Written by Alexandra, Founder of Who Is Amsterdam
I’ve spent an honestly embarrassing amount of time at every food market in Amsterdam. Not for research. Okay, partly for research. Mostly because I live here and I’m hungry and these places are better than almost any restaurant in the city.
So here’s the guide I wish someone had given me when I first moved here: the markets that are actually worth your morning, what to eat when you get there, and what to skip entirely.
Skip the canal-side tourist restaurants. If you want to understand what Amsterdam actually eats, you go to the markets.
This is a city where 180 nationalities live side by side, and all of them cook. That collision shows up most vividly at Amsterdam’s food markets: a Surinamese roti stall next to a Dutch herring cart next to a guy pressing stroopwafels on a cast-iron griddle, the caramel still warm when he hands it to you. Most of it costs under five euros. Some of it will genuinely reshape your idea of what street food can be.
We run food tours in this city for a living. We’re at these markets weekly, often more. What follows isn’t a list we assembled from Google. It’s the markets we personally eat at, shop at, and send our friends to, with specific recommendations for what to put in your mouth when you get there.
Table of contents
- Albert Cuyp Market
- Noordermarkt
- Lindengracht Markt
- Dappermarkt
- Ten Katemarkt
- Nieuwmarkt
- ZuiderMRKT
- Pure Markt and Other Pop-Ups
- Foodhallen
1. Albert Cuyp Market
Best for: Street food, international flavours, the full Amsterdam market experience
Open: Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 5 PM. Closed Sundays
Where: Albert Cuypstraat, De Pijp. Tram 4 to Stadhouderskade, or 15 min walk from Museumplein
I’ll be honest: the first time someone told me Albert Cuyp was “the market you have to see,” I assumed it was one of those overhyped tourist things that locals quietly avoid. It’s not. It’s been running since 1905, it stretches the entire length of Albert Cuypstraat with over 260 stalls, and the food is the real reason to show up.
De Pijp is home to about 150 nationalities, and this Amsterdam street food market is a direct reflection of that. You can eat your way from Suriname to Korea to Lebanon to Turkey in roughly 200 metres, all of it cooked fresh, most of it under €5. The Dutch classics are here too: raw herring, stroopwafels, poffertjes. If you only visit one food market in Amsterdam, this is probably the one.
What to eat at Albert Cuyp Market
Start with a fresh stroopwafel. Not the shrink-wrapped ones from the shop. A real one, pressed on a griddle, sliced open, filled with hot syrup, and handed to you still warm. The texture difference is so dramatic it feels like a different food entirely.
For savoury: the broodje haring (raw herring with pickles and raw onion on a soft white roll) is the most Dutch thing you can eat in Amsterdam. It sounds like a dare. It’s actually mild, clean, and weirdly addictive. If raw fish makes you nervous, kibbeling is the move: battered and fried chunks of cod with garlic sauce, crispy outside, flaky inside. The poffertjes (tiny, pillowy Dutch pancakes drowned in butter and powdered sugar) are worth the queue, and the queue is always there, which tells you something.
If you’re feeling international: the Vietnamese stall near the middle of the market does a banh mi that has no business being this good at a street market. The Surinamese roti stands are exceptional. The Turkish gozleme, made fresh on a flat griddle, is reliably great.
Weekday mornings before 11 AM are the sweet spot. Saturday is the most atmospheric but also the most packed. If you want elbow room, go Tuesday or Wednesday.
We built our Self-Guided De Pijp Street Food Tour around this neighbourhood because it’s the single best area in Amsterdam to eat your way through in a morning. The tour takes you through the Albert Cuyp area with exclusive tastings, local discounts at the stalls we actually eat at, and snackable stops that let you try a lot without overstuffing yourself by stall three. If you’d rather have someone by your side telling you stories and making sure you don’t miss the good stuff, our Private De Pijp Food Tour covers the same ground with a guide.
Find out more
2. Noordermarkt
Best for: Organic produce, artisanal food, Jordaan neighbourhood atmosphere
Open: Saturday 9 AM to 4 PM (organic farmers market). Monday 9 AM to 1 PM (antiques and flea market)
Where: Noordermarkt square, Jordaan. 12 min walk from Centraal Station
If Albert Cuyp is loud, international, and a little chaotic, Noordermarkt is the calm, local, organic-obsessed counterpart that makes you feel like you’ve wandered into a different city entirely. Set on a cobblestone square in front of the 17th-century Noorderkerk in the Jordaan (Amsterdam’s most photogenic neighbourhood, and it knows it), this Saturday farmers market has been running since 1623. Rembrandt was apparently a regular, back when it sold pottery and presumably fewer artisanal sourdough loaves.
These days it’s one of the oldest organic farmers’ markets in Amsterdam. Local farmers bring seasonal vegetables, wild mushrooms (varieties you genuinely won’t find in any shop), raw-milk cheeses, sourdough bread, truffle-infused oils, and cured meats. The vibe is relaxed, the crowd is mostly Dutch, and nobody is trying to sell you a miniature clog.
