Amsterdam Oost: parks, markets and the harbour islands
Oost is where this city relaxes. It is larger than the districts inside the ring and far less self conscious: a spread of nineteenth century streets, one great green park, two working markets and a run of harbour islands where the architecture becomes genuinely strange. People live here rather than visit, and the pace shows it.
For a traveller it is also remarkably easy ground. Amstel and Muiderpoort stations sit on the map, tram lines run straight in from the centre, and the ring road is near enough that a car reaches your door without meeting a single bridge.
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The character of the east
The Oosterpark anchors it, an English style park of ponds and old trees with the Tropenmuseum along its northern edge. West of that the Plantage keeps the zoo, the botanical garden and the widest, quietest streets in the district. The Dappermarkt trades six days a week, and the Javastraat behind it holds the kitchens that make this part of town worth eating in.
Further east the city thins into Flevopark, with an old windmill at the Funenkade, a brewery underneath it and a terrace that fills the moment the sun appears. Then comes the water: Java-eiland, KNSM-eiland and the Borneo Sporenburg houses, where the architecture argues with itself in a very entertaining way.
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Rooms in the east
Three kinds, broadly. Around Amstel station stand the tall modern houses where business travellers are usually booked, with the ring road at the door. Along the Oostelijke Handelskade and the harbour islands are the waterfront properties, bigger rooms and long views over the IJ. Scattered through the Indische Buurt and the Oosterpark edges are smaller places in converted buildings.
Receptions out here are informal almost without exception. Staff are young, the lobby frequently doubles as a bar, and somebody arriving in the evening is the least interesting thing that happens at the desk all day.
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Getting here
An hour from confirmation, often less. Trams 1, 3, 14 and 19 cross the district, the metro stops at Wibautstraat and Amstel, and the eastern islands are a straight run along the Piet Heinkade from Centraal. A car comes in off the eastern ring without ever meeting a canal.
The one slow stretch is the end of the working day on the Wibautstraat and the Gooiseweg. An early evening booking in Oost is the one worth arranging a few hours ahead rather than on the spot.
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What an evening here looks like
Small and good rather than grand. A Javastraat kitchen with eight tables, a terrace under the windmill while the light goes, then a walk out to the harbour islands, which are almost silent after ten. Laura suits the active version of that entirely, she is energetic and adventurous and would always rather walk to the next thing than order a taxi.
Sonya is calm, thoughtful company for a slow dinner and a park at dusk, and Tiffany has the eye for design and detail that the harbour architecture rewards. Everyone on the companions board travels out here, and the boarding steps are the same in the east as anywhere.
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Neighbours on the board
Amsterdam Centrum begins the moment you cross the Singelgracht, De Pijp is the next district southwest with a tram linking the two markets, and Amsterdam Noord is a short ferry from the eastern islands, which is the least known good route in the city.
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// Anything past the ring asks for a little more notice, and the desk gives you the arrival window in writing.
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