Some trips are built around a hotel. This one was built around a concert: P!nk's Summer Carnival at the Johan Cruijff ArenA, on a Wednesday night in July. I gave Amsterdam five nights around it and, since hotels are my trade, split them across three very different places to stay: a no-frills base in Amstelveen for the concert, one night at Soho House on the canal ring and two in a loft at Zoku. In between came a night out on Reguliersdwarsstraat, a nightcap at Freddy Heineken's old local, the windmills of the Zaanse Schans and cheese on a conveyor belt in De Pijp.
Concert week: Amstelveen and the ArenA
Hotel Abina, Amstelveen · 3/5
A simple, family-style hotel above a busy café-restaurant in Amstelveen, south of the city, and a sensible budget base for concert week. The staff get warm reviews, the breakfast is popular and the café does generous plates: on the first afternoon I had a rack of sticky glazed ribs the size of my forearm.
It is a two-star hotel and reviews are blunt about it. Rooms are basic, some share bathrooms, soundproofing against the bar downstairs is poor at weekends, and cleanliness gets mixed scores, with an overall 6.5/10 on Kayak. Book it for price and convenience, not for design.
P!nk's Summer Carnival, Johan Cruijff ArenA · 5/5
The reason for the trip. P!nk played two nights at the ArenA, on 10 and 11 July 2024, with the roof closed, and I was in the Golden Circle on the first. The Summer Carnival set is pure joy to look at: a stage wrapped in neon arches and giant inflatable creatures in candy colours, a huge pair of red lips over the top, and a show built around the acrobatics she is famous for. The tour's set list opened with "Get the Party Started" and "Raise Your Glass" and ran through "What About Us" and "Just Give Me a Reason" to "So What". DJ KidCutUp, Gayle and The Script warmed up the crowd from 18:00, so it was a long, happy evening on my feet.
She sings better upside down than most people do standing still.
The practical side is less fun. Buy from the official seller if you can: resale fees add up fast. The ArenA is cashless and strict on bags (A4 size at most, no outside food or water), food and drink queues build quickly, and getting back to the centre after 23:00 can mean a crush at Bijlmer ArenA station. Golden Circle is standing from doors at 17:00, so wear comfortable shoes.
FEBO at the ArenA · 4/5
After the show, just before midnight on Johan Cruijff Boulevard: the Dutch wall of hot snacks behind little glass doors, card only. A croquette from a FEBO wall is an Amsterdam rite of passage, and at a few euros it was the best-value snack of the week.
On the canal ring
Soho House Amsterdam · 4/5
The Bungehuis is a 1930s limestone-and-granite trading office, later a university building, and Soho House has turned it into one of its best-looking houses: stained glass and ceramic banisters on the stairs, parquet floors, contemporary Dutch art, and a rooftop with a slim pool and views across the canal ring. In the room, the details are what I'd specify myself: a brass bar trolley stocked with full-size bottles, a recipe card for cocktails "made from your minibar" and blue-and-white china for tea, a five-arm chandelier with pleated shades, an ochre-tiled shower, and tall steel windows looking straight onto the canal.
But I booked a Tiny, and Tiny means tiny. It is the smallest room category in the house, and it isn't cheap for the size of the room. The house rules (no phones or photos in the communal areas, most floors members-only) apply to bedroom guests too. Book a Medium or bigger if the budget allows: the design deserves the space.
Taboo Bar · 3.5/5
Reguliersdwarsstraat is Amsterdam's best-known gay street, strung with rainbow flags, and Taboo is one of its friendliest bars: rainbow decorations, pop and Cher on the speakers, and fair prices. It was the first stop of my night out the day after the concert, and an easy place to start.
Time Out's verdict is that it lacks any "mould-breaking sparkle", and that's fair: it's a good neighbourhood gay bar rather than a destination, on a street that has lost some of its edge in recent years.
Freddy's Bar at De L'Europe · 4.5/5
My favourite nightcap of the trip. De L'Europe has stood on the Amstel, opposite the Munttoren, since 1896, and its bar is named after Freddy Heineken, who drank here and whose family owns the hotel. It's a gentlemen's pub turned grand café, with low lamps, deep seats, Heineken signs behind the bar and old-fashioned cocktails done properly. I came in at about 11 pm after a late walk past the lit-up Munttoren and along the Rokin; later, after midnight, Kalverstraat was hung with Pride flags all the way down.
It is five-star hotel pricing for a drink, and the live jazz nights draw a crowd. There are no reservations, so expect to wait for a table at weekends. The bar closes at 1 am (midnight on Sundays).
East: a loft by the Plantage
Zoku Amsterdam · 4/5
Zoku is a hotel designed for people who stay a while and work while they're there, and as a hotel person I wanted to see it up close. The rooms are lofts: the bed sits on a raised sleeping platform reached by stairs that fold into the wall, leaving the floor free for a four-seat table and a proper kitchenette, all in Muuto furniture. There are 133 of them, a rooftop garden with a greenhouse that supplies the kitchen, and a big communal living room with ping-pong, music and a 24-hour shop. It's a clever answer to the small-room problem, and guests rate the rooftop and the social spaces highly.
The standard loft is small, about 16 m², and for a two-night stay housekeeping only comes every other day. The building sits on a busy boulevard on the edge of the Plantage, so the canal ring is a tram ride away rather than a stroll.
Also on my walks
On the Friday evening I was up at Amsterdam Centraal, whose red-brick front is best seen across the water from Prins Hendrikkade.
Windmills and cheese
Zaanse Schans, Zaandam · 4/5
The windmills you picture when you think of Holland, twenty minutes from Amsterdam by train via Sloterdijk. The Zaanse Schans is a free open-air village of green wooden houses, workshops and working mills on the banks of the Zaan. I walked the dyke past De Kat, a paint mill whose history goes back to 1646 and which still grinds pigments for artists and museums, then spent the rest of the visit in a cheese shop stacked to the ceiling with yellow wheels, before walking back along Stationsstraat to the train.
It is firmly on the coach-tour circuit, so expect company on the paths; the gift shops all sell the same clogs and magnets, and each mill charges its own entry fee. Go early, and pick one or two mills to go inside rather than all of them.
Kaasbar, De Pijp · 4/5
After the windmills and cheese shops of the Zaanse Schans, I went to De Pijp for more cheese, and Kaasbar is the right place for it. Everything is Dutch, grouped by type (white, red, hard and blue), each cheese plated with its own garnish and a suggested wine. Sit at the counter and the cheeses come round on a little conveyor belt, sushi-style; sit outside for people-watching on the Ferdinand Bol.
It adds up quickly, which makes it a pricey afternoon snack. The conveyor is a gimmick you'll either love or roll your eyes at.
