The Amstelkerk went up on Amstelveld in 1668 as a temporary pinewood preaching barn, and the stone church meant to replace it was never built. The timber hall is still standing 350 years later, alone in the middle of the cobbles, ringed by 46 Caucasian wingnut trees. On Monday mornings 30 plant stalls fill the square around it.
Amstelveld, the church and the Monday market
Plantenmarkt Amstelveld (Amstelveld) has run on the square since 1876, and today it sells plants and flowers only. The stalls are open-sided and packed with potted herbs, bulbs, ferns and cut flowers along narrow lanes, with the white wooden church rising behind the awnings. Hours are 09:00 to 18:00 and it costs nothing to walk through. Monday is the day the square works as a neighbourhood; come Tuesday to Sunday and you get an empty square.
Amstelkerk (Amstelveld) is free to look at and open to walk-ins whenever the hall is not in private use. From outside it is a squat square barn: cream-white painted wooden clapboard, a grey slate roof, tall arched windows. Inside is a white neo-Gothic vaulted hall. Stadsherstel runs the building and hires it out for receptions, concerts and private events, so check the agenda before you build a morning around it. Klassiek op het Amstelveld, the open-air weekend each September, is free with a reserved ticket.
Bridges and canal views nearby
Seven Bridges Viewpoint (Reguliersgracht) is two minutes from Amstelveld and the most photographed sightline in the city. Stand on the Herengracht or the Keizersgracht corner of Reguliersgracht and all seven humpbacked brick arches line up, each one smaller than the last, gabled canal houses either side. Go in the blue half-hour after sunset, when the string-lights outlining every arch come on and double in the black water. The shot comes from one spot on a working bridge, so stand clear of the cyclists.
Magere Brug (Amstel) is 300 m east of Amstelveld along Kerkstraat. A bridge has stood here since 1691, and the present white-painted wooden double drawbridge on timber piers since 1934, with counterweight beams overhead and hundreds of small bulbs along the railings at night. It is free, and has been pedestrian and bicycle only since 2003. It lifts automatically for boats, so expect short waits. Koninklijk Theater Carré and its domed facade sit directly across the Amstel at the far end.
Museum Willet-Holthuysen and Pathé Tuschinski
Museum Willet-Holthuysen (Herengracht 605) is a minute from the top of Utrechtsestraat and the one grand canal house in this pocket you can walk into. Louisa Willet-Holthuysen left it to the city in 1895, and it has stayed as a wealthy 19th-century home ever since. The facade is double-fronted 1687 with a sandstone neck gable. Rooms are in blue and gold Louis XVI style, there is a mirrored ballroom, and the basement kitchen keeps its copper pans. A formal box-hedge French garden hides behind the house. Open daily 10:00 to 17:00; €15 adult, €7.50 student and CJP, under-18s free. The staircases and rooms are tight.
Pathé Tuschinski (Reguliersbreestraat), 150 m from the north end of Utrechtsestraat, is a working mainstream cinema with the most spectacular interior in the area. The 1921 facade mixes Art Deco, Jugendstil and Amsterdam School under twin flanking towers. The carpeted foyer has peacock-patterned walls, stained glass and brass lamps, and the main auditorium is deep red and gold. Tickets are €14 to €18. The self-guided audio tour costs €12, sold per person, and runs from 10:00 before screenings start. Buy the tour if you want to see the royal lounge without sitting through a film.
Records on Utrechtsestraat
Concerto Recordstore (Utrechtsestraat) has traded on the street since 1955 and is the city's biggest and most-loved record shop. Four knocked-through shopfronts run most of a block, with wooden browsing racks under hanging sleeve displays, a worn parquet floor and a mezzanine of second-hand jazz and classical. New, used and rare stock covers every genre, and jazz and rock are the deepest sections. New pressings are €25 to €40. It is free to browse, open daily, and the four linked rooms absorb a crowd.
Eating on and around Utrechtsestraat
Eetsalon Van Dobben (Korte Reguliersdwarsstraat) has been open since the 1940s, just off the top of Utrechtsestraat, and is widely called the best croquette in the Netherlands. The room has white tiled walls, a long formica counter, swivel stools and a steel hatch to the kitchen, and the paper-wrapped rolls come over the counter. Order the broodje kroket with mustard, €4 to €6, and eat it standing up. Walk-in only, open daily 10:00 to 20:00, and 21:00 on Friday and Saturday.
De Juwelier (Utrechtsestraat 51) holds one Michelin star for the offal-led French cooking of Richard van Oostenbrugge and Thomas Groot: veal kidney, bone marrow, oxtail, pig's ear. The room is narrow and deep, a former jeweller's shop with dark panelling, a marble counter and bar seating facing a brass-and-steel open kitchen, Burgundy bottles ranked on the shelves behind. It was voted best restaurant of Restaurant Week 2026. Set menus run €75 to €130. It books out weeks ahead for weekend dinner, and anything above four people needs a call to +31 20 247 1007.
BUFFET van Odette (Prinsengracht 598) is the most reliable daytime eating in the pocket. Odette Rigterink has been cooking since 1994 and moved to the Amstelveld corner in 2011. The room is a bright white-tiled corner with big windows onto the Prinsengracht, open sandwiches and tarts on a marble display counter, and a handful of tables right at the canal edge outside. The menu is salads, grilled fish, cheeses and her own pastries. Lunch is €12 to €20, dinner mains €20 to €28. Open Monday and Wednesday to Saturday, 12:00 to 23:00, closed Tuesday and Sunday. The room is small, so book.
