The Royal Institute of Dutch Architects (BNA) has named the new railway station at the Bijlmer ArenA as Building of the Year for 2008. Designed by Jan van Belkum of Arcadis Architecten and Neven Sidor of the UK-based Grimshaw Architects, the...

The 17th-century church towers of Amsterdam’s Westerkerk, Zuiderkerk and Oudekerk have re-opened their doors to visitors for the summer months. At 85 m Westertoren is the tallest steeple in Amsterdam and offers stunning views over the Jordaan district and the old...

A court in The Hague has upheld the introduction by the Dutch government of an environmental tax on airline tickets. The move had been opposed by Schiphol and Maastricht airports as well as budget carriers Ryanair and the Dutch travel bureau...

The historic Royal Theatre Carré in central Amsterdam has been rescued from bankruptcy by a €4.3 million financial package from the Amsterdam city council. Founded as a circus venue by the Carré family in 1887, the building on the Amstel has...

Since 19 January shop windows in Amsterdam’s Red Light district have been featuring haute couture alongside the more traditional ladies of the night. The Red Light Fashion Project has installed top Dutch fashion designers in the 50 or so brothels recently...

The Dutch capital has emerged as the world’s most bicycle-friendly city following a survey by Virgin “Wired” based on criteria provided by the American League of Bicyclists. Making up 40 per cent of all Amsterdam traffic, cyclists in the city benefit...

Waternet, Amsterdam’s municipal water provider, have scored 8.4 out of a possible 10 points in the Netherlands’ tri-annual water benchmark research, confirming the capital’s water quality as the best in the country. Most of Amsterdam’s water comes from the river Rhine,...

The Stayokay youth hostel chain, which runs 30 hostels in the Netherlands, has opened its third Amsterdam hostel in a quiet neighbourhood to the east of the city centre. To celebrate the opening, the Stayokay Amsterdam Zeeburg hostel at 21 Timorplein...

The Dutch capital’s characteristic hash cafés have finally had to comply with central government legislation banning the sale of alcohol in coffee shops. Until now the flouting of the no-alcohol law by Amsterdam’s 44 hash cafés had been widely tolerated. However,...

The CityCargo consortium has begun feasibility trials for a cargo tram system in the Dutch capital using an old Municipal Transportation Company (GVB) tram. Potentially offering major advantages over heavy goods vehicles in terms of reduced pollution, reliability and punctuality, cargo...