[title]
Each year, we quiz tens of thousands of people around the world to discover which particular neighbourhoods in their cities have totally nailed food, drink, art, culture and – in 2020, especially – community spirit and resilience.
The result is our annual list of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods, based partly on the responses of more than 38,000 city-dwellers in our annual Time Out Index survey (supplemented with the expert opinions of our global network of Time Out editors and contributors).
In a lot of cities, inevitably, you have several obvious contenders – making our final choice all the more difficult. We’re talking big, thrilling metropolises like Berlin, New York, Tokyo, London – and, of course, Amsterdam.
So which area was crowned the Dutch capital’s number one hotspot this year? In 2020, it had to be Noord, a thriving former industrial area a quick ferry hop from the city centre across the River IJ, which came 18th in the overall list.
Christina Newberry, our Amsterdam expert, wrote: ‘In the buzzing borough of Amsterdam-Noord, shipyards have become cultural playgrounds and wide-open spaces beckon young families, artists, brewers and entrepreneurs.
‘Its young creatives have built a flourishing community of multi-concept businesses, like the cinema-slash-waterfront restaurant at FC Hyena (now with added drive-in theatre), SkateCafe – where you can take a break from the half-pipe for a meal and a glass of natural wine – and the urban beach at Pllek, with its airy organic restaurant built from old shipping containers.’
Sounds like a pretty dreamy part of town, right? If you’re local, you may well have discovered the joys of Noord already. But for everyone else: you just got an incredible tip for your next place to stay in this fun, chilled-out, ever-surprising city.
Want to see the full list? These are the coolest neighbourhoods in the world in 2020.