Cafeography
Amsterdam · Dam & Spui

Cafés in Dam & Spui

Dam Square, the Royal Palace and the Spui, with coffee on Rokin, Spuistraat and the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.

Photo: jpieterh ..., Pexels License

Amsterdam started here. A dam was built across the Amstel around 1270, and the settlement beside it first appears in a document from 1275.1 Dam Square lies about 750 meters south of Centraal Station and measures roughly 200 by 100 meters. The Royal Palace on its west side served as the city hall from 1655, and J.J.P. Oud's white National Monument to the victims of the Second World War has stood opposite since 1956.1

Damrak runs north from the square to the station along the old course of the Amstel, and Rokin runs south to Muntplein.1 The Kalverstraat, the city's main shopping street, also ends at the Dam.12 The cafés are mostly on the streets around the square rather than on it, with Rokin, Spuistraat and the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal holding the most.

Local tip: De Koffiesalon on Spuistraat opens at 07:00 every day, earlier than most cafés around the Dam; on a Friday, take your cup to the book market on the Spui.3

At a glance

49Cafés listed
11With opening hours
08:00Earliest opening
21:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Het Groene Paleis - Coffee and Bakery, from 08:00 (Mon–Sat 08:00–18:00 · Sun 09:00–18:00).
  • Closes latest: Bistro Berlage, until 21:00 (Mon–Tue 11:00–21:00 · Wed–Sat 10:00–21:00 · Sun 11:00–21:00).
  • Most common features: indoor seating (14%), toilets (12%), wi-fi (10%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Amsterdam.

Coffee chains in Dam & Spui

The Spui and the Begijnhof

The Spui was water until 1882, when it was filled in to make the square; until the 1420s it marked the city's southern edge.3 It has been largely car-free since a 1996 renovation. A book market sets up on Fridays and an art market on Sundays, and Het Lieverdje, a small statue given to the city in 1960, was the gathering point of the Provo movement in the 1960s.3

The Spui is also the way into the Begijnhof, a medieval courtyard of 47 houses. Het Houten Huys at number 34, from about 1420, is one of only two wooden houses left in the city center, and in 1671 two houses opposite the chapel were converted into a secret Catholic church.4

Café Hoppe, at Spui 18–20, began as a distillery and has a standing-room bar with sawdust on the floor beside a seated room with dark wood panelling.5 It opens at 09:00 daily and closes at 01:00, or 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.6

Coffee between Rokin and Spuistraat

De Koffiesalon at Spuistraat 281 keeps the longest coffee hours near the Dam, daily from 07:00 to 19:00. Hummingbird at Spuistraat 217 opens at 08:30 on weekdays, and De Drie Graefjes on Eggertstraat starts at 08:30 every day, with a second branch on Rokin. Lucy's, at Rokin 8, runs daily from 10:00 to 20:00, and Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters pours at Kalverstraat 31.

Two cafés come with a setting. Bistro Berlage, at Beursplein 1, is inside the Beurs van Berlage, H.P. Berlage's commodity exchange of 1898–1903, now used for concerts, exhibitions and conferences.7 Blue Amsterdam is reached by a glass lift inside the Kalverpassage shopping arcade and looks out over the city.2

A café is not a coffeeshop

Around the Dam, the two words lead to different places. A coffeeshop sells cannabis under the Dutch toleration policy, and tourists may buy there; a café or koffiebar sells coffee.8 Since 2023 using soft drugs in public has been illegal on Dam Square, on the Nieuwmarkt and in the Red Light District, with signs marking the zone, and smoking cannabis is not allowed in most bars and clubs either.8

Sources

  1. Dam Square, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  2. Things to do in the Paleiskwartier (Royal Mile), I amsterdam (updated May 22, 2025), accessed October 2026
  3. Spui (Amsterdam), Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  4. Begijnhof, Amsterdam, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  5. Best brown bars in Amsterdam, I amsterdam (updated August 14, 2025), accessed October 2026
  6. Café Hoppe, Café Hoppe, accessed October 2026
  7. Beurs van Berlage, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  8. Sex and drugs in Amsterdam: what are the rules?, I amsterdam (updated February 27, 2025), accessed October 2026
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In Dam & Spui, also browse: Specialty coffee Terraces Wi-Fi Vegan & vegetarian Brunch

FAQ

Dam & Spui cafés: questions

What happens on the Spui in Amsterdam during the week?

The Spui, a car-free square since 1996, hosts a book market on Fridays and an art market on Sundays. It is also the entrance to the Begijnhof, a medieval courtyard with Het Houten Huys, a wooden house from about 1420. Café Hoppe, a former distillery at Spui 18–20, opens at 09:00 every day.

Where can you get an early coffee near Dam Square in Amsterdam?

De Koffiesalon at Spuistraat 281 opens at 07:00 every day and closes at 19:00. De Drie Graefjes on Eggertstraat and Hummingbird on Spuistraat both start at 08:30, Hummingbird on weekdays only. Dam Square itself is about 750 meters south of Centraal Station.

What is the Beurs van Berlage on Amsterdam's Damrak?

The Beurs van Berlage is the former commodity exchange designed by H.P. Berlage and built between 1898 and 1903 on the Damrak. Today it is used for concerts, exhibitions and conferences. Bistro Berlage is in the building, at Beursplein 1.

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