Guide to Amsterdam Nightlife

The Jimmy Woo Club opened its doors in 2003 in Leidseplein Square. The club quickly gained international fame due to its important and well-known guests. The club is also known for its interior design and sound. It won the “Dutch Design” award and was chosen as the club with the best sound in the Netherlands.

The club has two floors. The upper floor is the Asian-style lounge and bar area, with Indonesian wooden tables, Japanese lattice, and pink rice paper. Downstairs in the basement, there is another bar and dance floor. The low ceiling is covered with 12,000 light bulbs that produce light patterns for the music.

Warning: Not everybody gets in. Though it is not totally clear what the criteria are, Jimmy Woo has a strict door policy.

Local DJs are guests every week and play house and techno music in the popular and huge club. The Escape is one of the largest clubs in Amsterdam, with a capacity of over 2,000 people.

The programming is largely dependent on party organizers. National and international DJs regularly perform.

The Milky Way (Melkweg) is a huge club on the Leidseplein in Amsterdam that looks like a multimedia arena. Has two dance halls with different music. It has live performances by various DJs, and sometimes themed parties are also held there. On the weekends, it turns into a dance club. Unlike other places in the city, in Melkweg the emphasis is more on world music and not just dance and house. The crowd is mostly young.

The Paradiso Club in Amsterdam was built in an 18th-century church located near Leidseplein and opened in 1968. Paradiso is one of Amsterdam’s most well-known concert venues, with a large stage overlooked by two balconies and large glass church windows.

Despite its origins as a concert venue, Paradiso is very suitable for DJ performances, with the DJ positioned in the center of the dance floor. The place is divided into a main hall with a capacity of 1500 seats and a small hall with a capacity of 250 seats.

Every year, Paradiso hosts famous artists from all over the world.

This club is part of the unlimited access clubs included in the Amsterdam Entertainment Card.

The waterhole is a great hangout spot during the day as well. Kick back on the terrace, play chess or pool, or just have a frosty pint during happy hour.

It’s not an expensive bar, although there is a small entry fee, and you have to pay to hang your coats, but once inside, the drinks are affordable.

Once you’ve had your welcome cocktail in the lounge, you’ll be led through to the second room, which is chilled to a perfect -10°C. Your jaw will drop to the freezing floor when you first see the bar. They used 60 tons of natural ice to sculpt it into shape. The walls, the art, the furniture—in fact, everything, including your glass—is made of ice!

This lively cocktail bar in the center of Amsterdam has been nominated for international awards more than once. One of the partners of the place, the bartender Tess Posthomes, was nominated many years in a row for the best international bartender in the world at the Spirited Awards, which is one of the most sought-after awards in the beverage and cocktail industry.

The cocktails she makes are considered neo-classical cocktails, with many of them based on recipes that are at least 400 years old. This cocktail bar in Amsterdam holds more than 800 bottles in the softly lit back bar. It is also the largest back bar in the Netherlands.

One of the city’s best venues to listen to jazz in a relaxed atmosphere is Jazz Café Alto, located in the heart of Amsterdam’s entertainment area (Leidseplein).

Alto is one of the oldest and most well-known jazz cafés in Amsterdam. It offers live music for a wide audience every night, jazz but sometimes blues as well. A variety of artists, famous or not (yet), perform here.

If you like your music live and rocking, you’ll love The Waterhole on Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 49, just a few yards off the famous Leidseplein. The Waterhole can really pump up the volume and when you add in the spacious venue and good service, you’ve got yourself the perfect live music club.

Every Friday and Saturday, the venue hosts top local and international bands, while aspiring musicians should come along between Sunday and Thursday when they host their renowned life Jam Sessions Every day between 12:00–21:00 it’s Happy Hours in The Waterhole.