Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory

Smoker-friendly Bars Introduction

In continental Europe, the word café often means a bar where alcohol is available. At one time there were many cafe-coffeeshops in the Netherlands where alcohol and cannabis were available.

The 1995 regulations sought to separate alcohol and cannabis but existing cafe-coffeeshops were allowed to carry on selling both. As of 1st April 2007 the remaining cafe-coffeeshops in Amsterdam were forced to choose between weed and alcohol. Most chose cannabis. Some also opened bars near to their coffeeshops.

Most bars object to weed smoking but there are a few exceptions and these are the smoker-friendly bars. Some are former coffeeshops that have chosen to give up selling grass but still permit smoking. Others were created specifically as smoker-friendly bars.

A few examples:

Nes Cafe is a former cafe-coffeeshop that gave up its coffeeshop licence in 2007 but still allows weed smoking.

Rick's Cafe also used to be cafe-coffeeshop, as was its next door neighbour, Wild Style. Now Rick's only sells alcohol and Wild Style only sells cannabis.

Lost in Amsterdam is a relatively new smoker-friendly bar.