The streets at night
West runs on local time. The Ten Katestraat market opens early and packs away by evening, the long Kinkerstraat empties of shoppers after six, and the wine bars and brown cafés around the Jan Pieter Heijestraat keep a steady, low-key crowd until closing. After midnight the water of the Kostverlorenvaart lies black and still, and the loudest thing on the Hoofdweg is a night bus. On Sundays the market stays shut and Oud-West moves at the pace of a late breakfast. What matters for a booking is the building. The typical Oud-West walk-up has a street door opening onto a steep, narrow staircase shared by three or four flats, a bell panel with small and often faded labels, and walls that let a raised voice travel upstairs. In De Baarsjes the stairwells are wider but the doors identical along a whole block, so the house number and floor matter. Short-stay rentals often come with a key box rather than a host, which means you may be the only person who knows the door code. Send it by message once she is on her way, never in the first line.
