Kosher Guide to Amsterdam

The Netherlands is in the Schengen area, so bring a valid passport (or a national ID card if you are an EU citizen) and a Schengen visa if your nationality needs one. Under the EU Entry/Exit System, travellers from outside the EU have their face photographed and/or fingerprints taken and passport details registered at the first border crossing; ETIAS travel authorisation is not yet in operation.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is about 7.5 km in a straight line from Buitenveldert. Direct trains run to Amsterdam Zuid in about 6 minutes from €3.70 and to Centraal Station in about 17 minutes from €5.50. From Amsterdam Zuid, Buitenveldert and Amstelveen are a short tram, metro or taxi ride away; licensed taxis wait in front of Schiphol Plaza and app rides use their own signposted pick-up point.

No. GVB trams, metro and buses cover the centre, De Pijp, Oud-Zuid, Buitenveldert and Amstelveen, and you can tap in and out with a contactless bank card or phone (capped at €10.50 a day on GVB) or buy a GVB day ticket for €10.00. Tram 5 stops at Van Boshuizenstraat in Buitenveldert, near the kosher shops on Kastelenstraat. Street parking in the city is expensive, so a car is rarely worth it.

Most of the community, its synagogues and its kosher shops are in Buitenveldert (around Merckenburg and Kastelenstraat), Amstelveen, the Rivierenbuurt, Oud-Zuid and De Pijp, while Chabad Central Amsterdam serves visitors from the Albert Cuyp Market in De Pijp. Four hotels serve a kosher breakfast ordered in advance: Aparthotel Adagio Amsterdam City South and ibis budget Amsterdam City South in Amstelveen, next to the kosher food court, and Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam - South and NH Amsterdam Zuid in Buitenveldert. NH Amsterdam Zuid has rooms on a lower floor with doors suitable for use on Shabbos. Hotels in De Pijp such as Sir Albert Hotel and Hotel Okura Amsterdam are close to Chabad Central Amsterdam and the Gerard Dou Synagoge.

Kastelenstraat in Buitenveldert has Meat Me Kosher, La Biss Kosher Street Food, Pizza & Co, the Rimon bakery and grocery, David & Mouwes and the kosher department at Jumbo Kastelenstraat. In Amstelveen, the Food Court Amsterdam City South at Professor J.H. Bavincklaan 5 has meat and dairy counters, and Bovini Kosher is a kosher butcher. In De Pijp there are Machane Yehuda and the Kosher Point supermarket on Albert Cuypstraat, La Basta – Kosher Street Food is in Oud-West, and the Jewish Museum Café serves kosher dairy food in the Jewish Cultural Quarter.

Most kosher restaurants and shops are under the Rabbinate of Amsterdam of the Jewish Community of Amsterdam (NIHS), and all meat in the restaurants under its supervision is glatt. The Dutch rabbinate also publishes a national list of kosher supermarket products.

Yes. The Jewish Community of Amsterdam (NIHS) maintains a city-wide eruv, restored in 2008, that takes in central and south Amsterdam, Buitenveldert and Amstelveen; Schiphol is outside it. The Rabbinate inspects it every week, and a green or red status light on the community's homepage shows before each Shabbos whether it is up.

Shabbos morning services include Lekstraat Synagoge (8:45 AM), Beit HaMidrash Etz Chaim in Buitenveldert (8:45 AM), the Raw Aron Schuster Synagoge in Oud-Zuid (9:00 AM), Sjoel Beth Shalom (9:00 AM), Gerard Dou Synagoge in De Pijp (9:30 AM), Chabad House Amstelveen (10:00 AM) and the Esnoga (Portuguese Synagogue) in the centre (9:00 AM). Visitors to the Esnoga's services register in advance through the community's application form and bring a passport for the security check.

Yes. Beit HaMidrash Etz Chaim in Buitenveldert has Shacharis at 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM Monday to Friday and 8:15 AM on Sunday, Mincha at 1:30 PM Sunday to Thursday and Maariv at 5:45 PM and 7:45 PM. Lekstraat Synagoge has Shacharis at 7:00 AM Monday to Friday and 8:15 AM on Sunday, AMOS has Shacharis at 8:30 AM daily, and the Esnoga has Shacharis at 8:15 AM on Sunday.

Chabad Central Amsterdam in De Pijp serves Shabbos meals by advance registration through its online form, and its Shabbat TO GO service delivers packaged meals for guests who stay too far to walk, ordered by Wednesday at 10:00 PM of the same week. Chabad on Campus on the Zuidas holds a weekly Friday-night Shabbat dinner by registration, free for Jewish students and young professionals in the Netherlands and €75 per person for visitors.

The kosher restaurants and kosher shops close for Shabbos: most close on Friday afternoon (Meat Me Kosher and La Basta at 3:00 PM, the Food Court Amsterdam City South at 3:30 PM, David & Mouwes at 2:00 PM) and stay closed all Saturday, and Machane Yehuda, Pizza & Co and Kosher Point are closed on Friday or close earlier. The Jewish Museum Café is open daily, including on Shabbos, and Jumbo Kastelenstraat, a general supermarket with a kosher department, is open on Saturday. The Portuguese Synagogue is closed to museum visitors on Shabbos. Plan Shabbos food ahead through Chabad's Shabbos meals or Shabbat TO GO.

The community mikvah is at Sjoel Amstelveen Beth Jitschak, Max Havelaarlaan 435, Amstelveen; women book an appointment by telephone on +31 6 1412 7911, and the visitor fee is €36. Men can use the mikvah at Sjoel Amstelveen or at Beit HaMidrash Etz Chaim, Merckenburg 3, in Buitenveldert.

Yes. The Portuguese Synagogue, the Jewish Museum, the National Holocaust Museum and the Hollandsche Schouwburg make up the Jewish Cultural Quarter, and a combi ticket for all four locations costs €30 for adults (a duo ticket for the synagogue and the museum costs €20), valid for one week. The Portuguese Synagogue is closed to visitors on Shabbos and Jewish holidays, when services are held. Anne Frank House tickets are sold only online, with visits released six weeks ahead.

Amsterdam is generally safe for visitors; watch for pickpockets in crowded areas and stay off the red cycle lanes. The emergency number for police, fire and ambulance is 112, and the police non-emergency number is 0900-8844 (+31 343 578 844 from abroad).