Amsterdam's Best Brown Cafes

A former jenever distillery from 1786 on the most beautiful canal in the Jordaan — a tiny terrace over the water, low ceilings inside, candles in bottles. The most photographed brown cafe in Amsterdam, and it still deserves every photo

On the corner where the Prinsengracht meets the Brouwersgracht — blue Delft tiles, a potbelly stove, and a rumoured 17th-century tunnel to the house across the canal. One of the most atmospheric corners in the entire city, open since 1642

Open since 1670 on the Spui — journalists, professors, and writers have been arguing here for 350 years. Two sections: the older standing-room bar (1670) and a newer sitting room next door. Always full, always loud, always exactly right

The oldest bar in the Jordaan, open since 1624 — Westerkerk workers collected their wages here. One small room, no-nonsense, and a toilet with a pull-chain that flushes from inside the bar. Eccentric and irreplaceable

Possibly the smallest bar in Amsterdam — eight people make it full. In an alley off the Spui, open since 1798, with a collection of medical curiosities on the walls. The kind of place you tell everyone about and then struggle to find again

A former distillery near Centraal Station with 200+ beers on the menu — the brown cafe crossed with a serious beer hall. Fluorescent lighting replaced by something warmer, but the no-music rule and the carved bar fittings are original