Jordaan

The Jordaan began as a poor artisans' and immigrants' quarter on narrow canals west of the centre, and its tight grid of small streets and bridges still gives it an intimacy the grander canal belt lacks. Today it holds brown cafés, hidden courtyard almshouses, the Noordermarkt on market mornings and a slow trade in small galleries and antiques. The scale is human: low houses, narrow water, geraniums on the sills. Walk it without a plan and let the side streets pull you off course.