EN
Nederlands
Français
Amsterdam Noord fills 2 days comfortably, and the free ferry from behind Centraal Station gets you there in under five minutes. The A’DAM LOOKOUT, Eye Filmmuseum, the NDSM shipyard, the De Ceuvel eco-village, the Van der Pekstraat market and a 21 km (13 mi) cycle into open countryside are all on the north bank, and none of them is crowded the way the canal ring is.
Most visitors to Amsterdam never cross the IJ, and the ones who do usually go to Eye, look at the view and come back. That is a waste of the most interesting borough in the city. This is the two-day itinerary I walked and cycled, with the current prices, because nearly every ticket on the north bank has gone up since this route was first written.
Day 1
The market on the Van der Pekstraat
The Van der Pekstraat is the spine of the Van der Pek neighbourhood, and a market runs down the wide pedestrian strip in the middle of it several days a week. The general goods market is on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; a farmers’ and organic market runs on Fridays; and Saturday adds second-hand goods and crafts.
Saturday also brings the Street Stage, an open slot where anyone can get up and demonstrate whatever they can do. Even with no market on, the neighbourhood is worth 20 minutes: rows of near-identical Dutch workers’ housing, very quiet, and almost no other visitors.
De Ceuvel
De Ceuvel is a former shipyard turned into a circular workspace, and it is the most interesting thing in Amsterdam Noord that is not a view. Houseboats were hauled out of the water and set down on the contaminated shipyard soil, between plants chosen to clean that soil, and connected to each other by a winding wooden pier that visitors can walk.
The boats house social and creative businesses. The site aims to generate its own energy and process its own waste, and it runs a programme of lectures, workshops, films, music and exhibitions alongside the day-to-day work. Walking the pier is free.
Café de Ceuvel has its own greenhouse and buys the rest locally. It brews organic beer, uses locally grown mushrooms in place of meat and makes its own soft drinks with a carbonation machine and natural ingredients, and the interior is built from recycled and reclaimed material. I had vegetable soup, jasmine tea and, for the first time, a vegan cake: the Yogie Blues, blueberry, coconut and cacao, which was far better than I expected and left none of the heaviness a sugar-based cake does. Opening is seasonal and currently runs Wednesday to Sunday from 11am, so check before you plan lunch around it. Korte Papaverweg 4.
The Noorderpark
The Noorderpark is Amsterdam Noord’s answer to a central park, a green rectangle in the middle of the built-up area, and it is a good 40 minutes after a long lunch. It is not only a park: cafés, event spaces, playgrounds, sports pitches, a swimming pool and a community building sit along the paths.
A’DAM LOOKOUT and the swing
A’DAM LOOKOUT is the observation deck on top of the A’DAM Toren and it is the borough’s headline attraction, with a 360-degree view over the city, the IJ and the port. The whole thing is built as an experience rather than a viewpoint: a green-screen photo on the way in, a sound and light show in the lift, then the open roof terrace.
On the roof you walk freely and shoot through gaps in the safety fence, with two raised platforms that let you see over it. There is a seating area for the sunset, a restaurant called Panorama with floor-to-ceiling windows, a rooftop cocktail bar, and a shop you exit through. The digital version of the green-screen photo can be downloaded rather than bought.
Then there is Over the Edge, a mechanical swing that throws you out beyond the edge of the building facing the centre. It is the only queue I saw anywhere in Amsterdam Noord.
A’DAM LOOKOUT prices
The prices below were checked in September 2026 and are higher than most guides still quote. Booking online saves €2 a ticket.
| Ticket | Online | At the door |
|---|---|---|
| A’DAM LOOKOUT entrance, adult | €16.50 | €18.50 |
| A’DAM LOOKOUT entrance, child | €10.50 | €12.50 |
| Over the Edge swing | €7.50 | €8.50 |
| Virtual rollercoaster | €7.50 | €8.50 |
The minimum height for the swing is 1.20 m (3 ft 11 in), not the 1.30 m older guides give. Every ticket includes a free digital souvenir photo and an audio tour, and combination tickets bundling the deck, the swing, the rollercoaster and a cocktail run from about €31 to €62 depending on what you include. Opening is daily, with last entry an hour before closing.
Three ways to book are below.
- Sunset access with a cocktail, which covers the evening slot.
- Standard A’DAM LOOKOUT admission.
- A combination ticket for the lookout and the swing.
Entry is also included if you get the I amsterdam City Card, which is worth pricing against single tickets if you are doing Eye and public transport as well.
Dinner at Café-restaurant Stork
Café-restaurant Stork is a fish and seafood restaurant on the north bank of the IJ, in a former factory hall with high ceilings and a great deal of space. In summer it puts out a large waterside terrace; at the end of October I sat inside, which is no hardship.
The service was the best I had in Noord, including talking me through a decision between two dishes. I had halibut from the oven with shrimp, beetroot pearl barley and a saffron sauce, then a white chocolate panna cotta with red fruit and almonds. The food came to €30.50 in 2018 money, so expect more now. Its website is restaurantstork.nl; an older storkamsterdam.nl address no longer resolves. Gedempt Hamerkanaal 201.
Sleeping at the Sir Adam Hotel
The Sir Adam Hotel is inside the A’DAM Toren, which means you can come down from the lookout and go straight to your room. It runs a design-plus-vintage register that could be tiresome and mostly is not.
Check-in comes with water and fruit, then a drink in the lounge above The Butcher burger restaurant on the ground floor, then a walk past a shop selling the things that are in the rooms, then you pick a record from the music library to play upstairs. Each lift runs its own light show, and the disco one is the one to hope for.
The rooms’ best feature is the window seat. I came back from dinner and sat in it rather than doing anything else. Late in the evening someone from reception knocked with camomile tea and a puzzle, and asked whether I wanted turndown.
Breakfast is at The Butcher downstairs, either included in the rate or added to the bill if you order. There is a buffet and a menu, and with breakfast included you take one menu item plus the buffet. Check prices and availability at the Sir Adam.
Day 2
Eye Filmmuseum
Eye Filmmuseum is across the street from the A’DAM Toren, and its white angular building is the thing everyone photographs from the ferry. It runs several screenings a day across multiple cinemas, holds changing exhibitions on films and film-makers, and has a bar-restaurant looking across the water at the city.
The Panorama hall downstairs shows pieces of the permanent collection covering the history of film-making. It is a small display and a good half hour if you have a ticket anyway. Eye’s collection runs to tens of thousands of films along with equipment and posters, weighted towards Dutch cinema.
Eye opening hours and prices
The exhibition is closed on Mondays, which the old daily-10am-to-7pm line hides. Current hours, checked September 2026:
| Part | Hours |
|---|---|
| Exhibition | Tue-Sun 10:00-19:00. Closed Monday except in school holidays |
| Cinemas and box office | Mon 18:00-22:00, Tue-Thu 10:00-22:00, Fri-Sat 10:00-23:00, Sun 10:00-22:00 |
| Bar-restaurant | Mon 18:00-00:00, drinks only. Tue-Sun 10:00-00:00 |
A standard cinema ticket is €13.50, with reduced tiers down to €2 for some groups, and supplements of €2.50 for films over 150 minutes and €5 for films over 210 minutes. Exhibition and combination tickets run from about €7.40 concession to €16.50. Eye is open as usual on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with adjusted hours on 31 December and 1 January.
An I amsterdam City Card covers the exhibition and discounts a screening. Get your I amsterdam Card here.
Eye is cashless, so bring a card. IJpromenade 1.
NDSM
The NDSM wharf is a 10-minute cycle west from Eye and it was one of the largest shipyards in the world from the 1920s to the 1980s. It is now an arts district: artists, designers, architects, restaurants, hotels and studios in and around the shipyard’s enormous sheds.
Large companies sit alongside the independents, and the results are odd in a good way. The Crane Hotel Faralda is a two-room hotel built inside a harbour crane. STRAAT, a street art and graffiti museum, occupies one of the huge warehouses and is the single best reason to cross to NDSM now. Sexyland World runs on a membership model with a different programmer each day.
Pllek is the place to eat here, a café and restaurant built out of shipping containers with a wall of glass facing the water and a large terrace and beach in front of it. The interior runs to old wooden tables, big sofas and a long bar, and there is an indoor balcony full of people working. It opens from 9.30am until 1am, and until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, with the kitchen running until 10pm. It also puts on live performances and film screenings.
I had the sandwich of the week, hummus and vegetables, and a green tea, for €10 at the time. The service was slow: I had to ask for a menu and the honey for my tea never arrived. It is still the right place for an hour by the water. Tt. Neveritaweg 59.
Pllek’s future has been in question and it is not closing yet. Amsterdam’s city council passed a motion supporting its continuation, with redevelopment of that part of the wharf expected around 2028.
Cycling the countryside north of Amsterdam
The cycle route out of Amsterdam Noord into open polder is the best thing on this itinerary and almost nobody does it. It is about 21 km (13 mi), flat, and it starts within ten minutes of the ferry. The three stops below are the route.
- Nieuwdammerdijk. Ride out along the Meeuwenlaan, stopping at the WH Vliegenbos woodland. Nieuwdammerdijk is a dyke street of small old houses with the traditional Café ‘t Sluisje and a little harbour on it.
- Durgerdammerdijk. Follow the Schellingwouderdijk onto the Durgerdammerdijk and into Durgerdam, a single row of wooden houses facing the water. This is the quietest point on the ride.
- Ransdorp. Stay on the Durgerdammerdijk until you can turn left onto the Durgerdammergouw, which leads to Ransdorp. Do not carry on onto the Liergouw: turn right onto the Dorpsweg, which takes you to the church. Cross the small bridge beyond it, stop in the middle and look back. That view is the reason to do this ride.
