Sarphatipark
Sarphatipark is two blocks of green in the middle of De Pijp — small enough to cross in a few minutes, calm enough that you'll notice the ducks before you notice anyone else. Cyclists, who rule every other surface in Amsterdam, are banned here, and that absence changes the atmosphere completely.
At the centre stands an ornate 19th-century monument to Samuel Sarphati, a Portuguese-Jewish doctor whose ambitions reshaped the city. The park carrying his name was stripped of it in 1942, renamed by the occupying administration because Sarphati was Jewish. His name came back in 1945.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to arrive with something to eat from Albert Cuypmarkt, a few minutes' walk away. The designated off-leash dog area in one corner draws a loose morning crowd. If you forgot a blanket, the park keeps plastic groundsheets on hand — a small, practical detail that says something about how Amsterdammers actually use this place.
Deals in Sarphatipark
Book directly at the providerHow Sarphatipark came to be
In the 1860s, Amsterdam's chief architect J.G. van Niftrik had plans to shift the city's centre southwest — with a major station on the very ground where the park now sits. When those plans collapsed, van Niftrik turned to the leftover land and designed a park in the English landscape style, built between 1881 and 1886. It was originally to be called Prins Hendrikpark, but residents organised a petition to name it after Samuel Sarphati, the doctor and civic entrepreneur who had died in 1866.
The park's small Gemaalhuis — a pumping station built in 1884 — reflects the constant battle Amsterdam fought with its own groundwater; parts of the park were raised in 1908 for the same reason. The painters Mommie Schwarz and Else Berg lived beside the park from 1927 until their deportation in 1942; some of their last canvases are landscapes of it. A major renovation in 2004 improved the lake water and rebuilt two of the three small bridges.
Who and what shaped it
People who shaped it
Landmark buildings
Plan your visit
On the map
When to go
Amsterdam's weather is mild but changeable year-round. Spring and summer bring the park to life — long evenings, full trees, impromptu picnics. Autumn turns the pond reflections golden. Winter is quiet and a little bleak, but the structure of the landscape holds.
Right now
Background & history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · specs from Wikidata (CC0) · weather from Open-Meteo · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · photos from Wikimedia Commons / Unsplash with per-image credit. No third-party reviews or social posts reproduced.