Our Jordaan guide covers that neighborhood's famous hofjes, but hidden courtyards exist throughout Amsterdam's older districts — almshouses built around shared gardens, originally housing the elderly or widowed, tucked behind unmarked doors on ordinary-looking streets well beyond the Jordaan's borders.
What a hofje actually is
Historically, wealthy Amsterdam merchants and guilds funded hofjes as charitable housing, arranged around a private central courtyard for residents' shared use. Many are still residential today, which is exactly why visiting them requires real care — these are quiet, semi-private spaces, not public parks.
Keep your voice down, don't linger for photos with residents visible, and always close any gate or door fully behind you — the same basic courtesy you'd extend to any residential courtyard.
Courtyards worth finding beyond the Jordaan
- Begijnhof — near Spui, one of the oldest and most well-known hofjes in the city, a genuinely peaceful courtyard just steps from a busy shopping street, including one of Amsterdam's oldest surviving wooden houses.
- Deutzenhofje — near the Amstel, smaller and far less visited than the Begijnhof, a good option if you want real quiet.
- Van Brienenhofje — in the Jordaan-adjacent area near Prinsengracht, worth combining with a Jordaan walk despite sitting just outside the neighborhood's usual boundary.
The Begijnhof specifically
Worth calling out on its own: this is one of the most visited hofjes in the city, dating to the 14th century, and still home to a small community today. It draws enough foot traffic that the etiquette points above matter even more here than at quieter courtyards — keep voices low and treat it as the residential space it still is.
How to find them
Most hofjes have unmarked or subtly marked entrances, and part of the appeal is genuinely stumbling onto one while walking rather than following a checklist — treat any small, easily missed doorway on an older street as worth a glance.
This guide is reviewed and updated as part of our weekly refresh, including current public access for each courtyard.