Waterlooplein Market in Amsterdam

An interesting daily clothes and second-hand market around the City Hall and Opera where you can buy bike parts, vintage clothes, leather boots and antiques

the oldest flea market of Amsterdam

Amsterdam's flea market on Waterlooplein square

The Waterlooplein Market was once an attractive, lively centre of the old Jewish Quarter but has now become a rather characterless tourist destination, with no connection to the neighbourhood or the past.

No fixed prices

The Waterlooplein market is one of the few places in Amsterdam, which has no fixed prices. You can haggle over the price of most of the merchandise offered for sale here.

Monuments

On the corner of Zwanenburgwal canal and Amstel river you can see a statue of Spinoza and a monument in remembrance of the Jewish victims of World War II.

Flea market

Every large city has a flea market. Amsterdam has Waterlooplein Market, traditionally a Jewish market for the sale of everyday goods, but because of the persecution of the Jews in WW II the character of the market changed.

The heyday of the present Waterlooplein Market was in the sixties and the seventies. Hippies, flower power, American tourists; those were the days!

After the construction of the new town hall and opera house in 1986, Waterlooplein market decreased considerably in size. The present market has 300 stalls and is open 6 days per week.

But the old, characteristic atmosphere is not all gone. The merchandise of many stalls is still displayed on the ground, whether it is second-hand clothing, antique objects, smoking paraphernalia or leather coats.

From Dam to Waterlooplein shopping route

The Waterlooplein Shopping Route takes you from Dam Square to the famous Waterlooplein (Waterloo Square) flea market.

From Dam Square this takes about 15 minutes. Walk along Rokin; turn left at Kooij Canal Cruises.

On Grimburgwal 2 you will pass Printed In Space -1- on the right-hand side, which sells holographic articles and 3D printed jewellery, vases, lamps and other cool stuff; diagonally across at Grimburgwal 11 you can buy lovely jewellery at Beaufort -2-.

A little further down the street, on the left-hand corner is the famous Amsterdam art gallery Galerie Mokum -3-.

After Gallery Mokum you cross 2 bridges. In front of you on the left you see a gate which you walk under. You are now at the second-hand book market in the Oudemanhuispoort -4-, where old books, prints, and sheet music displayed on tables are for sale.

After a look around you continue straight on. When you leave the gate turn right and cross the first bridge on your left. Walk through the charming Staalstraat -5-, cross 2 more bridges and you will come to the town hall which is where the Waterlooplein Market starts.