Netherlands · Provincie Noord-Holland · Amsterdam
Weesp, Amsterdam — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Weesp is a small historic town within Amsterdam. It sits southeast of the city centre on the river Vecht, in the province of Noord-Holland, and the wide Amsterdam-Rhine Canal keeps it physically separate from the rest of the city. The town is known for its ring of old fortifications and for the Van Houten cocoa works that once operated here. It became part of Amsterdam in 2022.
About Weesp
Where to stay in Weesp
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Weesp suits travellers who want a quiet base near Amsterdam rather than a place in the thick of the city. Beds here are few. The compact old town puts you within a short walk of the waterfront, the Grote of Laurenskerk, and Museum Weesp.
Its cafes and canalside terraces make an easy evening, and frequent trains reach central Amsterdam in minutes for the main sights. For a wider choice of hotels, stay in Amsterdam proper.
About Weesp
What are the main landmarks in Weesp?
Weesp is dense with old monuments. Three churches mark the skyline, the Grote of Laurenskerk, the Van Houtenkerk, and the smaller Evangelisch Lutherse Kerk, all within a few minutes' walk of each other. Two small museums fill a rainy hour, Museum Weesp and the Weesper Automaten Kabinet.
The town's cocoa past is marked by the Oorlogsmonument Van Houten near the old Van Houten works.
What is the history of Weesp?
Weesp grew up as a fortified town on the river Vecht, its bastions, moats, and outlying forts guarding the water route toward Amsterdam. Several of those defences still survive. Cocoa gave the town its modern name, through the Van Houten works that pressed and milled cacao by the Vecht.
For centuries it stood on its own. That independence lasted until it was absorbed into the municipality of Amsterdam in 2022, ending its run as a separate town.
Where is Weesp?
Weesp lies southeast of central Amsterdam, wrapped around a bend of the river Vecht at the edge of the surrounding Vechtstreek grassland. The Amsterdam-Rhine Canal forms its western edge. Its old core is a grid of narrow streets, among them Hoogstraat, Kerkstraat, and Middenstraat, threaded by canals such as the Achtergracht.
Beyond the ramparts, open pasture runs out toward the wider Vechtstreek.
Good for
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Updated July 2026