What to eat at Noordermarkt
The Zeeland oysters are the thing I always end up at first. Shucked to order at the fish stall, stupidly good, and they cost a fraction of what you’d pay sitting down in a restaurant.
You can build a borrelplank (basically a Dutch aperitivo board) from the cheese, bread, and charcuterie stalls: aged Gouda, olive focaccia, wild boar salami. It’s an excellent breakfast if you’re the kind of person who believes breakfast should have salami in it. I am that person.
After you’ve browsed, walk 30 seconds to Cafe Winkel 43 for what many Amsterdammers consider the best apple pie in the city. (Cafe Papeneiland, also touching the square, disagrees strongly. Try both. We’re not settling this one.)
Here’s what I’d recommend: Lindengracht Markt runs on the same day, literally one street over. Do both in a single morning. The Nine Streets shopping area is a 5-minute walk south if you want to keep going.
Our Private Jordaan Food Tour covers this neighbourhood, including Noordermarkt and the surrounding food spots that most visitors walk straight past. If you want someone who knows the Jordaan’s food scene to point you toward the stalls and shops worth your time (and your stomach space), that’s the one.
3. Lindengracht Markt
Best for: Feeling like a local, fresh produce, cheese, no tourist markup
Open: Saturday, 9 AM to 4 PM
Where: Lindengracht, Jordaan. 10-min walk from Centraal Station
If someone who actually lives in Amsterdam had to pick one market for their Saturday shop, a surprising number of them would say Lindengracht. Not Albert Cuyp. Not Noordermarkt. This one. Over 200 stalls, every Saturday in the Jordaan, and the tourist-to-local ratio is so tipped toward locals that you’ll hear Dutch, not English. Prices reflect that too.
The cheese stalls sell proper aged Dutch Gouda cut from full wheels, and several vendors will vacuum-seal your purchase so you can fly it home without your suitcase smelling like a dairy for the next six months. The fish is fresh, the bread is excellent, the flower stalls are gorgeous, and the whole thing takes place on one of the Jordaan’s prettiest streets.
What to eat at Lindengracht Markt
The cheese is the reason to come. Full stop. Look for stalls cutting directly from full wheels of aged Gouda: nutty, slightly crumbly, and miles ahead of anything you’ll find wrapped in plastic at a supermarket. Most vendors will vacuum-seal it if you’re flying it home.
For something ready to eat, the fish stalls are excellent. Kibbeling is the safe bet, while the herring is just as good as anything at Albert Cuyp but without the queues.
The baked goods are also worth your time: fresh stroopwafels, crusty sourdough, and buttery pastries that locals actually buy for the weekend. Not a tourist stroopwafel in sight.
Traversewithtaylor, one of the most popular Amsterdam travel blogs, calls this the single best market in the city and recommends it over Albert Cuyp. It’s a strong case. At minimum, don’t skip it if you’re already in the Jordaan on a Saturday, especially since Noordermarkt is literally one street over.
4.Dappermarkt
Best for: Multicultural food, ingredients you can’t find elsewhere, bargain prices
Open: Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 5 PM
Where: Dapperstraat, Amsterdam Oost. Tram 1/3 to Dapperstraat
Dappermarkt doesn’t make most tourist lists, which is exactly what makes it worth going to. Located in Amsterdam’s diverse East neighbourhood, National Geographic Traveller named it one of the Top 10 Shopping Streets in the World, though you genuinely wouldn’t guess it from the modest setup. It’s 250 stalls of unfiltered, un-gentrified Amsterdam, with prices that start at €1 and a produce selection drawn from Suriname, Morocco, Turkey, Somalia, and everywhere in between.
If you cook, this is your market. Madame Jeanette’s chilies, fresh cassava, taro root, spice blends from East Africa that you cannot buy elsewhere in the city. I’ve tried. If you don’t cook, eat the street food, which is some of the most flavour-dense and cheapest you’ll find in Amsterdam.
What to eat at Dappermarkt
The Surinamese roti stands are the standout. Look for the ones with a queue of Surinamese-Dutch locals (that’s your quality indicator, not the signage). The Turkish doner here is several levels above the generic late-night version you’ll find in the centrum.
Falafel is reliable, and there’s often a stall doing freshly fried Moroccan sfenj (doughnuts) that are absurdly good for €1. One euro. For a doughnut that good. I know.
After, walk 10 minutes east to Brouwerij ‘t IJ, Amsterdam’s original microbrewery, set under a windmill next to Oosterpark. Good beer, great setting, and the kind of afternoon that makes you wonder why you ever eat at restaurants.
5.Ten Katemarkt
Best for: International ingredients, cooking supplies, and combining with Foodhallen
Open: Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 6 PM
Where: Ten Katestraat 34, Amsterdam West. Tram 7/17 to Ten Katestraat
Ten Katemarkt is easy to overlook because Foodhallen is literally next door and gets all the attention. But this is a proper neighbourhood street market: 50+ stalls selling fruit, veg, herbs, spices, and international ingredients along the Kinkerstraat. The kind of place where Moroccan grandmothers buy their fresh mint and Indonesian families stock up on sambal ingredients.
