In summer the temperatures in Amsterdam, like in any city, can get quite unbearable. Hire a bike and head for the green Bijlmermeer in the south-east of the city, only half an hour from the centre.

On summer weekends there is the Kwakoe Afro-Caribbean festival, which makes Notting Hill look like a family picnic. Football, food and kaseko and no multicultural pretensions.

When you get really hot and even the ginger beer don't work, take a dive in the sparkling clear waters of the Gaasperplas.

metro 53 or 54: station Bijlmer/Arena or Gaasperplas

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Open air food and music in Amsterdam's little known Afro-Caribbean area.
Friday: Amsterdamse Poort
Saturday: Ganzenhoef

Nearest metro stations:
Amsterdamse Poort: Bijlmer/Arena
Ganzenhoef: Ganzenhoef

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Something like the Dutch answer to Wetherspoons, this Eetcafe on the Spui enjoys a fair variety of Belgian beers and bar snacks. In the summer, sit out on the covered terrace and observe the daily battle between the trams and the cyclists - like watching a pack of sharks taking on a school of darting fish.

Spui 30
(0031) 20 6225110
www.beiaardgroep.nl/

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The cafe at the top of Metz Department store has amazing views over the skyline. Its on the sixth floor (there’s lift access too) and has windows on three sides. The views are incredible. Wide selection of tea and cake too. Well worth it.

455 Keizergracht (on the intersection at Keizergracht and Leiderstracht)

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Most people who visit Amsterdam see the canals but do not know that all these canals end up in the IJ, a large river that runs behind the central station.

For a different view of Amsterdam, walk out the back of the central station to the ferries. Take the one of the boats labelled Amsterdam North (free) and you will end up in the northern part of the city. Take the footpath to the right and after five minutes you'll see a bar/restaurant called the Wilhelminadok. From here there’s a fantastic view of the old city and when it's sunny you can sit on a huge terrace floating on the water.

Alternatively you can go out the back of the central station and to the right (along the waterfront) for about 10 minutes until you reach the new concert hall, Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, which also has a fantastic view of the city and the river.

www.muziekgebouw.nl;
www.wilhelminadok.nl

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Club 11 is situated on the 11th floor of what used to be a post sorting building near Central station.
It is a restaurant/bar/club which offers fantastic views of the city and the IJ river/port.

The food is reasonably priced for the standard you get. It’s a great club for dancing afterwards with a relaxed atmosphere.

Oosterdokskade 3-5; tel: 020 6255999; www.ilove11.nl

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On the top (11th) floor of the old PO building - a 60s tower block - 11 is a trendy restaurant and club. There’s not much choice with the food, but the two times I've been there, it was very good (other reviews I've read are more variable).

It’s more or less the same story with the music: its trendiness is not always a guarantor of reliability, but what do you expect? I got a good dose of spiky 70s/80s-influenced dance music both times. It may be boring to you, but it is a welcome variety in a city obsessed with trance and DJs who advertise themselves as the "#3 DJ in the world".

However, it's difficult for the food or music to compete with the visual: a panoramic view of Amsterdam (yes, you can be snarky about the fact that on the 11th floor you tower over everything in Amsterdam), combined with projections all around the room.

It's a weird 5 minutes walk from Centraal Station - along the docks. If you pass the giant floating Chinese Restaurant, you're nearly there. The entrance is rather unprepossessing, around the back of the building in a carpark that, the last time I was there, was still a building site.
Oosterdokskade 3-5; tel: 020 6255999; www.ilove11.nl

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