Amsterdam has more English-language bookshops than any other non-English-speaking city in Europe, and most of the good ones sit within ten minutes’ walk of each other.
Here they are with addresses, what each is actually strong at, and which to skip if your time is short.
1) Scheltema
Rokin 9, a few minutes north of Muntplein.
Scheltema is the largest bookshop in the Netherlands, spread over several floors labelled by subject.
The English section is substantial and properly organised, covering fiction, history, business, philosophy and a deep children’s range.
Because of the size, it is the one shop here where you can reasonably expect to find a specific title in stock.
It is run by the same group as Athenaeum, so if one does not have a book the other often will.
Allow an hour if you intend to browse rather than buy.
2) Athenaeum Boekhandel
Spui 14-16, on the square that has hosted a book market every Friday for decades.
The curved glass frontage and the internal mezzanines make it the most interesting building of the eight to be inside.
Its real strength is the ground-floor magazine wall: international titles on architecture, art, fashion and politics, including back issues.
The English literature section sits toward the back and there is a French-language selection upstairs.
This is the shop to go to when you do not know what you want.
3) The American Book Center
Spui 12, directly across the square from Athenaeum.
Family-owned since 1972 and entirely English-language, with a spiral staircase running up through floors organised by genre.
Staff picks are flagged with “ABC Favourite” stickers, which is the fastest shortcut in any bookshop in the city.
There are armchairs, a small coffee counter, and Betty the Bookmaking Machine, a print-on-demand press that will produce a bound copy of your own manuscript while you wait.
It is dog-friendly and every purchase comes with a free literary magazine.
If you only enter one English bookshop in Amsterdam, make it this one.
4) Waterstones Amsterdam
Kalverstraat 152, open 10:00 to 19:00, in the middle of the busiest shopping street in the city.
It is the British chain’s only Dutch branch and stocks almost entirely English titles.
The range leans commercial: new fiction, nonfiction bestsellers, travel guides and gift hardbacks.
What it offers over the independents is predictability - if a book was published in the UK last month, it will be on a table near the door.
Go here for a specific new release, not for browsing.
5) The Book Exchange
Kloveniersburgwal 58, trading since 1978 and the cheapest books in this guide by a wide margin.
Three floors of secondhand English paperbacks and hardbacks, alphabetised, with the cellar given over to science fiction and fantasy.
New English paperbacks in Amsterdam typically run €11 to €13, so a shop selling the same titles used is worth the detour if you read fast.
Stock turns over constantly, which means it rewards a second visit later in the same trip.
They buy as well as sell, so you can offload what you finish.
6) Het Martyrium
Van Baerlestraat 170-172 in Oud-Zuid, a few doors from the Concertgebouw and well away from the tourist route.
The stock is weighted to literature, philosophy, religion and the humanities.
Most of it is Dutch, with a smaller English selection, so judge it on subject rather than language.
It runs readings and book discussions for a regular local audience.
Worth combining with a concert or a Museumplein morning rather than travelling for on its own.
7) Pantheon Boekhandel
Sint Antoniesbreestraat 132-134, two minutes from the Rembrandt House Museum.
Literature, art, history and social sciences in both Dutch and English, with handwritten staff notes on the shelves explaining why a particular book is there.
The art and photography sections are the strongest part, which suits the neighbourhood.
It is small enough to cover in twenty minutes.
8) Perdu
Kloveniersburgwal 86, a hundred metres along the same canal as The Book Exchange.
Perdu is a poetry bookshop with a small theatre attached, and the theatre is the reason to come.
It programmes readings, spoken word and literary events through the year in a room seating only a few dozen people.
Performances feature Dutch and international poets, and many are in English or bilingual.
Events are not daily, so check the schedule before making the trip.
One Afternoon, Three Shops
The Spui And Rokin Route
Start at Spui, where The American Book Center and Athenaeum face each other across the square, then walk five minutes north up Rokin to Scheltema.
Those three cover new English, new Dutch, magazines and the deepest general stock in the city, and two to three hours is enough for all of them.
Kalverstraat runs parallel, so Waterstones costs you a two-minute diversion if you want a fourth.
The Canal Route
The Book Exchange and Perdu are both on Kloveniersburgwal, five minutes’ walk from Spui and from each other.
Pantheon is another five minutes east from there, which makes a secondhand-and-specialist afternoon that avoids the crowds entirely.
If You Read Only English
The American Book Center, Waterstones and The Book Exchange between them cover new releases, bestsellers and used stock, and all three are inside the canal ring.
Scheltema and Athenaeum carry serious English sections alongside their Dutch stock.
Het Martyrium and Pantheon are Dutch-first, so go for the subject matter rather than expecting a wall of English paperbacks.
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