A converted gasworks turned park and culture complex on the west side, next door to the brick masterpieces of the Spaarndammerbuurt.
Westerpark is two things side by side: a long green park built over a former gasworks, and the Westergas, the gasworks' old industrial buildings now full of bars, restaurants, a cinema and event halls. Just north of it sits the Spaarndammerbuurt, a working-class district that happens to hold some of the finest Amsterdam School architecture in the city. Together they make an easy, low-key half-day a short ride from the centre.
North-west of the Jordaan; the Westergas culture park sits in the park, with the Spaarndammerbuurt and Het Schip just to the north.
The Westergasfabriek was the city's coal-gas works, built in the 1880s in a confident brick industrial style. When gas production ended the site was cleaned up and reopened in the 2000s as the Westergas, the old machine halls and gas holders kept and reused for culture rather than demolished, with a park laid out around them.
The real architectural draw is next door in the Spaarndammerbuurt. This is the home of the Amsterdam School: Michel de Klerk's housing blocks for the Eigen Haard cooperative, including Het Schip of 1919 to 1921, where plain workers' housing was turned into sculpted, curving brick. We cover it in full on the Het Schip page.
Westerpark is for an easy day rather than big sights. The park is a good walk or run, the Westergas has a strong run of places to eat and drink in the old industrial halls plus a cinema and regular festivals and markets, and the whole thing is relaxed and local.
Pair it with the Spaarndammerbuurt a few minutes north for the architecture, Het Schip and the streets around it, and you have a half-day that almost no first-time visitor thinks to do.
Westerpark and the Spaarndammerbuurt are safe, ordinary parts of the city with no real concerns. The park and the Westergas stay busy and comfortable into the evening on event days; on quiet days the area empties out but stays easy. Normal city care is all it asks.
A former coal-gas works in the Westerpark, on the west side of the city, whose nineteenth-century industrial buildings now hold bars, restaurants, a cinema and event and festival space. The park around it is a popular spot for a walk or a weekend market.
In the Spaarndammerbuurt, just north of the Westerpark, where Michel de Klerk's Het Schip and the surrounding housing blocks are the landmark examples. See our Het Schip page for the full guide.
Stadsdeel West, north-west of the Jordaan along the railway line. It is a short tram, bus or cycle ride from Amsterdam Centraal and walkable from the Jordaan.