Korte Kolk Steeg.
Ahead of you, just before Amsterdam City Centre Hotel, is Korte Kolk Steeg. Turn right. On this street you will find the first windows, 4 of them. It’s a short street, and in no time you will be standing on Spuistraat. And why not take a look up and down Spuistraat? You will find 2, sometimes 3, floors with window girls. Some that you can see from where you stand, behind you on the right and several further south on Spui, to your left. Spuistraat, with 28 windows, has the highest number of windows of any single street in the area, but they’re scattered up and down the street.
Let’s continue our walk up the street that we were just on. Crossing the Spuistraat, the street name now changes to Korte Korsjespoort Steeg. Again a very short walk up to the next crossing. To your right you have Teerketelsteeg, with 3 windows on the top of the 3rd floor, and to your left Nieuw Oude Straat. "Middlepunkt", a brothel room rental place at number 5, is beside you on your left.
Nieuw Oude Straat
Turn left at "Middelpunt", and walk up Nieuw Oude Straat. The 22 windows are clustered on both ends of this street. At #17 folk hero Hans Brinker was born in 1799. At age 8 Brinker stuck his finger inside a wet hole, and saved the city of Haarlem from flood. Or something. His world-wide fame began in 1865 when American author Mary Mapes published his story.
At the end of Nieuw Oude Straat, we will be turning right, but have a quick look to your left on Lijnbaanstraat and you'll find 2 new windows, just around the corner.
Lijnbaanstraat.
And now, for the first time, we come up to Singel itself, the canal. Singel is the oldest and innermost of the 4 canals which comprise the girdle of canals (Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht) which surround the old centre of Amsterdam. The Singel is not to be confused with another canal of the same name, Singelgracht, a fifth perimeter canal.
If you look to your right you’ll find some windows on this side along the Singel. Here you will normally find Asian (Thai) girls, and also an occasional Asian "ladyboy" or two. Further up north on Singel you will find more windows. We’ll return to the Singel, a bit later, as we complete the circuit.
Cross the Singel canal on the bridge, Linjbaansbruug. After you have crossed take an immediate left and walk down Singel on the right (east) side. The first street you will come to is Bergstraat. Turn right.
Bergstraat serves mainly locals. It’s rather quiet, no camera-toting tourist groups and no drunken visiting football fans either. 10 windows in total. At the end on the left side you will find a coffeeshop, "Amnesia" on the corner of Bergstraat and Herengracht.
You’re now at Herengracht (Gentlemen’s canal). Turn right, north along the Herengracht. Just before the next bridge, Blauburgwal, you’ll pass Sauna Deco, at number 115, a wonderful sauna which takes pride in it’s elegant art deco furnishings which were salvaged from a 1920’s Parisian department store, housed in a building designed by the great Dutch architect, Berlage.
Blauwburgwal.
Crossing the bridge, the Blauwburgwal canal is below you on your right. Blauwburgwal is a cosy little canal, enjoy the picturesque view at this lovely intersection.
On the other side of the bridge, to your left, across the Herengracht, lies the Herenstraat. There’s lots of "Dutchiness" to be found here, and on the following streets. Cosy flower shops, cosy atmospheric restaurants, cosy antiques shops, cosy art galleries, etc. Raging cosiness, if you will.
Continue straight ahead up the Herengracht leaving the Blauwburgwal behind you. At the next street, Korsjespoortsteeg, you will turn right. Just ahead of you, to your left, the Multatuli Museum dedicated to the great Dutch philosopher and free thinker.
Multituli's view.
Immediately to your right, nearly directly across from Multituli, you’ll find 2 windows. Continuing up to Lange Straat, and crossing over, you will find several more windows. This section of Korsejespoortsteeg appeared in the 1989 Timothy Dalton vehicle, a film called "Hawks", which was financed with the star power (soon lost) he had acquired after his first stint as James Bond, 007. It was a forgettable melodrama about a terminally ill man having a final fling in Amsterdam. If you get a chance to see it, you’ll enjoy how the filmmakers "dressed" the street with every manner of tawdry and garish rubbish, to make it their idea and perhaps by extension, the average persons idea, of what a red light district should look like. It was a far cry from the reality of the quiet, typically Amsterdam street you now stand on.
