How to find your way at the UvA: a list of hotspots
There is plenty to do outside the UvA buildings and lecture halls on university campuses. Where can you find the best coffee, where the best book market is, where you can take a tai chi course and in which cinema can you eat pizza and watch a movie with student discount? We list the hotspots.
The University Quarter
The University Quarter, surrounded by old monastery walls in the historic city center, is rich in gems: if you know where to look, you'll come across ancient books, delicious scones and other treasures. Nowhere is the ‘city as campus’ more evident than here. If you want to take a break from the tourist bustle, the Binnengasthuisterrein – with its deep treasury of UvA history – is an oasis of calm.
If you’re standing near the Agnietenkapel and the Lutheran Church on the Spui (see map), you might be able to join in on public lectures or promotions taking place there. If you’d rather wander around in history, cross Spuiplein and Rokin and step into the Allard Pierson, where you can see exhibitions and old books from Bijzondere Collecties. Another tip: the book market on Spuiplein on Fridays.
Feeling hungry? In the dark alley next to the Lutheran Church you’ll find café Het Pakhuis which is characterized by large portions and low prices, in other words: a must for every student. We recommend the avocado burger. For coffee you can go to trattoria Caldi e Freddi, close to the P.C. Hoofthuis, and for fish to the Seafood Bar on the Spuiplein. Get a dessert at De Laatste Kruimel, a cute little shop with sweet treats that also offers a student discount, or go to De Drie Graefjes on the Rokin for an Instagram-worthy piece of cake.
The Roeterseiland Campus
During the vacation season, Roeterseiland seemed like a deserted island, but the new academic year promises new (and old) students on campus, who walk the corridors again and whose hungry stomachs crave coffee bars and lunch cafes during breaks. For a lunch on the mainland you can go to the famous Bagels & Beans or to the living room-like Lunchroom T, for a brunch with all the trimmings. For a regular sandwich, you can go to pool hall De Gracht, where you can also express your student frustration on pool balls until you are even more frustrated about your pool career than about your studies.
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Roeters’ after-school care is also something to cherish, with the rich and always surprising course offerings of cultural center Crea. There won’t be a time in your life until retirement when you can do so much, cheerful and varied hardcore hobbying, so go try pottery, tai chi, improvise and write columns until you drop. Across the water, interviewers from Room for Discussion on leather couches regularly feel out VIPs (formerly: Sigrid Kaag, Thierry Baudet and Ayaan Hirsi Ali).
Once the four is in the clock, coffee can be exchanged for drinks. Once again, Crea is your support and companion, especially when the sun is shining on the quay and you can settle down by the water with a beer. Alternatively, there is café De Krater and the Latin American Cantina Caliente, where you can enjoy wine, tequila and empanadas.
But the most student-centric remains the legendary Kriterion. This student-run cinema serves coffee, nachos and specialty beers for soft prices. Furthermore, on Taco Tuesday you can get tacos for 2.20 euros each, and on Wednesdays you can watch a movie while enjoying a pizza for 14.50 euros. Cheap, and good for your cultural development as well.
Science Park
Where betas meet, life is good – or at least well organized. This is evident from everything the modern Valhalla called Science Park has to offer: its own train station, a huge sports center, energy neutral buildings, and even a piece of raw flora and fauna for biological experiments in Anna’s Tuin & Ruigte. This living lab is a breeding ground for permaculture and biodiversity, but also the perfect place for a breath of fresh air, to let down the bulky twelve-hour snack from Café Polder (a croquette, soup and an egg of roast beef cheese).
The Science Park is a world in itself, although the neighboring Indische buurt and Watergraafsmeer offer plenty of temptation in the form of hipster bars and vintage stores. But in principle, the residents of the student flats on Carolina MacGillavrylaan do not need to burst the Science Park bubble to survive, because the Albert Heijn, Lidl and Spar are all within a 300-metre radius. Furthermore, sports center Universum offers space in classrooms and on equipment for all UvA and HvA students with sports ambitions, and beer for after – or instead of – exercising costs 1.50 euros at the adjacent café Oerknal.
At the Maslow café you'll find delicious yet healthy yet cheap comfort food in the form of pitas with all sorts of dips, falafel, spring rolls and special beer. Unlike university canteens, Maslow does understand the fuel of the modern student. Much easier to flirt without sweat on your forehead, right?
Even within the walls of the faculty, there are diversions to be found around lunchtime, for example with the monthly Beta Break. This lunch meeting in the hall of Science Park 904 combines a casual atmosphere of chewing students and teachers with cutting edge discussions between experts, about financing science, conspiracy theories and the female orgasm. Plenty to experience, in other words.
