Your flat is small. The city isn't.

The city as your living room

In Amsterdam you live small and expensive, so you live outside. You don't meet up at home but in the brown café around the corner, on a terrace by the water or on a bench along the canal, and an evening that starts in the Jordaan can easily end in De Pijp or with the ferry over to Noord.

The city is full of people who have only just come here to live, work or study, and plenty of evenings simply run in English. Meeting someone new is completely normal here; you just never know who else feels like going out tonight. YesTonite shows you: a green dot, one message, and you agree on a place.

In October, Amsterdam Dance Event pulls the city into the night for a whole week, and on King's Day all of Amsterdam is one big street party. But even on an ordinary Thursday the cafés are often surprisingly full.

Thursday to Saturday are the big nights, but there is plenty going on during the week too. Cafés only really fill up after dinner, and clubs start late.

Where Amsterdam goes out

• LeidsepleinThe best-known nightlife square, busy with cafés, terraces and stages.
• RembrandtpleinA big square with bars and clubs that stay open late.
• De PijpAround the Albert Cuyp market: small bars and packed terraces.
• JordaanNarrow streets with brown cafés, cosy and a little quieter.
• Amsterdam-NoordTake the ferry across the IJ to old shipyards and industrial spaces.