Muay Thai or Dutch kickboxing: what the gyms here actually teach
This is the single most useful thing to understand before you walk into an Amsterdam gym, and almost nobody explains it.
In practice most gyms in this city will teach you a boxing-forward game with heavy low kicks, less clinch, and fewer elbows. That is not a lesser version of Muay Thai. It is a different sport with a different competitive record, and for most people it is more immediately useful.
If you specifically want the Thai version, with clinch and elbows and Thai pad rhythm, you need to choose for it. Leth's Muay Thai Gym in Amsterdam-Noord, under Kru Robert de Leth, is the city's clearest option for a classical approach. Sityodtong Amsterdam in Zuidoost carries a Thai lineage name and a no-nonsense reputation.
Locally you will hear the sport called thaiboksen, and you will see it on gym timetables alongside kickboxing. The two words get used loosely, and the label on the door is not a reliable guide to what happens inside. If you want the full version of that story, from Kyokushin karate in Tokyo to the Mejiro and Chakuriki gyms a few streets from here, read Dutch kickboxing vs Muay Thai. It also gives you six questions to ask a gym to work out which one it is really running.
Which Amsterdam gym should you choose?
The gyms above are not interchangeable. Sorted by what you are actually trying to do:
| If you are | Start at | Why |
|---|
| Completely new | Monster Gym, Patrick's Gym, Eastbound | Broad membership, fitness side, year-round beginner intake |
| After traditional Thai style | Leth's Muay Thai Gym | The city's clearest classical approach, clinch and elbows included |
| Aiming to compete | Mejiro Gym, Vos Gym | Historic fight pedigree and coaching that has produced champions |
| On a tight budget | Ettaki Gym | Lowest entry price on this page, roughly half the city average |
| Fitting it around a job | Kops Gym, Ettaki Gym | High-volume timetables, options across the week |
| Coming back after years off | Ettaki Gym, Kops Gym | Large schedules let you train on the days that suit your body |
| Nervous about walking in | Private training | Learn stance, kick and wraps first, then group class becomes easy |
You have never trained a combat sport
Look for a gym with a broad membership and a fitness side, not a pure fight team. Monster Gym in Nieuw-West describes itself as a fight-and-fitness gym, which is the profile you want. Patrick's Gym, also Nieuw-West, blends Muay Thai and Dutch-style with 24/7 fitness access, so the room is not exclusively full of competitors. Eastbound in Oost runs Muay Thai alongside boxing, kickboxing and BJJ, which means a wide beginner intake all year round.
What you are avoiding at this stage is not difficulty. It is walking into a room where everyone else is preparing for a fight and the warm-up assumes you already know how to skip.
You want traditional Thai-style Muay Thai
Leth's Muay Thai Gym in Amsterdam-Noord is the standout in the city for a genuinely traditional approach, led by Kru Robert de Leth. If clinch work and elbows matter to you, start here rather than trying to find them in a Dutch-style class. Sityodtong Amsterdam in Zuidoost, under Paul and Vincent Pengel, is the other committed option.
You want to compete
Mejiro Gym in Centrum is the historical home of the style and still the name that opens doors. Vos Gym in West, the self-described House of Legends, was founded in 1978 by Johan Vos and is now led by Ivan Hippolyte, a multiple world champion who went on to train K-1 champions, which tells you what the coaching room knows.
Both will expect you to earn your place in the sparring rotation rather than arrive in it. That is the correct order.
You are training around a full-time job
Kops Gym in Oost has been running for over thirty years and is as old-school as the city gets: kickboxing, boxing and wrestling, no frills. Ettaki Gym in West holds the largest review base in this directory, which usually signals a high-volume timetable rather than a small squad. Both give you options across the week instead of two fixed class slots.
You are coming back after years off, or you are past forty
Look for a gym with a large timetable rather than a small squad, because you need the option to train on the days your body agrees to it. Ettaki and Kops both run high-volume schedules. Say your age and your history in the first email; a good coach will place you in the right class rather than the obvious one.
The thing that ends comeback attempts is not intensity, it is trying to keep up with twenty-two-year-olds in the conditioning block. Sit those rounds out for the first month and you will still be training in a year.
Muay Thai gyms by neighbourhood
Where you train matters more than people expect, because the gym you can reach in fifteen minutes is the gym you will still be attending in March.
- Centrum. Mejiro Gym. The birthplace of Dutch kickboxing, founded in 1978, and the most historically significant address in the sport in this country.
- Noord. Leth's Muay Thai Gym. The traditional Thai option, and worth the ferry.
- Oost. Eastbound Gym and Kops Gym. A broad modern combat-sports club and a thirty-year-old no-nonsense one, roughly ten minutes apart.
- West. Vos Gym and Ettaki Gym. Historic fight pedigree at one, the city's cheapest entry price and its biggest review base at the other.
- Nieuw-West. Monster Gym and Patrick's Gym. Both broad, both welcoming, both good first-gym territory.
- Zuidoost. Sityodtong Amsterdam. Thai lineage, run by the Pengel brothers.
Mike's Gym and Bonjasky Academy: worth the trip?
Two gyms outside Amsterdam come up in any serious conversation about training here. Mike's Gym sits around 15 kilometres out and is world famous for the fighters it has produced, with sparring to match that reputation. Bonjasky Academy in Almere, around 30 kilometres away, is run by a three-time K-1 world champion.