We’re back at the Singel canal. Cross the bridge. On the other side you’ll find a couple of more windows on Singel. A couple close to the crossing, both left and right, and 2 more, a bit further north along Singel close to the dome of the old Lutheran Church.
Well, that’s it. You've made a complete circuit of the Singel area.
You now have options:
Jump into the quiet bruin café ‘t Koggeschip at 43 Singel, on the corner. Lot’s of bric-a-brac on the walls, in the normal Dutch style. Here it is nautical theme. It's pretty nice we think, but always dead quiet. If you ever run into more than two other guests, then you will be breaking a record! During the summer they have a little terrace facing the grotty green urinal just outside---it may not, on a warm day be a very friendly place for your olfactory organs, but it’s actually a very convenient place to sit if consuming quantities of beer. This particular urinal, incidentally, holds a very special distinction---we can hardly ever pass by without feeling an overwhelming urge to use it. Over many years we have performed this ritual to the watchful eyes of the ladies, or transsexuals, who usually occupy the facing windows, hundreds, possibly, thousands of times.
And with that old familiar urge to take a leak, we now conclude this portion of the tour. Now that you know where all the windows are located in this area, we’ll leave it up to you how to spend your time. Bon Appetit!
The Pijp district
The name of the smallest of the three red light districts, the Pijp (De Pijp, in Dutch) comes from the long straight streets (straight as a pipe) in this section of Amsterdam originally developed in the late 19th century for working class and immigrant residents. Appropriately enough "pijp" is also Dutch slang for "penis". It is also the only one of the three districts where cruising the windows by automobile is possible, which you would see if you ventured here at night. By day, it's a quiet and relaxed district catering primarily to locals, where many a jewel can be found. You'll never see the drunken crowds of football revelers or hoards of tourists, or many non-residents for that matter.
The Pijp/Ruysdaelkade district is behind the Rijksmuseum, south on the Ruysdaelkade. Actually it's quite near Societe Anonymé, just a few more blocks up the Stadhouderskade. First of all, find your way to the Rijksmuseum. Proceed east (left) on Stadhouderskade a short distance, crossing the bridge and the canal, Boerenwetering. Take a right turn on the little brick walkway or continue on a bit further until you arrive at Ruysdaelkade, and then go right. Proceed south along Ruysdaelkade. The first street you'll arrive at is Eerste Jacob Van Campen Straat, followed by Quellijnstraat, Daniel Stalperstraat, Saenredamstraat, Gerard Doustraat, Albert Cuypstraat, and finally Gouvert Flinckstraat. Here it is; it's just up ahead on your left, facing the canal. 30+ windows, on multiple floors, plus a few windows down the sidestreet Gouvert Flintstraat.
If you proceed a bit further up Ruysdaelkade, passing Eerst Jan Steen Straat and Eerst Jan Van Der Heijenstraat, crossing the busy Ceintuurbaan, and strolling a bit further up Ruysdaelkade, you'll find 4 more, lesser known windows.
Features of note in this area are the Albert Cuyp open air market, the concentration of computer shops on Ceintuurbaan just around the corner from Ruysdaelkade, and further up Ceintuurbaan where it changes to Sarphatipark. The back entrance of the Rijksmuseum and the vast Museumplein is also nearby, at the beginning of this walk.
If you care to forego the walk, catch a tram at Centraal Station. Tram 24 routes up Centuurbaan, and arrives at Ruysdaelkade, practically at the doorstep of the Ruysdaelkade/Pijp RLD. Proceed north a short block up Ruysdaelkade. Tram 16 arrives at Albert Cuypstraat and Ruysdaelkade, in that case proceed a short walk south.
That's it folks! There ain't no more! Move along!
The
As we did for the Walletjes tour, we’ll start at Centraal Station.
Exiting the station and crossing the bridge, this time we will turn right. Our heading is the Victoria hotel. Look for it up ahead to your right as you cross the intersection. Turning right, in front of the hotel, walk up Prins Hendrikkade to the next crossing, cross the street, and turn left onto Martelaarsgracht.
Next crossing is the shopping street Nieuwendijk. If you were to go left onto Nieuwendijk, you will after a while end up at Dam Square. If you turn right you will come to the Singel Canal. Singel you say, that is where we are going. Let’s push ahead! But hold your horses for a while. Let’s take another path, so that our route takes us past all the (94) windows in the Singel/Spui RLD.
