Here’s a mini-guide selecting the most reputable Coffee Shops in Amsterdam to smoke in peace.
Visit Amsterdam, its canals, bridges, bicycles… and coffee shops! It has been 41 years – since 1976 – since the Netherlands, the first country in the world to decriminalize the use of cannabis. We have selected for our readers a list of the most reputable coffee-shops if you go to Amsterdam.
Things to know about Amsterdam’s Coffeeshops
In recent years, the public authorities have been trying to limit the number of coffee shops and thus reduce locals and tourists’ possibility to smoke freely in Amsterdam.
As such, the sales conditions for coffee shops are drastic:
No double cannabis/alcohol license: you can only sell one or the other,
Prohibition to sell hard drugs (cocaine, heroin, LSD, etc…),
All advertising is prohibited,
Prohibition to sell to minors,
Individuals must not possess more than 5 grams (sale for personal consumption only).
Even if you are not a heavy smoker, try it at least once if you go to Amsterdam, but ask the budtenders (the people who are allowed to sell cannabis) for advice; they will be happy to give you information pass it on. Their knowledge! Using vaporizers like the famous Crafty vaporizer (tested here) can help if you are not a tobacco person.
These are the places where you can smoke cannabis discreetly, inside a coffee-shop:
-The Dolphins
Address: Kerkstraat 39, 1017 GB Amsterdam, The Netherlands
A trip to Atlantis? No. It is a coffee-shop decorated in the way “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” A few hundred steps from the Leidseplein, we dive into the world of dolphins. This coffee-shop counts between €10 and €15 per gram to taste a small Dolphin Diesel, a Haze, a Kandy Kush, or a Northern Lights. You can also choose between four types of Moroccan hashish and one from Afghanistan.
-The Coffee-shop Club Media
Address: Gerard Doustraat 85, 1072 VN Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Here is a peaceful coffee-shop in the Pijp district where the emphasis is placed on hospitality, public welcome, and the quality of the products on offer. You will choose about fourteen varieties of hashish from 5 € to 60 € per gram and 19 types of weed. You will find the famous Super Skunk, the Kandy Kush, or the Blueberry for the Indica. As far as Sativas are concerned, the customer has the choice: Amnesia Haze, Super Silver Haze, Mango Haze… The place is a guarantee of a calm “fauna” with a good atmosphere.
-Amnesia
Address: Herengracht 133I, 1015 BG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
It will be easy to find it on the edge of the pretty Prinsengracht canal and a stone’s throw from the Grey Area: use your sense of smell. The closer you get to it, the more pungent the smell of weed in the surrounding streets. You can have a bite to eat – smoking cannabis often makes you hungry – but here, too, the menu has more weed and hashish than ready-made meals. The amnesia doesn’t cure customers’ disinhibition on a tight budget, but when you love, you don’t count!
-Barney’s Coffee-shop
Address: Haarlemmerstraat 102, 1013 EW Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Here is a very famous den for locals and onlookers. Despite four people’s inflated service, the wait at the counter is often long, and the room is crowded. You have to be patient, but it’s worth it: at Barneys’, they serve Utopia Haze and G13 Haze. Their herbs are known to be very powerful: less regular consumers, beware of the euphoric effects! The establishment is open every day from 9 am to 1 am.
Other reputable coffee-shops
To smoke in Amsterdam, you would need a complete guide to reference all the coffee shops. Nevertheless, here are a few to continue your smoking marathon:
The Siberia at 11, Brouwersgracht
The Green House Namaste at 345 Waterlooplein
The original Dampkring at 29, Handboogstraat (a symbolic place in Amsterdam since it was chosen to shoot a scene from the movie Ocean’s Twelve)
The Bulldog (The First) at 90, Oudezijds Voorburgwal
The Kadinsky at 9, Rosmarijnsteeg
The Abraxas at 12-14, Jonge Roelensteeg
The Baba at 130, Barentszstraat