Amsterdam's old working-class quarter, now its most densely packed eating-and-drinking grid, built around the long market on the Albert Cuypstraat.
De Pijp sits just south of the canal ring, a tight rectangle of nineteenth-century streets thrown up fast and cheap to house a growing city. The speculative builders cut corners, the blocks went up quickly, and the result is the close, narrow feel that still defines the area. Today it is one of the easiest parts of town to spend an afternoon eating and people-watching, anchored by the daily Albert Cuypmarkt and the green of the Sarphatipark.
Roughly bounded by the Singelgracht, the Amstel, the Boerenwetering and the ring; the Albert Cuypmarkt runs east to west through the middle.
The Pijp is mostly revolutiebouw, speculative housing built at speed from the 1870s onward when the city pushed south past the Singelgracht. Developers laid out long, straight streets and packed in narrow tenement blocks for workers and small tradespeople. The flats were small and the building was basic, which is why so many have been gutted and renovated since.
Look up as you walk and the nineteenth-century rhythm is still there: tall, flat brick facades, repeating windows, the odd decorative gable or piece of stonework where a builder spent a little more. The Heineken brewery on the Stadhouderskade, working from 1867 until 1988 and now the Heineken Experience, is the one large monument. It is a tour built for visitors rather than a beer pilgrimage, so judge it on that.
The reason to come is the Albert Cuypmarkt, running six days a week along the Albert Cuypstraat since 1905. It is a general market - cheese, fish, fabric, flowers, stroopwafels pressed while you wait - and it sets the tempo for the whole quarter. Around it sit the cafes and small restaurants that have made the Pijp a default for eating out.
When you need a break from the streets, the Sarphatipark is a short, leafy park a block south of the market, the local back garden. The Pijp is also one of the better areas to wander without a plan, ducking down side streets like the Gerard Doustraat and the Frans Halsstraat.
There is little to flag. The Pijp is a busy residential and nightlife area that stays comfortable late, and the main thing to mind is the ordinary pickpocket risk in any dense market crowd. Keep a hand on your bag on the Albert Cuyp at peak times and you are fine.
The Albert Cuypmarkt, the daily street market it grew up around, and the dense run of cafes, terraces and small restaurants nearby. It started as a working-class district and is now one of the city's main areas for eating and drinking, with the Sarphatipark for green space.
Stadsdeel Zuid, just south of the canal ring and the Singelgracht. Old Pijp, north of the Ceintuurbaan, is the busy part; New Pijp to the south is more residential.
Yes, especially if you want to eat well and stay near the centre without being in the tourist crush. It is safe, walkable and well connected by tram, and the Rijksmuseum and Museumplein are a short walk west.