Updated 19 September 2026
Amsterdam-Noord lies north of the IJ and for centuries was connected to the rest of the city only by boat. Until 1957, apart from the route via the Oranjesluizen locks, the only way across was by ferry. That distance long defined the district: industry on the water, garden villages for the workers behind it and plenty of space.
The ferries
The GVB ferries are still the quickest way across. They are free for pedestrians and cyclists. The ferry to Buiksloterweg leaves from behind Centraal Station and takes passengers to Eye and the Overhoeks tower in a few minutes. The NDSM wharf ferry, line F4, connects Centraal Station with the NDSM square and takes longer. Today there are five tunnel tubes under the IJ, including the one for the Noord/Zuidlijn metro, but for visitors the ferry is the best start to a day in Noord.
Overhoeks and Eye
Directly opposite Centraal Station lies Overhoeks, on the site of a former Shell laboratory. This is where Eye Filmmuseum stands, which opened on 4 April 2012 and has since become one of the defining buildings on the IJ. Next to it is the tower that used to be Shell's office and now has a lookout, a hotel and restaurants. More on Eye is in the section on photography and film.
NDSM wharf
Further west lies the site of the former shipyard of the Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij, NDSM for short. After the yard closed, the halls were taken over by artists, studios and festivals. The NDSM Loods covers 20,000 square metres and is more than twenty metres high; inside are workshops and studios. The site also holds STRAAT, a museum of street art, the Docklandshal and a former crane that is now the Crane Hotel Faralda. Studios and workspaces occupy the space beneath the old slipways.
The area is changing quickly. Between 2022 and 2034 NDSM-West is being transformed into a high-rise district with up to five thousand homes. Anyone who wants to see the wharf as a raw industrial site has good reason not to wait too long.
Nxt Museum
In August 2020 Nxt Museum opened in Noord, a museum of new media and digital art with large installations using light and sound. It fits the shift of Noord from industrial area to cultural district. The background of this art form is covered in the overview of design and media art.
Garden villages and dykes
Away from the waterfront, Noord is a district of garden villages such as Tuindorp Oostzaan and Tuindorp Nieuwendam, and of old dyke villages. Nieuwendammerdijk and Buiksloterdijk have wooden houses and a rural character, a few kilometres from Dam Square. Beyond them begins Waterland, with meadows, ditches and villages that are easy to reach by bike.
A day in Noord
A logical route starts with the ferry to Buiksloterweg for Eye, continues by bike along the water to the NDSM site and ends at one of the cafés or restaurants on the waterfront, after which the NDSM ferry returns to Centraal Station. On sunny days the terraces along the IJ are full, and around festivals the ferry can be crowded. For an evening in the city, the nightlife section has more on going out in Amsterdam.