You’ve heard of its scenic canals, bike-friendly paths, fine art museums, cannabis cafés and, um, red light district. But did you know Amsterdam also has some top-notch public parks? Located in and around the city these great green spaces, among them Vondelpark (pictured above), Westerpark, Amstelpark and Rembrandtpark, provide fine natural oases for strolling, cycling, picnicking, and admiring the spectacular public monuments and glorious Amsterdam art and architecture. We took a closer look at two of the ‘Dam’s most popular parks, so join us on an outdoor adventure as we compare the relative merits of Westerpark vs Vondelpark…
Westerpark
Name: Westerpark lies – wait for it – just west of the River Amstel.
Age and location: Westerpark was created in the late 19th Century, between the banks of the river and a new gas plant (the Westergasfabriek). Later decommissioned, the Westergasfabriek was designated a National Monument in the 1990s and became an official part of the Westerpark in 2003. The resulting expanded public space, a couple of clicks north of Centraal Station and the Anne Frank House, is around 35 acres in size.
Westerpark in brief: small when compared to near-neighbor Vondelpark (and indeed the impressive Amstelpark in the south of the city), Westerpark nevertheless packs a very mighty punch. An urban space in the best way, it promises hip food markets and festivals in summer and an opportunity to explore a cool combination of nature and industrial heritage for the rest of the year. There are wooded areas to explore, wading pools for cooling off, and plenty of art installations to ogle.
Top Westerpark Highlights
- Fans of industrial architecture will find much to enjoy in the former Westergasfabriek area of Westerpark. As well as being endlessly photogenic, this collection of buildings now contains a diverse range of bars and cafés, plus a cool arthouse cinema in the shape of the Ketelhuis. Other highlights of the former gas site include a century-old steel drawbridge and canal lock and pump.
- Also on the former gas site, there’s a large paddling pool (more like a wading pool, actually), where kids (and, yes, grown-ups too) can cool off on warm summer days.
- One of the major highlights of Westerpark is the proliferation of public art. As well as occasional temporary installations (and festivals), you can check out permanent sculptures including Mirjam Janse’s Gold in your mind, gold in your feet; Ronald Tolman’s Man on stool; and the untitled piece by Herman Makkink known locally as Bolbewoners, a thought-provoking piece featuring a pair of four-legged humanoid figures on a inclined hemisphere. In summer, a wedding-dress sculpture (Bruidsjurk) joins the party, drifting gracefully back and forth across the Westerpark pond.
How Family-Friendly is Westerpark?
There’s plenty of open space to entertain the kids here, with duck ponds, a muddy adventure playground and a small petting farm thrown in for good measure. You’ll also find a decent program of children’s films at the Ketelhuis cinema, which also hosts the Cinekid festival every October.
Vondelpark
Name: Nieuwe Park (New Park) was established in 1865. Locals started referring to it as Vondelpark a couple of years later, after a statue of 17th-century Dutch writer and playwright Joost van den Vondel was installed. The name stuck, and an Amsterdam legend was born.
Age and location: Vondelpark is Amsterdam’s largest public park and also its most central, located just west of the Museumplein, where arts enthusiasts can go wild at the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Moco Museum.
Vondelpark in brief: Vondelpark is a vast municipal green space, spanning a whopping 120 acres of prime urban real estate in the heart of Amsterdam. Not only the city’s largest, Vondelpark is also the ‘Dam’s most popular public park, drawing in something like 10 million visitors annually, a mixture of spliff-toting locals, and vacationers eager to nab those essential Insta-perfect selfies… in the rose garden, by the eye-popping concrete Picasso sculpture, or draped languidly over a picturesque Victorian footbridge. The park was designed by celebrated 19th-century landscape architect Jan David Zocher, expanded upon by his son Louis in subsequent years, and further developed throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
Top Vondelpark Highlights
- Some would say Vondelpark is worth visiting for the public art alone. And they’re not wrong. Chief among these sainted sculptures is the soaring concrete bird (or is it a fish?) donated by Picasso (yes, that Picasso) for the park’s centenary in 1965. You’ll also want to take a gander at the nine-foot-high bronze of park namesake Vondel. His imposing statue stands atop an equally elaborate pedestal by celebrated Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers, who also designed the nearby Rijksmuseum and Centraal Station.
- Admission to Vondelpark’s exceptional open-air theater is free, but you may still need to book some of the more popular summer shows, which run the gamut from classical concerts to stand-up comedy, contemporary dance, classic plays, and kid-friendly slapstick. Shows generally run between May and September.
- A fragrant 1935 addition to Vondelpark, the rose garden sits in the center of the park and boasts something in the order of 70 species. Particularly splendid in summer, you’ll find something to see (and sniff) here year-round.
How Family-Friendly is Vondelpark?
Vondelpark’s sheer size alone – crammed full with woodland trails, skating lanes and bike paths – makes it one of the best outdoor playgrounds in town for kids and adults alike. Recreational opportunities abound here, and there are plenty of great places for the little people to climb trees and play hide and seek within sight of parental picnic spots. There’s also a maze and several dedicated play areas for children, with some of the best featuring big old treehouse structures to scale and explore. Het Groot Melkhuis is where it’s at for sandpit fun, with yet another playground to help work up little appetites for lunch in the Swiss-chalet-style café.
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