Amsterdam

From its earliest days Amsterdam has been a trading city. First, trade centred on the fish that the original dammers of the Amstel caught in the rivers and the Zuiderzee; later, during the 17th century, on the spices, furs, flower bulbs and artifacts carried back to Europe by the ships of the Dutch East and West India companies.

The fish were sold on the spot where a major department store now stands, and the early townspeople brought calves to market on the same street you will walk along to begin a shopper's walking tour through Amsterdam. The luxury items you buy today are the same sort of goods Dutch merchants sold to each other in the Golden Age of the 17th century, and the junk you buy in the flea market at Waterlooplein is much the same as it has been for hundreds of years.

Adding a modern dimension to this tradition-laden scene are the funky boutiques you find scattered around Amsterdam, and adding sparkle are the diamond cutters. Still, Amsterdam has the full range of shopping facilities, from small and highly individualistic, not to say eccentric, boutiques whose designers are often small name, through chains and department stores to malls.

Street Markets

Amsterdammers are traders to the tips of their fingers, as you quickly see if you visit a street market, but they won't try to bargain with you as they have much less interest in the sport of haggling, or margin in their prices, than their counterparts in countries farther south. Many of Amsterdam's open-air salesmen are at their stalls, vans, tents and barges of the city's 26 markets 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. In all, there are more than 50 outdoor markets every week in Amsterdam and its outlying neighbourhoods, and on any given day, except Sunday, you have a choice of several.

Looking for a bargain-basement souvenir is made easy at the Waterlooplein Flea Market, on Waterlooplein. You find all kinds of stuff here, not all of it junk, and a constant press of people with good buys on their mind. This is the classic market of Amsterdam. It's often said that in its glory days before World War II, when it was a fixture of the city's Jewish community, you could find amazing antiques among the junk and possibly even a proverbial dusty Rembrandt. Today your luck is more apt to run in the opposite direction. Most of the merchants now work out of tents, and some sell patates frites met mayonnaise (french fries, eaten Dutch style, with mayonnaise) from vans that are a long way from the pushcarts of yesteryear; but among the old CDs and leather jackets, you still find cooking pots, mariner's telescopes, coal scuttles, bargain watches, nuts and bolts, and decent prints of Dutch cities. The market is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm.

Awnings stretch to cover some 15 stalls of brightly colored blossoms, bulbs, and potted plants, at the Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market), Singel, at Muntplein. Floating on a row of permanently moored barges, this is one of Amsterdam's stellar spots, though you might find it overrated, especially since it's not easy to see that it's actually floating – which indeed most of it isn't. Still, this is probably the most atmospheric place to buy cut fresh-cut flowers, bright- and healthy-looking plants, ready-to-travel packets of tulip bulbs, and all the necessary accessories for home gardening. A stroll down that fragrant line is surely one of Amsterdam's most heart-lifting experiences. Tulips here cost a few cents less than at the flower stands around town. The market is open daily from 8am to 8pm.

You find just about anything and everything your imagination can conjure up at the 350 stalls of the colourful, kilometer-long Albert Cuyp Markt, Albert Cuypstraat. Different types of foods, clothing, flowers, plants and textiles are all for sale. Cheese sellers slice wedges from Frisbee-shaped disks of Edam. The market is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm.