Fasten your seat belts. Amsterdam's nightlife can have you careening between smoky coffee shops, chic wine bars, mellow jazz joints, laid-back lounges and clubs. The city's nightlife centers mainly on two of its main squares. Leidseplein, rich with cafés and discos that attract younger visitors to the city, also has the city's two major live venues, Melkweg and Paradiso, around the corner.

The area around Rembrandtplein harbors the trendier nightspots and many of Amsterdam's gay venues (particularly along Reguliersdwarsstraat). Warmoestraat and other streets in the Red Light District provide the spicy setting for the more leather-oriented gay bars and throbbing rock clubs. The lounge phenomenon, while a bit late in arriving, is now in full bloom, offering a kinder, gentler club vibe. Hipsters are attracted to the venues concentrated around Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.

Although a relatively small city, Amsterdam packs a giant cultural wallop. The local interest of a culturally inclined people supports a milieu whose spectrum ranges all the way from the austerely classical to the most outrageously avant-garde. So book that ticket fast. Amsterdam's theater and music season begins in September and runs through June, when the Holland Festival of Performing Arts is held. What's On in Amsterdam is a comprehensive English-language publication that lists art and performing-arts events around the city.