The streets at night
The Leidseplein night has a distinct shape. From seven the theatre audiences arrive; from ten the bars take over; after midnight the clubs around the square draw queues that last well into the small hours on Fridays and Saturdays. The noise is concentrated, though. Walk two streets away, or simply turn onto one of the canals, and it falls off sharply. Hotel staff in this corner of town have seen every version of a late arrival, and a woman walking in calmly at two in the morning is by far the least remarkable guest of their shift. What visitors tend to underestimate is the crowd itself: on a weekend night the last few hundred metres through the square can take longer than the ride across town. Choose a quiet room at the back if you can, and tell us whether your window faces the square or the water.