Living in Indische Buurt, Amsterdam

The Indische Buurt was built from 1900 onwards on land the city annexed from the Overamstelpolder, in three waves, and its streets carry the names of islands and regions of the former Dutch East Indies. It runs from the railway line at Muiderpoort in the west to the Flevopark in the east, with the Zeeburgerdijk closing it to the north and the ring canal of the Watergraafsmeer to the south. The city divides it into a western and an eastern half, and the western half, the one this guide is about, is the end with the station.

What it is

Dense, flat and rectangular: four-storey brick blocks in a tight grid, built for workers and still built like it, with small flats and steep stairs. The Javastraat runs the length of the buurt and does the work of a high street, redesigned in 2008 and busy along its whole length. Javaplein is the social centre, Timorplein the cultural one, with Studio/K in an old school building, and Ambonplein anchors the southern end. This was one of the poorest parts of Amsterdam for most of the twentieth century, went through decline after the 1970s and then large-scale renewal, and the composition of the population changed twice: first when many original residents left for the suburbs and students, squatters and migrant families arrived, then again over the last two decades as social rental housing was sold off and the buurt gentrified. Both layers are still visible on the same street.

Who lives here

One of the genuinely mixed populations of Amsterdam, and the mix is generational as well as ethnic. Turkish and Moroccan families who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s and their grown-up children, Surinamese and Dutch households from the same period, students who came for the rent, and a steady flow of young professionals who came for the rent and then stayed. For a room-seeker the tenure matters: a large part of the housing here still belongs to housing associations and is let through waiting lists at rents capped by the national points system, while the converted and privately owned flats are where the shared-flat market actually happens. That is why supply looks patchy: it is not that there are few flats, it is that many of them never reach the open market.

What it's like during the day

Busy, cheap and useful. The Javastraat is a working shopping street rather than a decorative one: Turkish and Moroccan greengrocers, bakeries, fishmongers, phone shops, and a run of cafes and restaurants that has grown steadily. Javaplein has the terraces. It is not a pretty neighbourhood in the canal-house sense, but it is a practical one, and the Flevopark, four or five minutes east by bike, gives it a proper green edge, with the open-air Flevoparkbad on its far side. The Oosterpark is seven or eight minutes the other way.

What it's like in the evening

Lively without being a nightlife district. The bars and restaurants on the Javastraat, around Javaplein and on Timorplein fill up on weekday evenings with a young local crowd, and Studio/K runs film and music into the night. It stays neighbourhood-scale: you will not find the crowds of the centre, and after midnight the side streets are residential and quiet. Some blocks are livelier than others, which is worth checking on a Friday before you commit.

Getting around

The strongest argument for this half of the buurt is Amsterdam Muiderpoort, a full railway station three or four minutes away by bike at the western edge, with direct trains that put Schiphol and the rest of the country within reach without crossing the city first. Trams 14 and 25 run through the buurt on their way to Flevopark, and tram 19 has its terminus at Muiderpoortstation, so you have both a station and three tram lines. There is no metro. By bike, Centraal is fifteen to nineteen minutes and the Dam a little more, which is the honest cost of the cheaper rent: this is a real commute rather than a stroll, and in winter you will feel the wind on the way home.

Eating and shopping

Better value than almost anywhere central. The Javastraat covers everything daily, with supermarkets, greengrocers open late, halal butchers and bakeries. The Dappermarkt, a full street market, is about eight minutes by bike west. Restaurants run from Turkish and Moroccan grills through Surinamese roti to the newer wave of small kitchens along the Javastraat. If you cook, this is one of the cheapest and best-supplied buurten in the city.

When NOT to pick it

If you want quiet, charm or a short walk into the centre, this is not it: the buildings are plain, the flats small, the main street noisy, and Centraal is a genuine twenty-minute ride away. Some blocks still carry the reputation the buurt had before the renewal, and it is worth walking your street at night before signing. It is the wrong choice if you want canal-side Amsterdam or a five-minute commute, and the Plantagebuurt or the Czaar Peterbuurt would give you the first while costing far more. It is the right choice if you want space and a low rent inside the ring, a real shopping street on your doorstep, a park with swimming water at one end and a railway station at the other, and if you would rather live in a mixed working neighbourhood than a preserved one.