The essentials in one minute
- No photos or videos of the windows or the people working in them.
- No cannabis in the street: €100 fine after a warning.
- No alcohol in the street, nor an open can in your hand: €110 fine.
- No buying takeaway alcohol from Thursday to Sunday from 4pm.
- Bars close at 2am on Friday and Saturday nights, with no new entry after 1am.
- No group guided tours past the windows.
- No minimum age for walking through the district, which is also a residential area with schools.
Photos: the most important rule
Photographing or filming sex workers is forbidden. It is not an article of the police bylaws with a fixed fine, but a rule posted throughout the district and repeated by the city's street hosts: the people in the windows have not agreed to be photographed, and many hide their work from their families. In practice, a photographer who is spotted may be asked to delete their pictures, or even be confronted.
Photographing the canals, the bridges, the Oude Kerk or the façades is still allowed, as long as no occupied window is in the frame. The simplest approach is to put your phone away in the window streets, especially in the narrow alleys, and to take your photos by day, from the bridges, when few windows are lit.
Opening hours: windows, bars and terraces
The windows may open from 8am to 6am, every day. The plan to close them from 3am at weekends was dropped after objections from sex workers, who saw it as a risk to their safety.
For bars and cafés in the heart of the district, special rules apply on Friday-to-Saturday and Saturday-to-Sunday nights, until 31 March 2027:
- closing at 2am;
- no entry after 1am (the measure does not apply on King's Night);
- terraces close at 1am, from 1 March to 1 November.
To carry on the evening elsewhere, our guide to Amsterdam at night lists the neighbourhoods where clubs close later.
Alcohol and cannabis in the street
The Red Light District is part of the large no-alcohol zone covering the historic centre: drinking alcohol in the street, or simply holding an open can, costs €110. Cannabis has been banned in public since 25 May 2023: the fine is €100 if you carry on after a warning. The terraces of licensed coffee shops remain an exception. The details, the other zones in the city and the rules on the water are in our guide to drinking alcohol or smoking weed in the street, and what happens inside a coffee shop in our guide to coffee shops.
In the district, supermarkets, grocery shops, snack bars and liquor shops do not sell takeaway alcohol on Thursdays and Sundays from 4pm to 3am, and on Fridays and Saturdays from 4pm to 4am. This measure is in force until 1 April 2027.
Other bans and their fines
- Urinating in the street: €140 when the police issue the fine, €160 when it is city officers. The green urinals (krul) around the Oudekerksplein are free; other options are in our guide to toilets in Amsterdam.
- Dropping litter: €280.
- Responding to a sexual offer made in the street: €280. Prostitution is only allowed in the windows and licensed establishments; someone who approaches you in the street is not part of it. Sex workers must be at least 21.
- Buying drugs from a street dealer: illegal in all cases, and the products are often fake or cut. Common traps are described in our guide to scams and safety in Amsterdam.
Laughing gas is banned. Also mind the noise: people live above the windows and bars, and night-time noise is penalised.
Guided tours, groups and stag parties
Since 1 April 2020, group guided tours no longer pass the windows. Elsewhere in the centre, a group of 5 to 15 people must be accompanied by a licensed guide, between 8am and 10pm, without stopping in crowded spots; a guide working without a licence faces a €220 fine. Groups of 4 people or fewer can walk around freely.
Stag parties are not banned, but the city tries to discourage them: since 2023, its online "Stay Away" campaign has targeted visitors who come mainly to drink and party, reminding them that a night that gets out of hand can end in a fine or an arrest.
Weekend crowds: one-way routes and closed alleys
On Friday and Saturday evenings, the district is very crowded. On busy nights, the city sets up one-way pedestrian routes along the canals and closes access to the narrowest alleys, such as the Stoofsteeg and the Oudekennissteeg; hosts direct visitors at the entrances to the district. Follow their directions, keep walking rather than stopping in front of the windows and watch your pockets. To see the district when it is quiet, come during the day on a weekday: it is the best time for the Oude Kerk, the Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder museum and the canals.
The "erotic centre" project, which was meant to house some of the windows outside the centre, was dropped by the new city council majority in June 2026: the windows stay in the district, in the same numbers.
Museums and shows: the minimum age
Walking through the district has no minimum age. Erotic venues, however, set their own: the Red Light Secrets museum, on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal, is closed to under-16s, as is the Sex Museum on the Damrak. Bring ID if you look young.
Summary table
| Rule | What applies | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Photographing or filming the windows | Forbidden (district rule) | – |
| Smoking cannabis in the street | Banned since 25 May 2023 | €100 after a warning |
| Drinking or holding an open can in the street | Banned (centre no-alcohol zone) | €110 |
| Buying takeaway alcohol | Banned Thu-Sun from 4pm | – |
| Windows | Open from 8am to 6am | – |
| Bars, Friday and Saturday nights | Close at 2am, no entry after 1am | – |
| Terraces, Friday and Saturday nights | Close at 1am, from March to October | – |
| Group guided tours past the windows | Banned since 2020 | €220 (unlicensed guide) |
| Urinating in the street | Banned | €140 to €160 |
| Dropping litter | Banned | €280 |
| Responding to a sexual offer in the street | Banned | €280 |
Rules and fines checked in October 2026 in Amsterdam's police bylaws (APV), city decrees and the municipal fines schedule.
Further reading
For visiting the district, its canals and monuments, read our Red Light District page and the one on the Oude Kerk. The rules on alcohol and cannabis in the rest of the city are in the guide to drinking alcohol or smoking weed in the street, and good places for a night out in our guide to Amsterdam at night.
