Weekly

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Cantinero is the home of dance school Extremos, who teach here five days a week. The restaurant/club calls itself a 'salon de baile'. They have several Latin-oriented parties here every week.

There is a restaurant area and two seperate dance rooms. The first one is rather small, and unofficially called 'the aquarium', because of its windows allowing you to observe the dancing from outside the room. The second room is in the back and a bit larger. It has some pilars in the middle of dance floor, but is otherwise okay.

The Friday night parties are extremely popular at the moment - the most popular weekly party at the moment. There is not much space to dance and it gets very hot - but the atmoshpere is very good.

On Saturday, Extremos has it's weekly party, called Sinfully Salsa (previosuly held at De Engel). It's not as crowded as Friday, so there's a bit more space to dance.

On Sunday there is live music with local Salsa bands. The second room is reserved for Zouk and other Brasilian dances. The crowd is a bit different on Sunday - more oriented towards music than just dancing.

The Badcuyp is a 'buurthuis'-cafe with salsa on Wednesdays, party which has been taking place for many years. The medium sized wooden dance floor is okay. Temperature and ventilation are a problem, especially in the summer. The regular DJs are Mario and Rick. The popularity of the club has gone up and down over the years, at the moment attendance is quite good.

About once a month, there is a Fiesta Cubana on Friday. These are the best parties for those into Cuban style dancing and Timba. There are also occasionaly live bands peforming on Fridays or Saturdays. De Badcuyp is situated in the Pijp district.

El Centro is a place dedicated to salsa, with salsa nights on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The large nonsmoking dance floor is excellent, the best in town. There is separate cafe for smokers. In the summer, the air-conditioning is also very good. The DJs play mostly the popular dance classics and Colombian stuff. Be aware that it's not crowded on every night.

• Friday night is Salsa Ambiente.
• On Saturdays, there are different parties (not always Salsa)
• Sunday is the most popular evening.

El Centro has a web site and is located in oud west.

De Kluis is a café located not far from the Scheepvaart museum. It is appropriately decorated with shipping artifacts. The Salsa parties on Friday are somewhat reminiscent of those that used to take place in (good old) Meander. There is not much room to dance on the wooden floor, but it is a nice place to enjoy live music. There is a regular live band called 'El Combo'. It is actually a 'descarga' combination of two bands: Marejada and Primera Plana. The play a nice set of classic Salsa songs from the seventies (such as El Cantante and La Essencia del Guaganco) and some more recent ones. There are also Latin Jazz parties on Thursdays and Brazilian parties on Sundays. Wednesday has recently been added as Salsa night with live music as well. De Kluis has a website.

Visser en Ter Beek is a ballroom dance school that is used by Dance Explosion for Salsa lessons and parties. It is beautiful dance location, somewhat similar to Club Asi in Haarlem (which also has ballroom roots). The dance floor is large, and a bit stiff for my taste. Around the dance floor there are fancy couches to relax. The level of dancing on the monthly party is very high, and almost everybody is dancing LA Style only. There is also dancing after class on Mondays.

This is the only school located the Amsterdam Noord (North). Noord is a part of town that is somewhat isolated from the rest due to the fact that it is opposite of the IJ water. Most Salsa people refer to this location simply as 'Noord'.

Grand Cafe Frankendael is a large cafe with a large ballroom on the first floor. There are parties on Sundays and occasionally on other days (including New Years Eve for the past two years). The parties are organized by Cuban dance school Salsiando, who also teach here. The wooden dance floor is large and very good. There is a limited amount of chairs around the dance floor. The crowd consists mostly of students of the dance school, so there is quite a bit of Cuban style dancing. The DJs also play a slightly higher than average amount of Cuban music and there is live music in certain parties. Grand Cafe Frankendael is located on the east side of town in de Watergraafsmeer.

La Rumba is a small club near Leidseplein. There is a weekly Salsa party on Wednesday night. The regular DJ John De Colombia is popular with young Latino crowd. He mixes Salsa, Merengue and Latin House in an ingenious way.

Café Bermuda is a new Salsa place near Nieuw Markt. It forms a triangle together with the Cotton club and de Kluis. All three places are in the same area and the crowd is similar: there are a lot of café people who are not necessarily into dancing. The dance floor is similar but slightly bigger than the one in the Cotton club.

The Sunday afternoon party called Todo Latina is probably the best time to go.

Carels is a tiny 'bruin' night-cafe with a salsa after class on Tuesdays. It started years ago as a group of people who wanted to practice salsa before the café opened. The wooden 'dance floor' is small, and easily filled up. Carel's is used for dance lessons by SalsaMante. Carels 2 is located in the Pijp district.

El Differente is a cafe with a bar at the entrance, and a small dance floor surrounded by tables in the back. Further in the back, there is also a pool table. There is live music on Sunday and there are also sometimes Soul-Soca or African parties.

Once a month there is a special party organized by dance school Salsa Caliente, which attracts a different crowd of mostly Salsa Caliente students. There are also Cuban style lessons by El Solar. El Different is located in the west side of town.

Strand West is a 'beach club' located near the IJ water on a stretch of sand. There have been occasional Salsa parties for a while, both in summer and winter time. A new weekly party is being started on Sunday. There is a small wooden dance floor, which is a bit rough.

Brasil Music Bar (also known as Canacao) is a Brazilian music bar near Leidseplein with a long history of Salsa music. On Wednesdays, there is a salsa evening with live music. The dance floor used to have a very irregular shape, but that has been improved some years ago. Because of its opening times, you will find some die-hard salseros in the last few hours. Gerald y 6Teto Awakati is now the regular band, in an attempt to revitalize the club.

Swing in used to be called Café Melodie, but they changed their name after dance school Swing Latino chose it as their main lesson location. There are 3 lesson rooms, one of which is the main wooden dance floor in the back of the café. Swing in is located in the west side of town.

Westergasterras is the new location of the SummerBreeze parties, which were held in the summer in the Vondelpark for 9 years. The new location is not as central as the Vondelpark, but it still attracts a good crowd and there is a dance floor both inside and outside.

Other weekly clubs

Some other places with regular salsa parties:

Casablanca Zeedijk 26 (Some Sundays, 20.00 Live Salsa, admission free).
Hartje Amsterdam Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 64, (Wednesdays, 21.00 - 03.00, Thursdays,24.00 - 03.00)
Club Caribbean, Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 116
Jerry´s Café, Veemkade 1288, Mondays 21.30 Live music
Grand Cafe Cinetone, Duivendrechtsekade 85, Sundays
Punto Latino, Leidsedwarsstraat 35, Weekends (see forum topic)

Additions, comments & questions to: ehautus@xs4all.nl
Edwin Hautus (DJ Eetu)