In ʼt Aepjen

Top choice in Medieval Centre & Red Light District


Candles burn even during the day in this 15th-century building – one of two remaining wooden buildings in the city – which has been a tavern since 1519. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was an inn for sailors from the Far East, who often brought aapjes (monkeys) to trade for lodging. Vintage jazz on the stereo enhances the time-warp feel.

The inn became so overrun with monkeys that they were given to a customer, who kept them in his garden; this evolved into the Artis Royal Zoo in Plantage.