Gouda is famous for cheese. Fair enough. It's practically a national institution. But look beyond the market square and those beautiful old buildings, and you'll discover another side of town. Gouda has four coffeeshops: Oya, Club Animo, De Vriendschap and Buy Bye. Yes, Buy Bye. That's one way to give your business a memorable name.
You'll find these shops around the historic centre. Oya is on Lange Groenendaal, Club Animo on Vest, De Vriendschap on Cappenersteeg and Buy Bye on Speldenmakerssteeg. There's no need to pretend Gouda is the next Amsterdam. It isn't. That's part of the appeal. This is a smaller Dutch city with its own local coffeeshop culture, rather than a tourist destination built around the cannabis trade.
The municipality currently considers its existing number of coffeeshops sufficient and isn't allowing additional shops to open. So for now, these four make up the local scene. If you're exploring the Netherlands beyond Amsterdam, Gouda is a reminder that coffeeshops aren't exclusive to the big cities. Sometimes the smaller places have their own stories. And occasionally, their own very funny names.