Park

Amsterdam’s parks are part of the city’s design rather than an afterthought. Vondelpark (47 hectares between Museumplein and Oud-West) opened in 1865 as the Netherlands’ first English-style landscape park; Westerpark wraps a 19th-century gasworks turned cultural complex; Oosterpark was the first park laid out by the city itself, in 1891; Sarphatipark anchors De Pijp; and Amsterdamse Bos to the south spans nearly 1,000 hectares — three times the size of New York’s Central Park. This archive collects them all, plus the smaller green pockets locals actually use: hofjes, garden squares, the IJ-front parks in Noord, and the Plantage gardens between Artis and Hortus Botanicus. Each listing notes opening hours, cycling access, and the best café or food kiosk on-site.