Albert Cuyp Market
Amsterdam's biggest street market, running daily through the De Pijp neighbourhood since 1905.
The Albert Cuyp Market is Amsterdam's largest and most beloved outdoor market, stretching nearly a kilometre along Albert Cuypstraat in the lively De Pijp district. It's been running six days a week since 1905 and draws somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 visitors on busy days — locals doing their weekly shop alongside tourists who've heard this is the real Amsterdam, not the performative version sold on the canals. With around 300 stalls, it covers everything from fresh stroopwafels and raw herring to bolts of fabric, cheap electronics, flowers, and Dutch cheese wheels the size of small tyres.
Walking the market is a full sensory experience. You'll smell the oliebollen and frying fish before you see them. Vendors shout prices in Dutch, stalls overflow with seasonal produce, and the whole thing feels genuinely lived-in rather than curated for visitors. The surrounding streets are lined with independent cafés and shops that have grown up around the market's foot traffic — it's worth ducking into Brouwerij Troost on Cornelis Troostplein nearby for a post-market beer, or grabbing a broodje haring (raw herring sandwich) from one of the fish stalls and eating it standing up like everyone else does.
The market runs Monday through Saturday, 9:30am to 5pm, and is completely free to browse. Saturday is the busiest day and has the most atmosphere but also the most crowds — if you want elbow room, a weekday morning is ideal. It's a 10-minute walk from the Heineken Experience and close to the Rijksmuseum, so it fits naturally into a day in the south of the city. Cash is handy for street food stalls, though many vendors now accept card.
