🌊 A different side of Amsterdam
Amsterdam Noord begins on the other side of the IJ, directly behind Central Station. For a long time, this part of the city developed quite separately from central Amsterdam. Shipyards, factories, workers’ neighbourhoods and old villages shaped the area, while the IJ formed a natural barrier between Noord and the rest of the city.
That changed gradually. The shipbuilding industry declined, former industrial sites found new uses and new neighbourhoods were built. Today, old dike houses and garden villages still exist alongside modern architecture, cultural venues and new residential areas. The opening of the North/South metro line made Noord much easier to reach, while the free ferries across the IJ remain part of everyday life.
For visitors, this means there is much more to Amsterdam Noord than one well-known attraction. You can visit a film museum, see the city from above, browse a local market, walk through green spaces or spend time in neighbourhoods where Amsterdam feels much more residential. This guide helps you choose what to see and how to combine the different parts of Noord.
Some links in this article are affiliate links, shared as practical options to keep planning simple.
EYE Filmmuseum
👁️EYE Filmmuseum is one of the first buildings you notice after crossing the IJ from Central Station. Its white angular shape stands directly on the waterfront and is already worth seeing from the outside, but the building is more than an architectural landmark.
EYE is the national museum for film in the Netherlands. Its collection contains more than 60,000 films, from early cinema and classics to cult films and contemporary work. Inside, you will find four cinemas, temporary exhibitions and a permanent presentation about the development of film and the moving image.
🎬 What can you actually do there?
The permanent exhibition, What is Film?, explains how film developed from its earliest forms to modern moving-image culture. It is spread across the building and includes historic film equipment and interactive installations. You can visit it with either a film ticket or an exhibition ticket.
The large exhibition space is used for temporary exhibitions that connect film with visual art. In 2026, for example, EYE is showing Eye(s) Open – New Perspectives on Colonial Film Heritage, with work based on films from Indonesia and Suriname.
And of course, EYE is also a working cinema. The programme includes new films, classics, retrospectives, festivals and restored films, so it is worth checking what is showing on the day of your visit.
☕ You can also visit without seeing a film
One useful thing about EYE is that you do not have to book a cinema ticket to enjoy the building. You can walk inside, look around the public areas and stop at EYE Bar & Restaurant, which has large windows overlooking the IJ.
The restaurant serves coffee, lunch, drinks and dinner.
📍 Address: IJpromenade 1, 1031 KT Amsterdam
🕒 Exhibitions: generally 10:00–19:00; check the current programme because Mondays and installation periods can differ.
🧭 Who will enjoy EYE most?
Choose EYE if you enjoy film, architecture or visual culture, or if you want an indoor activity that still feels connected to Amsterdam through the waterfront setting.
A’DAM Lookout
🌇 Directly beside EYE Filmmuseum stands the A’DAM Tower, one of the most recognisable buildings on the northern bank of the IJ. On the top floors you will find A’DAM Lookout, an observation deck with 360-degree views across Amsterdam.
From here you can see the historic centre, the IJ, the harbour and large parts of Amsterdam-Noord. The location directly opposite Central Station also makes it easy to see how close Noord is to the old centre.
👀 What is included?
A standard ticket gives access to the indoor panorama level and the rooftop Sky Deck. The visit also includes interactive binoculars and a free audio tour about Amsterdam’s history and the places you can see from the tower.
🎢 Extra experiences
On the rooftop you can add Over the Edge, the swing that moves back and forth over the edge of the tower at around 100 metres above Amsterdam.
There is also an Amsterdam VR Ride on the 20th floor. You wear a VR headset while sitting in a moving rollercoaster-style seat and virtually travel past different Amsterdam landmarks.
Both experiences are separate add-ons to the normal entrance ticket, so you can choose whether you want to include either of them in your visit.
🍸 Food and drinks with a view
A’DAM Lookout also has places to eat and drink at the top of the tower. The Sky Bar and Panorama Restaurant serve drinks, snacks and meals, and there are combination tickets that include food or drinks. Restaurant Moon, one floor below the Lookout, is a revolving restaurant with views across the city.
📍 Address: IJpromenade 4, 1031 KT Amsterdam
🕒 Opening hours: daily 10:00–22:00, last entry at 21:00.
🎟️ Travelglaze tip: Book your tickets online
🧭 Who will enjoy A’DAM Lookout most?