From Ransdorp follow the water back to the Schellingwouderdijk and into Noord. Adding Zunderdorp before you turn back adds about 1.5 km (0.9 mi). There are benches along the way and signposted national cycle routes crossing it if you want to extend further.
If you would rather be guided, this 3-hour countryside bike tour with windmills, cheese and clogs covers similar ground.
Renting a bike
Rent from MacBike at the IJ side of Centraal Station, which is 30 seconds from the ferry. A city bike with hand brakes and three gears was €22.75 for two days without insurance and €29.75 with it; expect those figures to have risen, and check the current rate before you count on it.
MacBike also has coaster-brake city bikes, tandems, children’s bikes, cargo bikes, e-bikes, touring bikes, wheelchair-transport bikes and three-wheel tandems, from shops around the city. They open daily from 9am to 6pm, closed on King’s Day (27 April) and Christmas Day.
How to get to Amsterdam Noord
The ferries from behind Amsterdam Centraal are free, run around the clock and take bikes, and that is the only way most people should get to Amsterdam Noord. Walk out of the station on the IJ side, which is the water side rather than the city side, and the ferry piers are directly in front of you.
Take the Buiksloterweg ferry, the middle one, for the IJpromenade, Eye Filmmuseum and the A’DAM Toren. A separate ferry runs to NDSM, which takes about 15 minutes and is a good trip in itself. The metro’s Noord-Zuidlijn also crosses under the IJ if the weather is bad.
If you are seeing more of the city, a 1 to 7 day travel pass is usually worth it: buy an Amsterdam public transport ticket here. Note that it does not need to cover the ferries, which cost nothing.
Amsterdam Noord FAQ
Is Amsterdam Noord worth visiting?
Amsterdam Noord is worth two days. It has the city’s best view from A’DAM LOOKOUT, Eye Filmmuseum, the NDSM arts district with the STRAAT street art museum, the De Ceuvel eco-village and open countryside 20 minutes from Centraal Station by bike, and it is far less crowded than the canal ring.
How do you get to Amsterdam Noord?
Take the free ferry from the IJ side of Amsterdam Centraal, behind the station. The Buiksloterweg ferry, the middle one, serves Eye and the A’DAM Toren in under five minutes; a separate ferry runs to NDSM in about 15. Both carry bikes and cost nothing. The Noord-Zuidlijn metro also crosses under the IJ.
How much does A’DAM LOOKOUT cost?
A’DAM LOOKOUT costs €16.50 for an adult booked online and €18.50 at the door, with children at €10.50 and €12.50. The Over the Edge swing is €7.50 online and €8.50 at the door, as is the virtual rollercoaster. Combination tickets run from about €31 to €62, and entry is included with the I amsterdam City Card.
How tall do you need to be for the A’DAM swing?
The minimum height for Over the Edge is 1.20 m (3 ft 11 in). Older guides give 1.30 m, which is out of date and would wrongly rule out a lot of children.
Is Eye Filmmuseum open on Mondays?
Eye’s cinemas, box office and restaurant open on Monday evenings from 18:00, but the exhibition is closed on Mondays outside school holidays. If the exhibition is the reason you are going, come Tuesday to Sunday between 10:00 and 19:00.
Where should you eat in Amsterdam Noord?
Café de Ceuvel for a sustainable lunch on the pier, Pllek at NDSM for a container café by the water, and Café-restaurant Stork on the Gedempt Hamerkanaal for fish and seafood in a former factory hall. All three are on this itinerary and all three are open.
WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips
The 5 tips below come from two days in Amsterdam Noord and from re-checking every price and opening time in September 2026.
- The swing’s minimum height is 1.20 m, not 1.30 m. That difference decides whether a seven-year-old rides. Nearly every guide to A’DAM LOOKOUT still gives the old figure.
- Book A’DAM LOOKOUT online and save €2 a ticket. Entry is €16.50 online against €18.50 at the door, and €10.50 against €12.50 for a child. Every ticket now includes a digital souvenir photo and an audio tour, so do not pay for the photo at the desk.
- Eye’s exhibition is shut on Mondays, though the cinemas and restaurant open at 18:00. The building is also cashless, so a card is not optional.
- The ferries are free, run all night and take bikes. Take the Buiksloterweg ferry, the middle one, for Eye and the tower. A travel pass is useful for the rest of Amsterdam and buys you nothing on the crossing.
- Do the Ransdorp ride. It is 21 km on the flat, it starts ten minutes from the ferry, and the view back from the little bridge past Ransdorp church is the best thing in this itinerary. Turn right onto the Dorpsweg rather than continuing onto the Liergouw, which is where people go wrong.
About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes on De Ceuvel, A’DAM LOOKOUT, Stork, the Sir Adam, Eye, NDSM and the Ransdorp cycle route come from the two days she spent in Amsterdam Noord. That trip was made at the invitation of Amsterdam’s city marketing organisation; the route and the opinions are her own. The team covers the Netherlands for independent travellers, including the hotels, restaurants, museums and bike routes worth booking, and updates this page when prices and opening hours change.
