CURRENT POPULATION: 743,000
% POP GROWTH: 0.5 %
CITY AREA: 219 KM2

CITY DENSITY: 4,452 INH/KM2
GDP PER CAPITA: €23,900
DIALLING CODE: +31

WITH FRIENDS
TRINIBAGO
1E VAN SEINDENSTRAAT 44A
TEL. 020 694 5836
This suprise of a restaurant is suffused with the air of the Caribbean and the scents coming from the kitchen add to the already sultry air. The creative dishes are tantalisingly spiced with the freshest ingredients – coconut, lime, pineapple and mango. Go on, give your tastebuds a treat!

ENTERTAINING A CLIENT
CASA DI DAVID
SINGEL 426
TEL. 020 624 5093
For many in the know Amsterdammers, this is the best Italian restaurant in town. Due to its popularity, it is often full on weekend nights, so it’s a good idea to make a reservation. With cosy canal views, superb staff and perfect pasta, you’ll want to move into Casa di David!

CLOSING THE DEAL
RON BLAAUW
KERKSTRAAT 56
TEL. 020 496 1943
Chef de patron Ron Blaauw is a master Michelin chef, whose magnificent menus have won international praise. The dinner menu is decidely decadent and includes an eight-course extravaganza along with a mouth-watering à la carte menu. Lunch is reasonably priced and delicious, and the service is very good.

STYLE
LUX
MARNIXSTRAAT 403
TEL. 020 422 1412
Lux has a style in and of its own. It’s sexy, sultry, even sulky in a ‘big-eyed pouty’ kind of way. Specialising in late openings, reasonably priced cocktails and old films, it’s a haunt you’ll want to try again and again.

RELAX
CAFE HOPPE
SPUISTRAAT 18-20
TEL. 020 420 4220
Cafe Hoppe has been an institution in the city for more than 325 years. Divided into two sections, the older half is a traditional brown café, with sand covered wooden floors, while the ‘younger’ side is slightly larger and plays music. It’s a great place for a quiet beer before a big night out.

MUSIC
FLEX BAR
PAZZANISTRAAT 1
TEL. 020 486 2123
In the ‘more trendy by the minute’ area of Westergasfabriek, this hip club boasts a great sound system and a fashionable clientele. The music lineup is ecclectic but interesting, so check the bar’s website to find out what’s on.

VALUE
ALP HOTEL AMSTERDAM
DE CLERCQSTRAAT 52
TEL. 020 612 1210
Situated in the less than hectic Oud West area of the city, this cosy, family-run hotel opened in the spring of 2008. All major tourist attractions and areas are easily accessible due to good public transport links nearby, and a short walk takes visitors to the Jordaan or Leidesplein areas.

BUSINESS
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL, CITY CENTRE
N.Z. VOORBURGWAL 5
TEL. 020 620 0500
Conveniently located five minutes from Centraal Station and Dam Square, this hotel features extensive meeting and executive board rooms that can hold up to 250 delegates. Along with its professional business centre, the hotel also provides other business facilities, including Wifi access throughout the hotel. If you’ve time to relax, there is also an indoor swimming pool, sauna and fitness centre.

BESPOKE
GRAND HOTEL AMRÂTH AMSTERDAM
PRINS HEINDRIKKADE 108
TEL. 020 552 0000
A beautiful five-star hotel in the recently renovated Scheepvaarthuis, this classic monument evokes Amsterdam’s Golden Age. The interior design, which blends in with the architecture, is grand and dramatic. Service is of an extremely high quality and the view over the river Ij is superb.

With more than 450 years of history as a brand, Lucas Bols is the oldest distillery in the world. At the Lucas Bols Cocktail & Genever Experience (www.houseofbols.com), visitors can explore the company’s wealth of history, stories and materials including learning how to taste a Bols cocktail and how to ‘slurp’ traditional Dutch genever.

Local English language radio and TV programme, The English Breakfast Show (www.englishbreakfast.nl), is on from 7-9am, Monday to Friday on 99.4 and AT1, and gives locals and visitors a full run down on what’s happening in the city plus news and weather.

The Hermitage Amsterdam’s current exhibition (www.hermitage.nl) is Caspar David Friedrich and the German Romantic Landscape, showing all the German artist’s works from the collection at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The exhibition also includes works by his contemporaries, predecessors and followers. It ends on 18 January 2009.

Rembrandt’s pocket-sized painting Jacob III de Cheyn (1632) is the world’s most stolen painting having been taken – and found – at least four times. Each time it has been returned anonymously. These days the Dutch treasure is hung in London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery (www.ulwichpicturegallery.org.uk).

WORDS BY KIM CHANDLER