1e Hulp

The name is Dutch for "First Aid," and the shop leans into the joke without letting it become the whole personality. Licensed since 1996, 1e Hulp sits a few minutes west of the Jordaan on Marnixstraat — close enough to the centre to be easy, far enough out that you're drinking your tea next to locals rather than a queue of stag parties.

Inside there are two floors of smoking space, the lower one done out with Moroccan furnishings, and a menu running from familiar Dutch classics through to imported flower and hash. Staff are used to explaining what's what, so it's a fair first stop if you don't know your haze from your kush.

For years the shop's real host was Rizla, a cat who spent almost two decades holding court among the tourists and became something of an Amsterdam landmark in his own right. He died of old age in October 2022, at 18. Regulars still ask after him. If you came looking for the cat, you've missed him — but the shop he presided over is still very much worth the walk.