Amsterdam's Red Light District

Sex work is legal in plenty of European countries, but nowhere else has turned it into a tourist attraction the way Amsterdam has. The Red Light District, known locally as De Wallen, is exactly what you think it is: a web of canals and narrow alleys where sex workers rent small rooms with big windows, lit red. According to Wikipedia, there are roughly 300 of these one-room "cabins."

It's also the oldest neighborhood in the city, a few minutes' walk from Centraal Station, home to thousands of residents, the city's oldest church, and some of its best-looking canals. For most first-time visitors, a walk through is part of the trip. What's changed since we first wrote this page is how much the city now manages the area, and the rules you need to know.

The rules for visitors in 2026

Amsterdam has spent years trying to calm the district down, and the result is a set of rules that catch tourists out every weekend:

• No cannabis on the street. Since 25 May 2023, smoking weed outdoors in the Red Light District, and on Dam Square, Damrak and Nieuwmarkt, is banned, with a €100 fine from police or city enforcement officers. Coffeeshops are still open; smoke inside them. More in our guide to where you can smoke and where you can't.
• Weekend curfew, of sorts. On weekend nights, bars and restaurants in the core of the district close at 2:00 and don't let new guests in after 1:00 (city rules, in force until April 2027).
• No guided tours past the windows. The city banned organized tours in De Wallen in 2020, with fines of €190 for guides and €2,500 to €7,500 for tour companies, as DutchNews reported. Walking through on your own is fine.
• No photos of the workers. This is the one rule every sex worker will enforce personally. Keep your phone in your pocket on the window streets.
• Behave, or stay away. In 2023 the city ran an online "Stay Away" campaign aimed at young British men searching for stag parties and pub crawls, warning that drunk and disorderly behavior means fines and a criminal record (NL Times). Groups are still welcome; the city just wants them quieter. If you're planning one, read our stag weekend guide first.

How the windows work

Sex work is legal in the Netherlands, and the workers in the windows are self-employed, renting their rooms by the shift. You negotiate at the door, not on the street, and the door closes and the curtain gets drawn if you agree. It's quick and businesslike. Be polite, take no for an answer, and don't linger in front of a window if you're not a customer.

>>more information on prostitution in Amsterdam

If you want to understand the work without being a customer, two places near the Oude Kerk explain it well: the Prostitution Information Center, run by people from the industry, and the Red Light Secrets museum in a former brothel. Both are covered in our guide to attractions in the Red Light District.

Brothels, clubs and live shows

Not everything happens behind glass. There are also private-house brothels (privéhuizen) in other parts of the city, which are more discreet and usually charge by the hour, and the district has live sex show theaters that are almost as famous as the windows. They're especially popular with bachelor parties. The outside of these places is tame enough that walking past isn't going to shock anyone.

>>more information on live sex shows in Amsterdam and Amsterdam XXX

Beyond the windows

You don't need to feel like a creep walking through here. On any given evening you'll share the canal bridges with couples, retirees and groups of friends, and in the daytime the neighborhood feels like any other part of old Amsterdam. The district is full of bars, restaurants, coffeeshops, hostels and budget hotels. It also has some of the best sights in the center:

• The Oude Kerk, consecrated in 1306 and now also a contemporary art venue, with a tower you can climb from late April to October.
• Our Lord in the Attic, a 17th-century canal house with a secret church upstairs.
• De Waag and the Saturday farmers' market on Nieuwmarkt.
• Zeedijk, the city's small Chinatown and a good street for a cheap Asian meal.

Prices, hours and the rest are in our Red Light District attractions guide. For after dark, see Amsterdam nightlife.

Staying safe

Police patrol the district constantly, and it's mostly safe, but a few things still go wrong for visitors:

• Fake drug dealers. Someone may whisper "cocaine, ecstasy" as you pass. What they sell is fake at best and dangerous at worst, and buying it is illegal. Walk on.
• Stolen bikes. If a stranger offers you a bike for a suspiciously low price, it's stolen. Buying one is an offense too.
• Pickpockets. The narrow alleys get packed on weekend nights. Keep your phone and wallet in front pockets.
• Canals. Most have no railings, and people who've been drinking do fall in.

Is the Red Light District going away?

The city has been trying to shrink it for almost 20 years. In 2007 it started buying up window buildings to turn them into shops and homes (we wrote about that at the time: the Red Light District on the endangered list). More recently, the plan was a large "erotic centre" in another part of the city that would have taken window work out of the center.

That plan is now off the table. The new city coalition left the erotic centre out of the agreement it presented in June 2026, and says it will look for several small-scale locations instead, AT5 reported. For now, De Wallen stays where it is.

FAQ

When is the best time to walk through the Red Light District?

Early evening, around dusk, when the red lights are on but the weekend crowds haven't peaked. Daytime is quieter and better for the churches, museums and canals.

Can women and couples visit?

Yes. Plenty do, and nobody will look twice.

Is it OK to bring kids?

The sights around the edges are fine in daytime. Walking kids down the window streets is a call only you can make.

Where should I stay if I want to be close?

Right in the district is lively and loud. Many people prefer somewhere a short walk away; see choosing where to stay in Amsterdam.