Haarlemmerbuurt — Amsterdam's tastiest shopping street

The Haarlemmerbuurt is really one long line: the Haarlemmerstraat begins a few minutes' walk west of Central Station and flows seamlessly into the Haarlemmerdijk, ending at the monumental Haarlemmerpoort with the Westerpark just beyond. Along the way, almost every door belongs to an independent: cheese ripeners, coffee roasters, wine shops, bakeries and a run of restaurants dense enough that locals simply call the street "the tastiest in town". It was once voted the best shopping street in the Netherlands, and the mix that earned the title — specialist shops, no chains to speak of, café terraces wedged between them — is largely intact.

South of the street runs the Brouwersgracht, routinely named among the city's most beautiful canals, connecting the buurt to the Jordaan; to the north lie the quiet Westelijke Eilanden with their wooden drawbridges and boatyards. That geography makes the Haarlemmerbuurt the natural walking route between Central Station and the Westerpark — and the best possible street to do it hungry.