A’DAM Lookout is mainly interesting if you enjoy panoramic city views, photography or seeing Amsterdam from a different perspective. The swing and VR Ride add a more active element for visitors who want that alongside the observation deck.
Tolhuistuin
🌿Just behind A’DAM Tower lies Tolhuistuin, an 18,000 m² cultural site with a garden, concert halls, exhibitions, a restaurant and workspaces for around 30 cultural organisations. It is easy to miss because the entrance is tucked behind the buildings along the IJ.
The site has a long connection with this part of Amsterdam-Noord. The pavilion was once used as the canteen of Royal Dutch Shell, whose offices and laboratories dominated this side of the IJ for much of the 20th century. Today the building and garden are used for concerts, performances, festivals and other cultural events.
🌳 The garden
The garden is one of the few parts of the complex you can simply walk into without attending an event. In summer it is open during the day seven days a week. On weekdays it currently opens from 09:00 to 17:00, while weekend opening depends more on the programme and season. Free music, markets and performances are regularly organised in the garden during summer weekends.
Because the programme changes throughout the year, Tolhuistuin is worth checking before your visit rather than treating it as one fixed attraction.
🎵 Music, performances and events
The indoor spaces host concerts, theatre, talks, festivals and other performances. Some events require tickets while others, especially outdoor summer programmes, are free.
This makes Tolhuistuin different from EYE and A’DAM Lookout: there is no single attraction that defines the visit. What you can see or do depends largely on what is scheduled that day.
🍽️ Café-Restaurant THT
The pavilion also houses Café-Restaurant THT, overlooking the IJ. It serves lunch and dinner and can be visited independently from the cultural programme.
📍 Address: IJpromenade 2, 1031 KT Amsterdam
🕒 Restaurant: daily 11:00–00:00
🥗 Lunch: daily 12:00–16:00
🍴 Dinner: Sunday–Monday 17:30–21:00; Tuesday–Saturday 17:30–22:00.
Van der Pekstraat and the local side of Noord
🛍️ The Van der Pekbuurt lies just north of the IJ waterfront and feels much more residential than the area around EYE and A’DAM Lookout. The main street, Van der Pekstraat, has small shops, cafés and local businesses, while the nearby market adds more activity on market days.
This is a good part of Noord to visit if you want to see an ordinary Amsterdam neighbourhood rather than another major attraction.
🧺 Van der Pekmarkt
The Van der Pekmarkt is a neighbourhood market with fruit, vegetables, cheese, fish, flowers, clothing and household goods. It is held several days a week and is used by local residents as much as by visitors.
At the moment, the market is temporarily held at Mosveld while work is taking place around its usual location. It is expected to remain there until around April 2027, so check the current location before you go.
📍 Current location: Mosveld, Amsterdam-Noord
🕒 Market days: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
🛒 Small shops around Van der Pekstraat
Van der Pekstraat is not a major shopping destination, but it has several independent shops that make the area pleasant to explore.
PEK & KLEREN combines clothing for men and women with jewellery, home accessories, gifts and plants.
Dolzon, on Van der Pekplein, is a neighbourhood bakery known for bread and pastries and is an easy place to stop for coffee or something small to eat.
There are also second-hand and sustainable shops in and around the street, which fits the neighbourhood better than large international chains.
☕ Why include this area?
Van der Pek is not somewhere you need several hours for. It works best as part of a wider visit to Noord, especially if you want to combine the waterfront with a more everyday neighbourhood.
On market days, the area feels livelier. On other days, the shops and cafés are still there, but the atmosphere is quieter.
If you enjoy local markets, you can also compare Van der Pekmarkt with other daily, weekly and vintage markets in my Amsterdam Markets Guide.
Noorderpark
🌳 Noorderpark is the main green space in Amsterdam-Noord and sits around the Noordhollandsch Kanaal. It is less a sightseeing attraction and more a place where you see how Noord is used by people who live there: walking, exercising, meeting friends and spending time outside.
The park was created by joining the former Florapark and Volewijkspark into one larger area. Today, paths run along both sides of the canal, with bridges connecting the different sections.
🚶 What can you do there?
For visitors, Noorderpark works well for a walk between different parts of Noord. You can follow the paths along the canal, stop at one of the small pavilions or simply take a break away from the busier waterfront.
Several small cultural spaces are spread through the park. De Gele Pomp hosts workshops and neighbourhood activities, while De Roze Tanker is used for performances and concerts. The programme changes throughout the year.
