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Warmoesstraat Review

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Warmoesstraat

Address: Between Dam and Nieuwe Brugsteeg, Centrum, Amsterdam | Map It

Category: Neighborhoods/Streets
Location: Old City Center

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Fodor's Review:

This touristy strip of hostels, bars, and coffee shops began life as one of the original dikes along the Amstel before evolving into the city's richest shopping street (a sharp contrast to its fallen sister, Zeedijk). It's here that the famous 17th-century poet Vondel once did business from his hosiery shop at No. 101, and where Mozart's dad tried to unload tickets for his son's concerts in the area's upscale bars. It entered a decline in the 17th century when the proprietors forsook their above-store lodgings for fancier digs on the Canal Ring; sailors (and the businesses that catered to them) started to fill in the gaps. In the 19th century, the street evolved, along with its extension Nes, into the city's primary debauchery zone. Karl Marx was known to set himself up regularly in a hotel here, not only to write in peace but to ask for the occasional loan from his cousin-in-law, Gerard Philips, founder of that capitalist machine Philips.

Thanks to a recent revamp, Warmoesstraat is beginning to lose some of its Sodom and Gomorrah edge. Between the sleazier tourist traps, there are such hip hangouts as the Hotel Winston (No. 123); restful oases serving stellar quiche such as De Bakkerswinkel (No. 69); and worthwhile specialty stores, such as Geels and Co. (No. 67), with its infinite selection of coffees and teas. There's even a squatted gallery, the beautifully spacious W139 (No. 139), dedicated to the very outer edges of conceptual art.

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