De Pijp is Amsterdam's buzzing bar district, all terraces, cocktails and late tables. My personal guide to going out around the Albert Cuyp. Find your spot on NightFind.
By day the Albert Cuypmarkt is the busiest street market in the city. By night the same stretch and the streets feeding into it fill with bars, and the shift happens fast. As soon as the stalls pack up, the terraces take over. I like starting here because you are never more than a few steps from the next spot, so the night finds its own shape as you drift from one door to the next.
De Pijp does drinks properly. There are cocktail bars that take their menus seriously, natural wine spots for a slower start, and beer gardens like De Biertuin where a summer evening quietly disappears. This is not a shots and sprint kind of district, it is a settle in and stay kind of district. My advice is to pick a bar with a good terrace, order something you would not usually order, and let the evening build from there.
De Pijp does not really do big clubs, and that is part of its charm, but the night does not stop early either. Plenty of the bars run late into the evening, and when you want a proper dance floor you are only a short walk or tram from the clubs of the centre and the rooftop bars on the Zuid border. I treat De Pijp as the perfect first act, the warm up that decides whether the night stays cosy or turns into something bigger.
Weekends fill up fast, so if you want a terrace table in summer, come early or be ready to wait. The district is compact and flat, which makes it ideal for walking between bars rather than planning a route. And because De Pijp is a real neighbourhood, it keeps a friendly, local feel even at its busiest, so it is an easy place to end up chatting with strangers. Bring your appetite too, because the food here is as good as the drinks.
If your idea of a great evening is good drinks, great company and the freedom to let the night decide itself, De Pijp is your district. Browse every bar in De Pijp on NightFind, find a terrace that suits your mood, and see where the streets around the Albert Cuyp take you.
