Netherlands · Provincie Noord-Holland · Amsterdam
De Wallen, Amsterdam — Area Guide & Where to Stay
De Wallen is the oldest quarter of Amsterdam and the city's largest red-light district. It occupies the Oude Zijde, the eastern half of the medieval center, where two canals frame a web of narrow lanes. The Oude Kerk stands at its heart. Behind the windows along Oudezijds Achterburgwal, sex workers rent some three hundred one-room cabins, the trade for which the district is known worldwide.
About De Wallen
Where to stay in De Wallen
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Staying in De Wallen puts you in the middle of Amsterdam's oldest streets, a few minutes' walk from Dam Square and the central station. Few areas sit more centrally. Bars, coffeeshops and the window trade keep the alleys loud and crowded well past midnight, so light sleepers and families often prefer quieter canal districts.
Hotels here run from hostels above the bars to canal-house rooms near the Oude Kerk. Book here for nightlife and short stays, not for quiet.
About De Wallen
What are the main landmarks in De Wallen?
The Oude Kerk, Amsterdam's oldest building, rises from a square in the middle of the district. Steps away, Our Lord in the Attic Museum preserves a clandestine Catholic church built into the top floors of a canal house on Oudezijds Voorburgwal. The Sexmuseum Amsterdam sits on the Damrak.
At the edges stand bigger draws. The Church of St Nicholas overlooks the station, Dam Square carries the Nieuwe Kerk and the National Monument, and the Rembrandt House Museum lies just east of Nieuwmarkt.
What is the history of De Wallen?
De Wallen grew up as the harbour end of medieval Amsterdam, where sailors came ashore along the old sea dyke. The Oude Kerk dates from the early fourteenth century. After Amsterdam turned Protestant, Catholics could no longer worship openly, so a canal house on Oudezijds Voorburgwal hid a church in its attic, the building preserved as Our Lord in the Attic Museum.
Trade and vice followed the ships. Because the port drew sailors and the money that moved with them, the alleys around the Oudezijds canals became the city's window-prostitution quarter.
Where is De Wallen?
The district lies in the Oude Zijde. Damrak and Dam Square close it off to the west, while Nieuwmarkt square and the Geldersekade mark its eastern edge against the rest of the center. Two parallel canals, the Oudezijds Voorburgwal and the Oudezijds Achterburgwal, run north through it toward the harbour front.
Warmoesstraat, the city's oldest street, forms its western lane.
Good for
More areas in Amsterdam
Updated July 2026