If you are hungry, stop in at the "Soup Kitchen" in the crossing. It is a pretty good place for an English-style artery clogging breakfast. If not hungry, cross the street, and continue down the street, which has, by the way, changed names to Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.
Up ahead, on the left, the Crown Plaza Hotel. You are now facing a "Y" in the road. Follow to the left beside the Sint Nicolaas Hotel and continue down Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.
Across the street, past a couple of restaurants, you will see "Blue Boy" and "Why Not", a gay sex cinema and club.
Korte Kolk Steeg.
Ahead of you, just before Amsterdam City Centre Hotel, is Korte Kolk Steeg. Turn right. On this street you will find the first windows, 4 of them. It’s a short street, and in no time you will be standing on Spuistraat. And why not take a look up and down Spuistraat? You will find 2, sometimes 3, floors with window girls. Some that you can see from where you stand, behind you on the right and several further south on Spui, to your left. Spuistraat, with 28 windows, has the highest number of windows of any single street in the area, but they’re scattered up and down the street.
Let’s continue our walk up the street that we were just on. Crossing the Spuistraat, the street name now changes to Korte Korsjespoort Steeg. Again a very short walk up to the next crossing. To your right you have Teerketelsteeg, with 3 windows on the top of the 3rd floor, and to your left Nieuw Oude Straat. "Middlepunkt", a brothel room rental place at number 5, is beside you on your left.
Nieuw Oude Straat
Turn left at "Middelpunt", and walk up Nieuw Oude Straat. The 22 windows are clustered on both ends of this street. At #17 folk hero Hans Brinker was born in 1799. At age 8 Brinker stuck his finger inside a wet hole, and saved the city of Haarlem from flood. Or something. His world-wide fame began in 1865 when American author Mary Mapes published his story.
At the end of Nieuw Oude Straat, we will be turning right, but have a quick look to your left on Lijnbaanstraat and you'll find 2 new windows, just around the corner.
Lijnbaanstraat.
And now, for the first time, we come up to Singel itself, the canal. Singel is the oldest and innermost of the 4 canals which comprise the girdle of canals (Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht) which surround the old centre of Amsterdam. The Singel is not to be confused with another canal of the same name, Singelgracht, a fifth perimeter canal.
If you look to your right you’ll find some windows on this side along the Singel. Here you will normally find Asian (Thai) girls, and also an occasional Asian "ladyboy" or two. Further up north on Singel you will find more windows. We’ll return to the Singel, a bit later, as we complete the circuit.
Cross the Singel canal on the bridge, Linjbaansbruug. After you have crossed take an immediate left and walk down Singel on the right (east) side. The first street you will come to is Bergstraat. Turn right.
Bergstraat serves mainly locals. It’s rather quiet, no camera-toting tourist groups and no drunken visiting football fans either. 10 windows in total. At the end on the left side you will find a coffeeshop, "Amnesia" on the corner of Bergstraat and Herengracht.
You’re now at Herengracht (Gentlemen’s canal). Turn right, north along the Herengracht. Just before the next bridge, Blauburgwal, you’ll pass Sauna Deco, at number 115, a wonderful sauna which takes pride in it’s elegant art deco furnishings which were salvaged from a 1920’s Parisian department store, housed in a building designed by the great Dutch architect, Berlage.
Blauwburgwal.
Crossing the bridge, the Blauwburgwal canal is below you on your right. Blauwburgwal is a cosy little canal, enjoy the picturesque view at this lovely intersection.
On the other side of the bridge, to your left, across the Herengracht, lies the Herenstraat. There’s lots of "Dutchiness" to be found here, and on the following streets. Cosy flower shops, cosy atmospheric restaurants, cosy antiques shops, cosy art galleries, etc. Raging cosiness, if you will.
Continue straight ahead up the Herengracht leaving the Blauwburgwal behind you. At the next street, Korsjespoortsteeg, you will turn right. Just ahead of you, to your left, the Multatuli Museum dedicated to the great Dutch philosopher and free thinker.
Multituli's view.
