Amsterdam/Zuid

Zuid (Dutch for South) is one of Amsterdam's seven boroughs. It is an affluent area and a popular place among foreign visitors. It has some of the country's best museums, fine dining, and lots of opportunities for shopping. It's also where many visitors sleep, as it has a plethora of affordable accommodation options relatively close to the city centre.

Understand
During the 1860s, when the Dutch economy grew rapidly, the Canal District became too small for the city's wealthy residents. Development of the Museum Quarter started, named that way because the upper classes of that time found this new area the perfect place for a grand national museum, the Rijksmuseum. The Museum Quarter is Amsterdam's equivalent of Paris' 1st arrondissement. With the later construction of the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum, the area now has three top-class museums side by side. The Rijksmuseum, affectionately nicknamed "Rijks" by the locals, is largely similar to the British Museum or the Louvre, and houses a treasure of Dutch Golden Age paintings from Rembrandt, Vermeer, and others. The Van Gogh Museum is the largest collection of paintings and drawings from the post-Impressionist master, while the Stedelijk Museum has an impressive display of modern art. Surrounding the museums are the Vondelpark and the P.C. Hooftstraat, where you can spot Dutch celebrities buying designer shoes and gold watches.

De Pijp was developed around the same time, and city planner Van Niftrik had grand plans for the area. Then known as "neighbourhood YY", it was planned to become the new city centre of Amsterdam. A railway line was supposed to cut the district in half, and Amsterdam Centraal, the city's main railway station, was planned here. The neighbourhood was envisioned with large residential blocks and grand avenues, and it was supposed to have a grandeur that equalled that of Paris. However, the city council struck the plan down, as required land purchases made it too costly, and large tenements were needed to house a growing working class. In 1876, urban planner Kalff came up with a new plan, which was accepted, and turned the neighbourhood into an example of revolutiebouw, a late-19th-century architectural movement dedicated to building as much cheap housing as possible for a booming population. Nowadays, De Pijp has gentrified, and blue-collar workers are slowly making way for students, yuppies and foreign-born residents. The Albert Cuyp Market, a large working-class street market, is a nationally famous attraction, and the area around the Heinekenplein is Amsterdam's equivalent of Paris' Quartier Latin, a going-out area for students and beer lovers.

The Museum Quarter and De Pijp are known together as Oud-Zuid ("Old South"). Between 1917 and 1927, the middle and upper-class neighbourhoods of Nieuw-Zuid ("New South") were built, designed by urban planner Berlage in the Amsterdam School style, a movement of functionalist architecture. The 1928 Olympic Games took place here, as can still be seen by the Olympic Stadium and the Greek names of the streets. In the following decades, Amsterdam kept expanding southwards gobbling up surrounding municipalities with neighbourhoods like Buitenveldert. Since the late 1990s, a large construction project has been taking place in an area known as the Zuidas (or "Financial Mile"). It's Amsterdam's central business district, inspired by La Défense in Paris. Yes, Paris again. While some of Zuid's urban planning may have been inspired by that grand city, it has a unique atmosphere and completely stands on its own.

Get in
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By car
If you are arriving by car, the best advice is to park it at the Olympisch Stadion (Olympic stadium) park and ride and use public transport to get around. The P&R costs €1 for 24 hours if you arrive after 10:00 (or anytime at weekends). Otherwise, it costs €8 for the first 24 hours.

By train


Trains from Schiphol to Amsterdam-Zuid take only 7 minutes and cost half of what trains to Centraal do, so if Zuid is on your list, you may want to begin there and make your way to the north.

By tram
Zuid is a vast district and just looking at a map of all the tram lines that go through it can make you dazzle. But it's not that complicated if you know the few lines that are interesting for visitors.


 * Tram 2 from Amsterdam Centraal serves the Museum Quarter with stops at Rijksmuseum and Van Baerlestraat (Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum).
 * Tram 4 from Amsterdam Centraal, serves De Pijp at stop Stadhouderkade, which is near the west side of the Albert Cuyp Market.
 * Tram 5 from Leidseplein, serves the Museum Quarter with stops at Rijksmuseum, Van Baerlestraat and Museumplein (Concertgebouw). This line continues to Station Zuid (Zuidas).
 * Tram 12 from Amsterdam Centraal serves the Museum Quarter with stops at Rijksmuseum, Van Baerlestraat and Museumplein. It also serves De Pijp at Ferdinand Bolstraat near the east side of the Albert Cuyp Market before terminating at Amstelstation.
 * Tram 24 from Amsterdam Centraal, serves De Pijp at stops Marie Heinekenplein and De Pijp (Ferdinand Bolstraat). It continues south to the Olympic Stadium (stop Stadionplein).

By metro
From Amsterdam Centraal you can take the new 52 metro direct to Zuid station via De Pijp and Europaplein, alternatively, you can take the 51 metro which goes past RAI and Zuid.



Museums
The Museum Quarter has some of the best museums in the world, and especially the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum stand out. A trip to Amsterdam is not complete if you haven't been to at least one of these museums. Catering to its wealthy demographic, there are also two diamond museums here.





Parks




Buy
The population of Zuid is mixed and that becomes most apparent when you're going shopping.



Eat
De Pijp is an excellent area for getting ethnic food that belongs to former Dutch colonies, such as Indonesian or Surinamese cuisine. Koreans have congregated in the area known as Buitenveldert, so that's an excellent location for Korean cuisine.

Sleep
Due to the area being cheaper than the center, Zuid has become the most popular location for budget and mid-range hotels.

Budget




Connect
The Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum have free Wi-Fi throughout the museum, and the Stedelijk Museum has Wi-Fi and laptop connections available in the reading room of its library. Bagels & Beans branches also offer unlimited free Wi-Fi access, and can be found in the Ferdinand Bolstraat (near the Albert Cuyp Market and Heinekenplein), Van Baerlestraat (near the P.C. Hooftstraat and Vondelpark) and the Pernassusweg (near the Zuidas).

Go next
If you haven't had enough of the museums, go to the Hermitage in Plantage and the Anne Frank House in the Canal District. The Canal District also has some quality dining and shopping options.

If you want to go completely off the beaten track, visit the urban forest Amsterdamse Bos in Amstelveen. It's three times the size of New York's Central Park and is visited by 4.5 million visitors annually (mostly locals). You can take a walk, hire a bicycle or go rowing or riding. If you're with children, visit the pancake restaurant or the petting zoo.