Oud-Zuid (Old South) is Amsterdam's wealthiest residential neighbourhood — the wide, tree-lined streets south of Vondelpark and the Concertgebouw where the professional and moneyed class has lived since the early 20th century. It is quiet, unhurried, and largely residential, which makes it one of the better parts of the city to simply walk without any specific destination in mind.
The streets around Cornelis Schuytstraat and the cross streets running south from the park are the heart of what locals call the "Museumkwartier van het zuiden" — a cluster of high-end food shops, wine merchants, cheese dealers, and delicatessens that reflects the neighbourhood's prosperity. The quality of the food shopping here is genuinely exceptional. PC Hooftstraat, running east from Vondelpark toward the Rijksmuseum, is Amsterdam's luxury shopping street — brands in a category few visitors will have budgets for.
The Apollolaan and Stadionweg run through the neighbourhood's southern reaches, passing the 1928 Olympic Stadium — built for the Summer Olympics and still standing, now used as a concert and sports venue. The stadium's architecture, by Jan Wils, is a fine example of Amsterdam School style applied to a large public building: expressive brick, sculptural detail, and none of the modernist austerity that characterised stadium design in later decades.
Between the museums and the southern residential streets, Oud-Zuid has a density of excellent restaurants without the crowds of De Pijp or the tourist pricing of the canal ring. The streets around Willemsparkweg are particularly good for dinner without planning — half a dozen genuinely good restaurants within a few minutes' walk.