Amsterdam has a long tradition of café culture and nothing beats a few hours spent lounging in a grand café. Grab a magazine or newspaper, order your favourite beverage and watch the world go by outside the window. Amsterdam's grand cafés are spacious and stylish places to unwind.

Amsterdam's café culture

In the Golden Age, Amsterdam was the Europe's most important port for the tea and coffee trade. Perhaps this is where the Dutch love of coffee stems from. Visitors to Amsterdam soon discover that there is a distinct difference between coffeeshops (which sell marijuana) and cafés, which serve beverages and light meals. Try the local coffee specialty koffie verkeerd (meaning 'coffee wrong'), which is a milky coffee similar to a latte. Besides drinks, it's common for Dutch cafés to have a table filled with newspapers and magazines for their patrons to read.

Café Americain

Café Americain, located inside the famous Amsterdam American Hotel - Hampshire Eden, is the oldest grand café in the Netherlands, dating back to 1902. The building features a beautiful Art Nouveau interior with leaded-glass windows, enormous antique chandeliers, a collection of precious art and impressive murals. There's also an antique reading table with a good selection of magazines and newspapers, and the large terrace is a great place to soak up the summer sun on Leidseplein.

Café De Jaren

Amsterdam's grand café De Jaren tends to attract a younger crowd. Situated in a former bank building, the roomy, light-filled interior has a tiled mosaic floor, modern art on the walls and an impressive bar with a great selection of liqueurs and eau de vie. They serve meals, snacks and high tea. Perhaps its best feature is the spectacular outdoor terrace overlooking the river Amstel.

Café Luxembourg

Once hailed by the New York Times as "one of the world's great cafés", Café Luxembourg is a spacious Amsterdam café with a timeless interior. The parquet floors, marble bar and attentive, professional staff will transport you back to grander times. They offer plenty of delicious options for lunch and dinner and their reading table is stocked with international titles.

This is just a small selection of the spacious grand cafés found in Amsterdam. Why not head out on the town and find your own favourite?