Where to stay in Amsterdam

The Jordaan is a former working-class district west of the canal ring that is now one of Amsterdam's most characterful places to stay, with narrow canal streets, independent galleries, traditional brown bars and the Anne Frank House on its edge. It suits travellers who want atmosphere and walking over convenience: the trade-off is price and a neighbourhood that is lively rather than quiet.

The Canal Ring is the 17th-century canal belt west and south of the old town, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010 as the largest and most homogeneous urban extension of its era. Staying here puts you on the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, among gabled canal houses, small house museums and the boutiques of the Nine Streets. It is the postcard address, and it is priced accordingly.

The Old Centre is the medieval core on both banks of the Damrak: De Wallen, the oldest and most notorious part of the city, on one side, and the Royal Mile running from Centraal Station through Dam Square to Kalverstraat on the other. It holds the Oude Kerk, the Royal Palace, De Nieuwe Kerk and the main shopping streets, and no other area puts you closer to arriving and leaving. It is also the loudest, most crowded and least residential place to sleep in Amsterdam.

Nieuwmarkt is one of the oldest districts in the city and its Chinatown, built around a market square that still holds a weekday food market, a Saturday organic farmers' market and a summer Sunday flea market. The 15th-century Waag stands in the middle of it, the Rembrandt House and the Zuiderkerk tower are minutes away, and the Zeedijk carries the He Hua Buddhist temple and the best Asian restaurants in Amsterdam. It borders the Old Centre without inheriting all of its noise.

De Pijp is the city's Latin Quarter, a haunt of creatives, students and bohemians since the 1960s and now one of the best places in Amsterdam to eat. The Albert Cuypmarkt runs through the middle of it, Sarphatipark provides the green, and Van Woustraat and Ceintuurbaan carry a mix of cuisines and café terraces. You trade the canal-house setting and the major museums for a neighbourhood that is lived in rather than visited.

The Museum Quarter is the elegant, well-heeled district around Museumplein, where the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk and the Moco stand within a few minutes of each other, with the Royal Concertgebouw on one side and Vondelpark on the other. Streets are leafy and lined with manors and luxury shops. It is the calmest central address in Amsterdam, and the least characterful.

The Plantage sits just east of the centre and is the greenest cultural quarter in Amsterdam: elegant squares and leafy boulevards holding Artis zoo, the Hortus Botanicus, the Jewish Museum, the Portuguese Synagogue, the National Holocaust Museum, the Resistance Museum and the H'ART Museum, with the National Opera & Ballet and Carré on its edge. The official description calls it spacious and very walkable, a deliberate contrast to the tightly packed canal ring.

The Eastern Islands are the old maritime quarter east of Centraal Station, where warehouses have been turned into contemporary venues and the water is never out of sight. NEMO, the National Maritime Museum, the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Arcam, Pakhuis de Zwijger and the bars and breweries of the Marineterrein are all here. It is modern Amsterdam rather than the postcard one, and it is quieter and cheaper for it.