The Netherlands regularly gets into all sorts of ratings of expensive countries, so we suggest you consider local flea markets not only as a shopping route, but also as a free alternative to museums. Immersion in history is guaranteed, and all the “exhibits” can be touched with your hands.
Javaplein Vintage Markt
Amsterdam
Opening hours: Every first Saturday of the month from June to September, the market is usually open from 11:00 to 17:00. Sometimes it opens on Christmas Day – check the dates on Instagram.
How to find: Javaplein Square is located in the eastern part of the city, away from hiking trails. Amsterdam Central Station is accessible by bus 22.
Even if you are traveling with friends who can’t stand flea markets, they will definitely survive this one: the market is located on the tiny Javaplein square around the Badhuis Oedipus bar, where you can leave them with a calm soul. By the time they finish their first Grolsch, you will have already completed your shopping tour and will be bragging about your finds.
Come to Javaplein for vintage clothes and interior items. There are really unique things like a homemade herbarium photo album or an original rolling pin with seals. And don’t be afraid to bargain: at least € 5 will definitely yield to you here – checked.
Flea market on Amstelveld
Amsterdam
Opening hours: From May to August every last Friday of the month (from 8:00 to 16:30).
How to find: The small Amstelveld square is located almost in the very center of Amsterdam and on one side rests on the Prinsengracht canal.
If you are going to visit this market, immediately pay attention to a couple of details. Firstly, Amstelveld should not be confused with Amstelvenn (the latter is a residential area of Amsterdam, which technically does not enter the city limits). Secondly, do not confuse the Amstelveld flea market with the flower market, which takes place at the same place on Mondays.
So, you’re in the right place at the right time – and there’s another posh flea market in front of you. Having bought here, if you wish, you can completely recreate the atmosphere from the TV series “Downton Abbey” or replenish your collection for historical film projects, if suddenly you are a prop or costume designer. On Amstelveld, connoisseurs of beauty are waiting for whole rows with long killer hat pins, silver scissors for pruning grapes, glass bottles with original “Poison” labels, summer sun umbrellas and whole stained glass windows.
If you really liked something, but you don’t have enough money with you, feel free to find out from the owners of the table where and when they trade next time: sellers often move from city to city (or from place to place) during the season, and they can also pick up some goods especially for you next time once.
And if you see open boxes on the tables, it does not mean at all that the seller is already packing the goods and is going to leave. Often they contain large and inexpensive items that simply have nowhere to decompose – so you can and should rummage in these boxes.
Waterlooplein Market
Amsterdam
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday (from 9:00 to 18:00).
How to find: Waterlooplein, 2.
In this market, you can also find quite tourist goods (like candy with marijuana or clothes with the inscription “Amsterdam”), but don’t let it bother you:
after all, the market is located in the very center of the city, and such a location could not but affect the assortment. However, the main part of the market is truly “flea” – there are many things, if not unique, then very limited edition.
There are many clothes of different styles and times on the market, but mainly in the second half of the twentieth century: from a Gianfranco Ferré coat to an anonymous sweater for a couple of euros. In general, I want to take everything from the market: from records and magnets with “Alice in Wonderland” to a bottle of wine of the same year of birth for some € 5. And there is also a tent with bicycles: you can leave the market on two wheels, even if you came on foot.
Markets on Spui Square
Amsterdam
Opening hours: In the warm season on Fridays from 10:00 to 16:00, on Sundays from 10:00 to 17:00.
How to find: The American Book Center store (Spui,12) can be used as a reference point. And when you walk around the market, be sure to go to the Begijnhof to see the residential courtyard of the XIV century and the oldest (1528) wooden house in Amsterdam.
On Sundays, the art market Art Plein Spui Market takes place on Spui Square, where contemporary artists present their works. And on Fridays, the Boekenmarkt Op Het Spui book market. At a book fair, in addition to periodicals, fiction, prints and postcards, you can dig up, for example, someone’s letters in silver edging or a reprint of an erotic newspaper a century ago.
Haagse Antiek-en Boekenmarkt
The Hague
Opening hours: From May 1 to September 15 on Thursdays and Sundays (from 09:00 to 18:00).
How to find: The Hague, Lange Voorhout street. If you look at the Google map, you will notice that there are four streets marked under this name, but in fact it is a small square where the market is located in several rows. From the Hague Central Station, you can walk here in ten minutes, and from the Mauritshuis Museum – in five.
One of the most intelligent markets in the Netherlands offers only antiques. Here you can find a hand-beaded handbag from a century ago, Alphonse Mucha’s Art Nouveau book bookmarks or fossilized corals that were brought from Indonesia until it was banned. All things are neatly laid out on the tables, each has a price tag, and in the depths of the market you can even find a retrocar.