★★★★★ 5.0
Discover
De 9 Straatjes
That shop sign above your head says "Wolf Street" - and you're standing where actual wolf fur traders worked 400 years ago! This tiny neighborhood called De 9 Straatjes wasn't even called that until 1996 when shopkeepers invented the name - and nobody liked it at first! But here's the crazy part: these nine little streets pack 140 historical monuments into an area smaller than your school playground, making it one of the densest treasure zones in all of Amsterdam's UNESCO World Heritage canals!
Did You Know?
- De 9 Straatjes (The Nine Streets) were originally named after the leather trade that thrived here in the 17th century, with street names like Huidenstraat (Skins Street), Berenstraat (Bears Street), and Wolvenstraat (Wolves Street) reflecting the artisans who once worked with animal skins—a unique historical detail that connects the area’s vibrant present to its craft-filled past.
- The neighborhood is a living architectural museum, with more than 140 national and municipal monuments, most dating from the 18th century, nestled between four of Amsterdam’s grandest canals—Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht, and Prinsengracht—offering a stunning showcase of Dutch Golden Age urban design, yet few original 17th-century buildings remain due to centuries of renovation and renewal.
- Though now world-famous, the ‘9 Straatjes’ branding and identity as a trendy shopping district was only created in the 1990s by a group of local entrepreneurs, who wanted to give the area a distinct allure and attract both locals and tourists—proving that even in a city steeped in history, modern vision can transform a quiet neighborhood into a cultural hotspot.