At the northern end is Noorderparkbad, Amsterdam-Noord’s public swimming complex, with indoor and outdoor pools. This is mainly a local facility rather than a tourist attraction, but it can be useful on a warm day or when travelling with children.
🎪 Markets and local events
Noorderpark regularly hosts neighbourhood activities, small markets, performances and outdoor events. These are not held every day, so check the current agenda if you would like to combine your visit with something local.
📍 Location: around Floraparkweg and the Noordhollandsch Kanaal, Amsterdam-Noord
🚇 Nearest metro: Noorderpark, Metro 52
🎟️ Park access: free
De Ceuvel
Sits on a former shipyard along the water in Amsterdam-Noord. What makes it unusual is the way the site was transformed: old houseboats were placed on land and reused as workspaces, while the polluted soil underneath was treated with plants instead of being completely removed.
Today, De Ceuvel is a small creative and sustainable community with workspaces, events and Café de Ceuvel. The wooden walkways, reused materials, solar panels and houseboats still make the circular ideas behind the project easy to see.
🌱 More than a café
You can walk around the site and see how the former industrial ground has been reused. De Ceuvel regularly organises workshops, talks, community dinners and seasonal events connected with sustainability, culture and the development of Amsterdam. The programme changes throughout the year, so there may be much more happening than just food and drinks on the day you visit.
☕ Café de Ceuvel
The waterfront café is the easiest part of De Ceuvel to visit without planning around an event. It has indoor seating and an outdoor terrace, and serves food and drinks in the same informal recycled setting as the rest of the site.
📍 Address: Korte Papaverweg 4, 1032 KB Amsterdam
🕒 Current opening hours:
Monday: closed
Tuesday–Wednesday: 12:00–23:00
Thursday: 12:00–00:00
Friday–Saturday: 12:00–01:00
Sunday: 12:00–23:00
Opening hours can change, especially around events.
🧭 Who might enjoy De Ceuvel?
De Ceuvel is especially interesting if you are curious about sustainable design, circular cities and creative reuse, or if you simply want to stop somewhere that looks and feels different from a conventional Amsterdam café.
Buikslotermeer: everyday Amsterdam Noord
Around Station Noord lies Buikslotermeer, one of the more modern and practical parts of Amsterdam-Noord. This is not a historic neighbourhood or a creative waterfront district. It is where many residents shop, travel and arrange everyday things.
The area grew mainly after the Second World War, when Amsterdam-Noord expanded quickly with new housing and larger shopping areas. Today, the centre of the neighbourhood is formed by Boven ’t Y, a large shopping district next to Station Noord.
Boven ’t Y
Boven ’t YBoven ’t Y has more than 140 shops and a cinema, ranging from supermarkets and fashion chains to cafés, restaurants and everyday services. It is much more comparable to a modern town centre than to the narrow shopping streets of central Amsterdam.
For visitors, the main interest is not a particular attraction. Buikslotermeer shows what contemporary Amsterdam-Noord looks like away from the IJ waterfront and the older residential neighbourhoods.
Location: Buikslotermeerplein, Amsterdam-Noord
Nearest metro: Station Noord, Metro 52
Who might enjoy Buikslotermeer?
Who might enjoy Buikslotermeer?Buikslotermeer can be interesting if you like seeing the everyday side of a city or want to combine sightseeing with practical shopping. If your time in Amsterdam is limited and you mainly want historic or cultural sights, other parts of Noord will probably offer more to explore.
NDSM
🎨 On the western side of Amsterdam-Noord, NDSM is a former shipyard that has become a cultural and creative waterfront area. You can visit STRAAT Museum, see street art outdoors, browse IJ-Hallen when the flea market is on or stop for food and drinks by the IJ.
NDSM deserves more than a short paragraph, so read my NDSM Amsterdam guide for its shipyard history, street art, STRAAT Museum, IJ-Hallen, food and practical information.
📍 Location: NDSM-Plein, Amsterdam-Noord
⛴️ Ferry: F4 from Amsterdam Central Station
✨ Final thoughts
Amsterdam Noord is easy to explore without a car. The free ferries connect the IJ waterfront with Central Station, while Metro 52 takes you further into Noord towards Noorderpark and Station Noord.
That makes it easy to combine very different parts of the district in one visit: a museum or viewpoint by the water, a local market, green space or a more everyday neighbourhood further north.
The best choice depends on what interests you most. Amsterdam Noord is not one single area, and that is exactly what makes it interesting to explore.
Which part of Amsterdam Noord would you add to your next visit?