Café-Restaurant Meyer (Amstelveld) took over the old Brasserie NeL address and relaunched in early 2026. The terrace of wicker chairs and small round tables spills onto the cobbles under mature plane trees, with the Amstelkerk directly opposite, and the interior has banquettes and globe lights. The kitchen keeps recognisable dishes with global touches, mains €19 to €30, alongside a long wine list. It opens 09:00 to 00:00 daily, and to 02:00 on Friday and Saturday. Group lunches, dinners and celebrations are arranged on 020-235 8705 or [email protected].
Drinks and live music on Utrechtsestraat and the Amstel
Café Krom (Utrechtsestraat) has been unchanged since 1924. The walls are ochre-yellow and moss-green, with octagonal wooden tables, a curved neon strip over the bar and a glass case of old photographs and coins. There are 20-odd beers and jenever, with beer at €3.50 to €5, possibly the last working jukebox in the centre, and a resident cat named after the founder, Arie Krom. It takes no bookings, and it is one small room.
Bar Babar (Utrechtsestraat 135) pours a tight list of French, German, Italian and Austrian low-intervention and biodynamic wines, €7 to €12 a glass, with simple charcuterie and cheese on the bar. The blush-pink room is lit almost entirely by candles, with bentwood chairs, marble-topped tables and a chalkboard list. Open Tuesday to Thursday 17:00 to 01:00, Friday from 16:00, Saturday from 15:00, and Sunday 15:00 to 20:00. Walk-in only, no reservations, and the room is small: two or three people is the sweet spot and a party of eight will not fit. It is the best late drink on the street if you get a seat.
Mulligans Irish Music Bar (Amstel 100) runs genuine Irish traditional sessions most evenings, musicians playing in a corner at floor level with no stage. The pub is dark wood-panelled on the Amstel waterfront, fiddles and photographs on the walls, pints of stout on scarred tables. The Wednesday and Sunday sessions and the set-dance ceilis are the ones locals turn up for. Most sessions are free and pints are €6 to €8. Open Monday to Thursday 16:00 to 01:00, Friday 16:00 to 03:00, Saturday 14:00 to 03:00. It fills fast on session nights, so get there early.
Where to stay
Seven Bridges Hotel (Reguliersgracht 31) occupies two restored 1720 canal houses beside the seven-bridge view it is named for. It has eight rooms furnished with antiques, Persian rugs and Art Deco pieces, reached by steep narrow Dutch staircases. Breakfast arrives in the room on a silver tray. Doubles are €180 to €280. There is no lift and no lobby, and the hotel has no public spaces at all. Book direct and well ahead. Its own website currently has an expired security certificate, so book by phone or email if your browser balks.
Hotel V Frederiksplein (Weteringschans 136) is the practical base for this pocket, right at the Frederiksplein tram stop at the southern end of Utrechtsestraat. The townhouse lounge is dark-toned and built around a freestanding 360-degree circular fireplace, and the rooms have dark wood and leather, Auping beds and walk-in rain showers, with bicycles parked out front. Doubles are €160 to €250, and the 38 to 48 m² loft apartments with kitchenettes in the building next door cost more. The hotel is Golden Green Key certified, five minutes' walk from both the canals and De Pijp. There is no restaurant, and coffee and tea are free all day. For other beds nearby, compare the Amsterdam hotel search.
Practical notes
The market is Monday only, BUFFET van Odette closes Tuesday and Sunday, and the Amstelkerk can be shut for a private hire, so check the agenda the week before. Book De Juwelier weeks ahead for a weekend table, reserve a free ticket for the September concerts, and contact Seven Bridges Hotel by phone or email.
See the Amsterdam guide for the rest of the city.
Questions
When is the plant market on Amstelveld?
Monday, 09:00 to 18:00. A market has run on the square since 1876, and the stalls now sell only plants and flowers. On any other day the square is empty.
Can you go inside the Amstelkerk?
Yes, when the hall is not in private use, and there is no charge to look. Stadsherstel hires it out for receptions and concerts, so check the agenda first. The open-air Klassiek op het Amstelveld weekend each September is free with a reserved ticket.
Where do you stand for the seven bridges view?
On the Herengracht or the Keizersgracht corner of Reguliersgracht, two minutes from Amstelveld. All seven arches line up from that one spot. Go in the blue half-hour after sunset, when the arch lights come on.
What happened to Brasserie NeL on Amstelveld?
Cafe-Restaurant Meyer opened at the address in early 2026 and kept the terrace under the trees facing the Amstelkerk. It opens 09:00 to 00:00 daily, and to 02:00 on Friday and Saturday, with mains at €19 to €30.
Which places here need booking ahead?
De Juwelier books out weeks ahead for weekend dinner, and parties above four need a call to +31 20 247 1007. BUFFET van Odette has a small room, so book ahead, and it closes Tuesday and Sunday. Bar Babar and Cafe Krom do not take reservations.
First published on amsterdamcitybreaks.com, the Amsterdam guide.