Cafes

Modern Cafes

Amsterdam has many contemporary cafes that are neither brown cafes nor friendly watering holes (though many examples in both categories are acceptably trendy). You may hear some contemporary cafes described as "white cafes," as distinct from brown cafes. You may also hear talk of the "coke-trail circuit," though that's a bit passé nowadays.

Jordaan Cafes

The Jordaan is Amsterdam's iconoclastic working-class district. It has suffered from the depredations of gentrifiers, demolition experts, and cleaner-uppers, but still retains its distinctive style and preoccupation with itself. Cafes here are old-style, colorful, and working class (a bit like London's Cockney pubs). You might even take in a singsong of incredibly schmaltzy old Dutch songs about stolen kisses behind the windmill.

Smoking Coffeeshops

Amsterdam's reputation as a wild party town is in part a result of its tolerance toward cannabis. Yet the practice is technically illegal and only just tolerated. Local producers are allowed to operate so long as they don't go in for large-scale production. Individuals are allowed to be in possession of up to 30 grams (about 1 oz.) for personal use, but can only purchase 5 grams (about 1/6 oz.) at a time. "Coffeeshops" in Amsterdam are places where a customer can purchase marijuana or hashish. They are licensed and controlled and provide a place where patrons can sit and smoke all day if they so choose; they are not allowed to sell alcohol, and only some serve food (usually light snacks) -- but the coffee is not bad. Warmoesstraat, on the edge of the Red Light District, is lined with coffeeshops, making it a prime spot for coffeeshop crawls by bands of young tourists (they're usually dazed by the end of the evening, as you can imagine, so things are quite mellow).

Some notable coffeeshops: the Rookies, Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 145-147 (tel. 020/694-2353; www.rookies.nl); friendly Sheeba, Warmoesstraat 73 (tel. 020/512-3127); Borderline, Amstelstraat 37 (tel. 020/622-0540); and the brash Bulldog Palace, Leidseplein 15 (tel. 020/627-1908; www.bulldog.nl). Like the John Travolta character Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, you'll find it's mostly fellow tourists you'll be gazing at through the fug of bitter-smelling smoke in these places.

Toker's tip: Don't buy on the street. You stand a fair chance of being ripped off, the quality will be questionable, and there may be unpleasant additives.

For Women Only -- Amsterdam is very much a center of women's activism, and there are many women's centers around the city. Vrouwenhuis (Women's House), at Nieuwe Herengracht 95 (tel. 020/625-2066), has a cafe that opens on Wednesday from noon to 5pm and Thursday from noon to 9pm.