Would a 13 year old be allowed into a brown cafe? Putting American values on alcohol aside, I know the Dutch are quite open-minded and expose their children to alcohol early in small quantities. I am not intending to buy her a beer, it is the experience that I want her to savor and what could be more Dutch than a brown cafe? Will this be permissible?

TTT

My guess is, during the daytime, if food is served, yes. Evening time when no food is served, no. This is what I saw in Munich, anyway.

Huny, I think it depends on whether the brown cafe in question serves food, and if there is an outside area-most brown cafes in Amsterdam do serve bar food, and if there is an outside area, I believe there would be no problem.

I am not sure however, whether a 13 year old would be allowed in a brown cafe that did not have an outdoor area or did not serve food. I believe in the UK a minor has to be 14 years old before being allowed into a pub, but obviously the Netherlands may be more relaxed about such matters. You'll just have to ask.

beer drinking age in Holland is 16 and rarely enforced in my experience - i just can't fathom this would be a problem at all in Holland. These places however are so smoke-filled i would not subject a child to that personally save for a quick quick look.

My friend lives in the Hague. The locals brought their children into the local bar all the time.

Most regular (brwon) cafes will allow minors. Almost all disco's, nightclubs and some cafes (mostly cafes where you can also dance after a certain time) have an age-restriction of 16, 18 or 21. But by my knwoing, there is no law to forbid a minor from going in to a cafe and it doesn't matter if there is food served, an outside terrace or such.

I would totally amazed if there weren't allowed in but again would not subject my children to all that smoke.