We took a flight to Amsterdam for a lengthened weekend once and had a hostel in the Red Lights district, or very close by at least if not on it. Yeah the central was utterly packed with bikers and tourists and boy, you better not wander into the bike lane. as a pedestrian. (Yes I know short depicts Germany instead but couldn’t find the guy just yelling “bike lane, this is a bike lane” and now I don’t know whether it’s a short I’ve seen or an anecdote I’ve heard.) Anyway, my friend had a friend living in Amsterdam Noord, so we took the ferry over. The entire walk+ferry ride from our hostel to the apartment in Amsterdam Noord was at most 15-30 min, with the ferry. (I might be misrembering the crossing time but.)

And Amsterdam-Noord was super chill, no tourists, not really that many people either. (Although it was a Thursday night iirc so…) And not like apartment buildings but like terraced houses etc.