Amsterdam/West

While often overlooked by foreign visitors, locals know that the west of Amsterdam has a lot to offer visitors. There's whole neighborhoods in unique 19th-century architectural styles, some of the best bars and clubs in Amsterdam, and the quickly gentrifying Oud-West. Administratively, the district consists of two boroughs, West and Nieuw-West, and Westpoort, a port along the IJ directly controlled by the municipal authorities.

Understand
Due to a strong population increase in the second half of the 19th century, Amsterdam needed to expand in a westwards direction from the city center. The first street that was built was the Vondelstraat in an area now known as the Vondelbuurt. It was designed by the architect Pierre Cuypers. It is an affluent street with stately mansions bordering the Vondelpark. The horse tram ran through this street from 1877 till 1903, but was then superseded by electric tram line 1 along the Overtoom just north of it (still going strong). Together with the Kinkerstraat, these streets are the oldest of the area and thus known as Oud-West ("Old West").

In 1921, Amsterdam absorbed the former municipality of Sloten. A year later, the Plan West was launched that proposed the construction of 6000 new houses in the neighborhood now known as De Baarsjes. They were to be built in the Amsterdam School style, an Expressionist style that was critical of the Neo-Renaissance style in which many buildings were designed before. Construction of the neighborhood took place between 1925 and 1927, and some areas were built in the contrasting New Objectivity style, such as the Mercatorplein by H. P. Berlage. The best examples of the Amsterdam School style can be found in the Spaarndammerbuurt, for example 'Het Schip' by Michel de Klerk in the Zaanstraat and Oostzaanstraat, which now houses a museum dedicated to the style.

The Westerpark was constructed in 1890 at the site of the city's former gasworks. It's a cultural hotspot for artists and students with hip cafes, eateries, galleries, clubs and an art house cinema. The Houthavens east of the park has some remarkable architecture: the Silodam, basically a giant horizontal Jenga tower on water, surrounded by the historical Graansilo and Stenen Silo, old grain silos built in the late 19th century. Sloterdijk is a booming business center and Intercity station with connections to Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Central Station. You can find excellent hotels here for affordable prices, but views will consist entirely of modern office blocks.

After 1950, construction works began on a large residential area west of the motorway A10. They were called the Westelijke Tuinsteden, but are now administratively part of the borough of Nieuw-West ("New West") and usually called out by that name.

By train
The line between Amsterdam Centraal, Amsterdam's main train station in the heart of its city centre, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol runs through the middle of Amsterdam-West. There are two stations on that line - Amsterdam Lelylaan and Amsterdam Sloterdijk. All trains between Schiphol and Centraal stop at both of them. Sloterdijk is a major interchange, situated on a railway crossing between the north-south line (serving all of North Holland north of Amsterdam and connecting to South Holland via Schiphol) and the east-west line between Amsterdam and Haarlem. Trains running to Sloterdijk through Amsterdam Centraal connect the station to much of the rest of the country, with some stopping at Lelylaan as well.

By metro
Metro lines 50 and 51 both pass westbound through Amsterdam Zuid station then turn northbound through the West district, terminating at Isolatorweg. Line 50 comes via Zuid from Zuidoost while line 51 comes via Zuid from Amsterdam Centraal Station in the city centre. Several metro stations with tram connections are: Heemstedestraat, Lelylaan, Jan van Galenstraat, Burgemeester de Vlugtlaan and Sloterdijk.



By tram
These are the tram lines serving the West district as of January 2020:

By bus

 * Bus 18 runs regularly from Slotervaart via Mercatorplein, de Markthallen, Frederik hendrikbuurt and Haarlemmerplein to Amsterdam Centraal station
 * Bus 21 runs regularly from Geuzenveld via Slotermeer, Bos en Lommerplein, Staatsliedenbuurt, (the beautiful) Frederik hendrikplantsoen and Haarlemmer Houttuinen to Amsterdam Centraal station

Museums




Parks




Windmills
Scattered over the district are plenty of windmills. Although only one of them is open to the public, all look good on pictures.