Immediately to your right, nearly directly across from Multituli, you’ll find 2 windows. Continuing up to Lange Straat, and crossing over, you will find several more windows. This section of Korsejespoortsteeg appeared in the 1989 Timothy Dalton vehicle, a film called "Hawks", which was financed with the star power (soon lost) he had acquired after his first stint as James Bond, 007. It was a forgettable melodrama about a terminally ill man having a final fling in Amsterdam. If you get a chance to see it, you’ll enjoy how the filmmakers "dressed" the street with every manner of tawdry and garish rubbish, to make it their idea and perhaps by extension, the average persons idea, of what a red light district should look like. It was a far cry from the reality of the quiet, typically Amsterdam street you now stand on.
We’re back at the Singel canal. Cross the bridge. On the other side you’ll find a couple of more windows on Singel. A couple close to the crossing, both left and right, and 2 more, a bit further north along Singel close to the dome of the old Lutheran Church.
Well, that’s it. You've made a complete circuit of the Singel area.
You now have options:
Jump into the quiet bruin café ‘t Koggeschip at 43 Singel, on the corner. Lot’s of bric-a-brac on the walls, in the normal Dutch style. Here it is nautical theme. It's pretty nice we think, but always dead quiet. If you ever run into more than two other guests, then you will be breaking a record! During the summer they have a little terrace facing the grotty green urinal just outside---it may not, on a warm day be a very friendly place for your olfactory organs, but it’s actually a very convenient place to sit if consuming quantities of beer. This particular urinal, incidentally, holds a very special distinction---we can hardly ever pass by without feeling an overwhelming urge to use it. Over many years we have performed this ritual to the watchful eyes of the ladies, or transsexuals, who usually occupy the facing windows, hundreds, possibly, thousands of times.
And with that old familiar urge to take a leak, we now conclude this portion of the tour. Now that you know where all the windows are located in this area, we’ll leave it up to you how to spend your time. Bon Appetit!
The Pijp district
The name of the smallest of the three red light districts, the Pijp (De Pijp, in Dutch) comes from the long straight streets (straight as a pipe) in this section of Amsterdam originally developed in the late 19th century for working class and immigrant residents. Appropriately enough "pijp" is also Dutch slang for "penis". It is also the only one of the three districts where cruising the windows by automobile is possible, which you would see if you ventured here at night. By day, it's a quiet and relaxed district catering primarily to locals, where many a jewel can be found. You'll never see the drunken crowds of football revelers or hoards of tourists, or many non-residents for that matter.
The Pijp/Ruysdaelkade district is behind the Rijksmuseum, south on the Ruysdaelkade. Actually it's quite near Societe Anonymé, just a few more blocks up the Stadhouderskade. First of all, find your way to the Rijksmuseum. Proceed east (left) on Stadhouderskade a short distance, crossing the bridge and the canal, Boerenwetering. Take a right turn on the little brick walkway or continue on a bit further until you arrive at Ruysdaelkade, and then go right. Proceed south along Ruysdaelkade. The first street you'll arrive at is Eerste Jacob Van Campen Straat, followed by Quellijnstraat, Daniel Stalperstraat, Saenredamstraat, Gerard Doustraat, Albert Cuypstraat, and finally Gouvert Flinckstraat. Here it is; it's just up ahead on your left, facing the canal. 30+ windows, on multiple floors, plus a few windows down the sidestreet Gouvert Flintstraat.
If you proceed a bit further up Ruysdaelkade, passing Eerst Jan Steen Straat and Eerst Jan Van Der Heijenstraat, crossing the busy Ceintuurbaan, and strolling a bit further up Ruysdaelkade, you'll find 4 more, lesser known windows.
Features of note in this area are the Albert Cuyp open air market, the concentration of computer shops on Ceintuurbaan just around the corner from Ruysdaelkade, and further up Ceintuurbaan where it changes to Sarphatipark. The back entrance of the Rijksmuseum and the vast Museumplein is also nearby, at the beginning of this walk.
If you care to forego the walk, catch a tram at Centraal Station. Tram 24 routes up Centuurbaan, and arrives at Ruysdaelkade, practically at the doorstep of the Ruysdaelkade/Pijp RLD. Proceed north a short block up Ruysdaelkade. Tram 16 arrives at Albert Cuypstraat and Ruysdaelkade, in that case proceed a short walk south.
That's it folks! There ain't no more! Move along!
The