Escort Amsterdam Noord: the other side of the water

The IJ is the broad river behind Centraal Station, and Noord is everything on its far bank. Free ferries leave from the back of the station all the time, and the short crossing to Buiksloterweg runs day and night. Step off and Eye Filmmuseum is right there, with the tall tower next door and its rooftop swing hanging out over the edge.

Follow the water west and the scale changes. The NDSM wharf is a former shipyard turned creative quarter: a vast hangar of studios, murals on every surface, cranes left standing, and a flea market that takes over the hall about once a month. East of the ferry landing lie Noorderpark, the market on Van der Pekstraat, and the old dyke village of Nieuwendam with its wooden houses and still water.

Under the river runs the metro. The Noord/Zuid line links Noord and Noorderpark stations to Centraal and the Rokin in a few minutes, then carries on south.

Hotels here come in two kinds. Along the waterfront at Overhoeks and near the ferry landing, newer buildings with big glass fronts look straight back at the old city skyline. Out at the wharf, rooms sit inside converted industrial spaces, some unusual enough to be the reason for the trip. Deeper in the district it is apartment rentals and the odd houseboat.

Streets are wider than in the centre. Traffic is lighter. A car usually reaches the door. The catch is that some wharf buildings are huge, dark and confusing after midnight. Send the entrance, not just the address.

No companion on the roster lives in Noord. They cross the water from the canal districts and the south of the city. It sounds far. It is not. A taxi through the IJtunnel reaches Overhoeks within minutes of leaving the station area, and the metro is quicker still.

Near the ferry landing or Overhoeks, the standard hour holds. For the NDSM wharf or the villages further east, add a little on top, especially late, when the wharf ferry stops and every trip goes by road.

Festival weekends and big club nights at the wharf clog the roads in. On those dates, tell the desk where you are staying early in the chat.

Three ferry routes do most of the lifting. The short one to Buiksloterweg runs around the clock. The one to the NDSM wharf is longer, about a quarter of an hour, and stops around midnight. A third crosses east to the IJplein side. All are free, all leave from behind Centraal.

Underneath, the north south metro dives under the IJ from Centraal, stops at Noorderpark and ends at Noord station, the whole ride shorter than ten minutes. By road, the IJtunnel links the centre to the north bank, and a taxi from the canals to Overhoeks takes a quarter of an hour at night.

Arriving from Schiphol, a cab loops round the ring and through the tunnel in roughly thirty five minutes. Rail travellers change at Centraal for the ferry or the metro.

Noord is not all warehouses. Behind the waterfront lie garden villages built for dockworkers a century ago, low brick houses around small squares. Further out, the dike villages look like nothing has changed in two hundred years, with wooden houses and a church spire on the horizon.

Then there is the new stuff. Towers at Overhoeks, a ring of fresh apartment blocks around the old industrial basins, a hotel or two inside former factory buildings. It changes every year.

For a booking, it means one thing: addresses in Noord range from a city tower to a lane with no streetlights. Tell the desk which kind you are in, and she plans the last stretch.

Noord nights begin with a crossing. Ten minutes on deck, the station lit up behind you, wind coming off the water. Then dinner in a converted warehouse, a drink on a terrace at the river's edge, or a late film at Eye and a glass upstairs with the view back across the IJ.

The crowd is younger and more creative than on the other bank. Trainers are fine. A dress is fine. Nobody much cares either way, which makes it very easy to relax.

Who fits. Stacy shoots street photography and dresses in metallic nightlife glam, built for a wharf covered in murals. Tina collects records and loves fashion design, so a Saturday in the flea market hall is her idea of a good start. Lucy is the dreamy one, into astronomy, and the dark open sky over the river after midnight suits her perfectly. Every companion on the roster covers Noord, listed below.

Back over the water sits Amsterdam Centrum. Facing the wharf across the river is Amsterdam West, and to the south-east lies Amsterdam Oost. Rates start from €180 per hour.