Neither is a sensible first gym. Both are worth the commute once you know what you are doing.
What Muay Thai costs in Amsterdam
Advertised starting rates across the gyms on this page vary widely, and that spread is wide because gyms are not selling the same thing. An entry-level membership typically buys a fixed number of sessions per week at a gym with a large timetable. A rate at the top of the range usually reflects either unlimited access, a smaller and more supervised room, or a club that includes strength and conditioning in the price.
Three things worth asking before you sign anything:
- Is there a joining fee, and is there a minimum term? Monthly rolling and twelve-month contracts are both common here and the price difference is often small.
- How many sessions per week does the entry rate actually include, and what does unlimited cost?
- Is there a trial class or an intro week, and does it cost anything?
Private training is the underrated option for anyone who is nervous about the first few weeks or who has an irregular schedule. One or two sessions to learn stance, the basic kick and how to wrap your hands makes walking into a group class a completely different experience.
Muay Thai in Amsterdam for visitors and expats
A large share of the people searching for Muay Thai in Amsterdam in English are not moving here. They are here for a week, or they arrived three months ago and have not sorted out a gym yet. Almost nothing written about training in this city is aimed at them.
Drop-in classes
Most Amsterdam gyms will let you train as a visitor, and Vos Gym in particular has a reputation as easy to simply drop into. Email ahead anyway. Class timetables shift in summer, some sessions are squad-only, and a drop-in rate is rarely published on the website.
Put the date, how long you are in town and your rough experience level in the first message. That is the information a gym needs to tell you which class to come to, and it makes the difference between a useful reply and a slow one.
Classes in English
Amsterdam is one of the most international cities in Europe and the gyms reflect that. In practice, instruction often runs in Dutch with English used freely alongside it, and a trainer will switch for you without being asked. Combat sports also lean heavily on demonstration, so a language gap matters less in a striking class than it would in almost any other course you could take.
If it is a genuine concern, say so when you email. It is a normal question and the answer will be honest.
Gym etiquette
Arrive early rather than on time, because the mat is usually already busy and you want to have wrapped your hands before the warm-up starts. Shake hands or touch gloves before and after you work with someone. If you are new, say so out loud to your partner rather than hoping it shows: in a Dutch gym the default assumption is that you can handle what you are given, and it is on you to reset that.
Nobody will think less of you for sitting out a round.
Your first month in an Amsterdam gym
Expect the first two weeks to be about your shins and your cardio, not about technique. A Muay Thai class in this city usually opens with skipping and a run of bodyweight conditioning, moves into shadow boxing, then pads or bag work in pairs, then technique, then conditioning again at the end. You will be tired before you learn anything.
Your shins will hurt. That is normal, it passes, and it is not a sign that you are kicking wrong. Your hands will hurt if you do not wrap them properly, and that one is fixable in five minutes by asking someone.
You will not spar in your first class, and at a well-run gym you will not spar in your first month either. When it starts it should start light and controlled. If a gym puts a beginner into hard sparring early, that is not the Dutch tradition being authentic. That is a badly run room, and there are other options on this page.
What to bring to your first session
Bring your own hand wraps, a mouthguard, shorts and a shirt you can sweat through, and flip-flops for walking between the mat and the changing room. Most gyms have gloves and shin guards you can borrow for a first class, but borrowed gloves are borrowed gloves and you will want your own within a few weeks.
Train barefoot on the mat. Shoes stay off, and so do socks.
How often should you train?
Two sessions a week is the floor at which you improve rather than merely maintain. Three is where most people find the sport starts to click. Four or more only makes sense once your body has adapted, which takes months rather than weeks, and it is the point at which recovery becomes something you have to plan rather than assume.
A realistic timeline, assuming twice a week and no previous combat sports:
- Weeks one to four. You learn stance, the jab and cross, the low kick and the teep. Everything feels awkward and you are mostly working on conditioning without realising it.
- Months two and three. Combinations start to flow rather than being assembled one piece at a time. Your shins stop complaining. You can get through a class without counting the rounds.
- Months four to six. You begin to see what is coming rather than reacting to what already landed. Most gyms will have introduced you to light, controlled sparring by now.
- Year one. You are a competent beginner with a real base. This is where people either settle into it as a lifelong habit or start thinking about an amateur fight.
The single biggest predictor of where you land on that timeline is not talent or fitness. It is whether the gym is close enough that going feels like less effort than not going.
Gear: what you need and where to buy it
For the first month you need wraps, a mouthguard and shorts. Everything else can be borrowed. After that, buy gloves before anything else: 16oz for sparring, and if you only own one pair, make it 16oz.
Shin guards come next, then your own headgear if you plan to spar regularly. Buy the gloves in person if you can, because fit varies enormously between brands and a glove that is wrong for your hand shape will put you off training.
Amsterdam has dedicated fight gear shops, which is the practical option if you want to try things on rather than guess a size online.
How we verify every gym on this page
Every gym on this page has been checked individually: location, current rates where the gym publishes them, and review scores at the time of the last update. Listing is free and open to every gym in the city. Verification is a paid option, and payment never affects ranking or position on this page. Where a gym does not publish a price, this page says price on request rather than estimating one.
Ratings and prices change. The last verification date is shown at the top of the page. If something here is out of date, or your gym should be listed, tell us and it gets corrected.
