If you’re an expat in the Netherlands, and in Europe in general, you’ve been to Amsterdam. A lot. But which Amsterdam? There’s a very good chance you’ve completely missed that there are two Amsterdams. I know I did. Go out the front of Amsterdam Centraal train station and you’re immediately in Tourist Amsterdam … the canal cruises, the touristy shops, restaurants, the Sex Museum and, of course, the coffee shops.
That’s not a city. That’s a museum/adult theme park decorated to look like the set of a historic romance novel.
Go out the back of Centraal, jump on one of the free ferries on the IJ River and you end up in Amsterdam Noord that, though it has a charm deficit compared to Tourist Amsterdam, is a more authentic experience for those who’ve seen all the canal houses and Red Light districts they need to see.
We were in town for what’s dubbed as “Europe’s largest flea market” at IJ Hallen, part of our daughter Lale’s birthday celebration. (You know you’ve raised a kid right when they pick flea markets and vintage shops over a Hermès or Tiffany shopping spree.)
The flea market is once a month on Saturdays, so we got there a day early and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam North Riverside. We tend to go for boutique hotels, but this was where we needed to be and it was actually pretty nice, with larger rooms for a good rate. We got a 115 euro high season rate. With breakfast and taxes, the total was 153 euros.
Less Golden Age, more funk
After we checked in, we set out to explore Amsterdam North and Overhoeks. The area around the hotel is super-funky. The first thing we saw was the Kromhouthal events venue that’s in a converted factory, the place where a lot of the high-end automakers debut their new models.
We wandered around and finally walked out to the IJ waterfront and took in the perspective of seeing an Amsterdam a lot of tourists never see. Then we doubled back to the residential area to check out the Bunk Restaurant in the Bunk hotel.
This converted 1920s-era church was about as far from our generic Holiday Inn as you can get, with crazy rooms, pods in a hostel and a very young crowd. And – it goes without saying – a giant purple T Rex. Since our visit, I’ve been constantly fed Bunk’s quirky ads on Instagram, featuring a Peachy Feverr look-alike. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.
We had dinner in the Bunk Restaurant and I thought it was okay. I had the Caesar salad for 17.50 euros and Cheryl had the Bunk Beefburger for 14.50, which she rated as a 10. I had a large Uiltje Bird of Prey IPA (11.5 euros) and she had a Margarita that was excellent, but too tiny to justify the 12 euro price.
If you’re looking for atmosphere, this is the place, oozing style from the well-appointed dining room to the common spaces. If this doesn’t sound like your shizzle-dizzle, the neighborhood is filled with cafés and restaurants, almost all of which have terraces.
We strolled west down the pedestrian path along the Buiksloterkanaal and saw lots of unique houses and houseboats that suggested this is both an affordable center for creatives and a remanent from the hippie days.
The thing you notice the most is there’s so much new housing built or under construction. Block after block after block of high-rise apartments. I’ve been around the real estate game long enough to sense there’s a lot of overbuilding going on, which is bad for developers but good for expats and new arrivals.
The NL times has a post here about how the gap between rising construction costs and lower demand is affecting projects.
Expats are always on the lookout for places to live, and Amsterdam Noord could be the answer if you can live without a 16th century canal house.
Like Amsterdam Centrum, Jordaan, de Pijp, Westerbuurt and other authentic neighborhoods, there’s too much to see here in a couple of days. Lucky for you, you’re an expat and can return to check it out. We made notes to come back and check out some of the event spaces like Kromhouthal, which was next to our hotel, and more of the water front.
Now, about that IJ-Hallen flea market … it was vast and gave me an epiphany about modern life: We all have too much stuff. So, you see lots of expense clothes, accessories and whatnot piled up on tables for a what seems like miles. We all bought more stuff to add to the piles of stuff we already have.
Then we took the ferry over to Tourist Amsterdam for some Thai food. Be sure to check out NK Thai Noodles next time you’re in Amsterdam. Cheryl and Lale SWEAR it’s the best Pad Thai they’ve ever had. Ditto the Thai Iced Tea. The prices are reasonable and the staff super-welcoming.
Amsterdam is just like all the cities we love, from Antalya to Zagreb … complex and contrary. One of the greatest things about being an expat is that you don’t have to rush through the experience. That you can take time to explore and actually get to know places like no “if it’s Tuesday, this must be Brussels” package tourist ever will.
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Read more about Amsterdam here in Dispatches’ archives.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
