Top things to do in Amsterdam — week of 20 April

Late April in Amsterdam is honestly the best week of the year. King's Day is the next weekend so the city is winding up rather than winding down, the terraces are open, and there is a Wednesday free gig at Melkweg that is the one I would book first.

If you want the calendar straight, the Amsterdam this-week page has all of these listed already.

Monday: a quiet one in the Jordaan

The Jordaan has a few brown cafés — Café Chris, Café 't Smalle, Café Sonneveld — that are quietly the best Monday in the city. €4 a beer, no fuss, you are home by 10. Easy start to the week.

Tuesday: a free reading at the American Book Center

The American Book Center on Spui is doing a Tuesday reading with a writer whose new novel got a long FT review last month. Free, the room holds about forty, the Q&A is always the better half. Show up at 6.30 to get a seat.

Wednesday: Melkweg free Wednesday

The headline midweek thing. Three local bands, free entry with RSVP, the bar is the busiest part by 10. The opener is one of those bands you will be telling people about in two years' time. Doors at 7.30.

Thursday: a Vondelpark walk and Foodhallen

The classic Thursday pairing — a long walk through Vondelpark, then dinner at Foodhallen. The Vietnamese stall is the call, the wine bar inside is reasonable, and the room is the right side of busy. Easy.

Friday: a quiet dinner

I am leaving Friday off the headline list. Eat somewhere small — De Kas if you can book, Vinnies for something simple, Restaurant Anna for the splurge — and save the legs for Saturday. Pretty straightforward.

Saturday: Paradiso

The big one. €22 advance, doors at 8, a line-up that has no business being on this size of stage. The cloakroom is now €3, not €2 like the website says, just so you know. The bar on the upper balcony is quieter if you want a chat between sets.

If you cannot get into Paradiso, Shelter on the IJ is doing a Saturday for €18 with a smaller line-up that has been quietly excellent all month.

Sunday: NDSM market and a long ferry

NDSM Sunday market is the move — free, vintage stalls, food trucks, the ferry across from Centraal is half the appeal. Stay until 4, eat at the IJ-kantine, get a beer at the small brewery on the corner. Genuinely a perfect Sunday.

A reminder that the Amsterdam clubs filter has all the smaller weekend things filtered already, which is alot less faff than scrolling Resident Advisor.

Saturday at Paradiso and Wednesday at Melkweg are the two I would not move. Sunday at NDSM is non-negotiable if it is dry. Mental that the next weekend is King's Day, which means by next Friday the city will be a different animal entirely.