A walk through the Jordaan

The Jordaan doesn't have a single sight worth building an itinerary around, and that's the point. It's a former working-class quarter of narrow canals, cross streets, and courtyard gardens (hofjes) hidden behind unmarked doors, and the way to see it is to walk without much of a plan and let the cafes set the pace.

Start at the Noordermarkt and work outward

Start anywhere near the Noordermarkt and work outward. The streets are named after flowers and trees (Anjeliersstraat, Egelantiersgracht, Rozengracht) and none of them run long enough to get boring. Saturday mornings the Noordermarkt itself is worth timing a visit around: organic produce, antiques, and clothing stalls fill the square, and it's as close as the Jordaan gets to a single gathering point.

Where to stop along the way

• Winkel 43, on the corner of Westerstraat and Noordermarkt. The queue is for the apple pie, and the queue is worth it. Get there before eleven on a Saturday or the line stretches down the block.
• Café Hegeraad, directly across from Winkel 43: same neighbourhood, same apple pie tradition, none of the queue. A better bet if you'd rather sit than wait.
• Café de Tuin, on Tweede Egelantiersdwarsstraat. A proper brown cafe: dark wood, no menu to speak of, locals at the bar by early afternoon.
• 't Smalle, on Egelantiersgracht. One of the oldest cafes in the city, with a canalside terrace that's the best seat in the neighbourhood on a clear afternoon.
• Cafe Thijssen, on the corner of Noordermarkt and Brouwersgracht. The spot everyone spills into once the Saturday market wraps up.
• Bruno's, a short walk off Noordermarkt. No seating, just very good coffee to carry with you for the rest of the walk.

What to keep an eye out for

The Noordermarkt itself runs Saturdays for organic food and antiques, and Mondays for a smaller flea and fabric market, both worth planning a walk around rather than a walk into. In mid-August, the Grachtenfestival brings free and ticketed classical and jazz performances to canalside stages and private courtyards across the city, several of them in the Jordaan itself. Later, typically the third weekend of September, the Jordaan Festival takes over Marnixstraat and the surrounding streets with live music and food stalls, a genuinely local event rather than one built for visitors, and it's worth checking closer to the date since organisers tend to confirm timing only a few weeks out.

How to get there

Metro 52 is the quick way in. The De Pijp station is five minutes west of the hotel at the Ferdinand Bolstraat corner; two stops north to Rokin, then ten minutes on foot west across the canals and you are on Rozengracht at the edge of it. By bike it is about fifteen minutes and rather better, since the Jordaan is a place you arrive in gradually rather than step out into.

The honest version of a Jordaan walk: no fixed route, no must-see, just narrow streets, a courtyard garden or two, and wherever the next cafe happens to be.

Photo: acediscovery, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.