You will feel, correctly, like you’re not the target audience, and that’s exactly why the quality is so high.
What to eat at Ten Katemarkt
Start with the Middle Eastern stalls. The hummus vendors often have multiple variations (the spicy mango one is genuinely worth trying, and I say that as someone who was sceptical about mango in hummus).
Falafel is fresh and consistently good.
The Turkish gozleme, made to order on a flat griddle, is another reliable option.
There’s also a Taiwanese street food stall that punches above its weight, plus a handful of vendors doing fresh juices and smoothies if you want something lighter before heading into Foodhallen next door.
Think of Ten Katemarkt as the warm-up act. A very good warm-up act.
6.Nieuwmarkt
Best for: Central location, cheese, Saturday organic market, combining with city centre sightseeing
Open: Varies. Saturday 9 AM to 5 PM (farmers market). Seasonal rotating markets on other days
Where: Nieuwmarkt square. Metro to Nieuwmarkt
Nieuwmarkt sits on one of Amsterdam’s most recognisable squares, built around the 15th-century Waag (the old weigh house, now a restaurant). The market rotates formats depending on the day and season, but the Saturday organic farmers market is the anchor: fresh produce, bread, cheese, flowers, natural skincare, and handicrafts.
On Fridays there’s a specialty cheese market. If you’re a Gouda obsessive (no shame, this is Amsterdam, you’re supposed to be), this is the place: two-year matured wheels, truffle-infused varieties, and the chance to taste before you buy.
In summer, antiques pop up on Sundays. The square is also the gateway to Amsterdam’s Chinatown, so if you want to keep exploring the food, just walk east.
What to eat at Nieuwmarkt
If you’re here on a Friday or Saturday, the cheese stalls are the highlight. Aged Gouda, truffle-infused varieties, and anything you can taste before committing to. Bread and baked goods are also solid: simple, fresh, and designed to be eaten immediately, ideally while sitting on the edge of the square watching tourists try to figure out what the Waag is.
For something more filling, grab a snack and walk a few minutes into Chinatown, where you’ll find some of the best casual Asian food in the city. It’s not technically part of the market, but it’s close enough that it counts.
This is the most central market on the list, which makes it the easiest to fold into a sightseeing day. The Red Light District, Zeedijk, and Dam Square are all within a 5-minute walk of each other.
7. ZuiderMRKT
Best for: Community feel, curated artisan food, museum district location
Open: Saturday, 9:30 AM to 5 PM
Where: Jacob Obrechtstraat, near Museumplein. Tram 3/5/12 to Van Baerlestraat
ZuiderMRKT is the smallest market on this list. It might also have the best personality. It runs on a co-op model: local residents take over stalls alongside professional artisan vendors, selling produce they’ve sourced directly from farmers.
You’re not browsing a market so much as dropping into a neighbourhood that happens to be selling you things.
The quality is disproportionately high for a market this size. Brandt & Levie sausages (an Amsterdam institution), Eriks Delicatessen cheeses, fresh sourdough, seasonal vegetables, Indonesian takeaway, quiches, homemade spreads, olive oils, and occasionally wine tasting.
If you’re spending the day at the Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh Museum, it’s a 10-minute walk.
What to eat at ZuiderMRKT
Start with Brandt & Levie sausages, usually grilled and served hot. The cheese selection from Eriks Delicatessen is consistently excellent, and the sourdough bread is some of the best you’ll find at any market in the city.
There’s usually a rotating mix of Indonesian food, quiches, and homemade spreads. It’s less about ticking off dishes and more about building a really good, simple meal from a few high-quality stalls.
The kind of market where you leave carrying a bag of things you didn’t plan to buy and feeling extremely pleased about it.
8. Pure Markt and Other Pop-Up Markets
Best for: Artisan food in a park setting, weekend brunch vibes, seasonal events
Open: Pure Markt: last Sunday of the month at Park Frankendael, second Sunday of the month at Amstelpark. 12 to 6 PM
Where: Rotating locations. Check puremarkt.nl for upcoming dates
Amsterdam has a strong pop-up market culture, and Pure Markt is the best of them. It sets up in parks several times a month and focuses entirely on artisanal food and drink: small-batch producers selling organic sourdough, smoked fish, handmade ravioli, craft gin, Surinamese street food, and freshly shucked oysters. The park settings (Frankendael is particularly beautiful) make it feel more like a food festival than a market, and the quality bar is noticeably higher than most.
The Sunday Market in Westerpark (first Sunday of each month) is also worth noting. It’s more design and fashion-oriented, but a handful of food trucks park up alongside the creative stalls, and the Westerpark cafes are excellent. If you’re in Amsterdam on the right weekend, either of these is worth building your afternoon around.
What to eat at Pure Markt
Expect small-batch producers doing things properly: handmade ravioli, smoked fish, organic sourdough, and craft desserts.
The oysters are a standout if you want something indulgent. Pair it with a drink (natural wines, craft beers, and small-batch spirits are everywhere) and treat it more like a long, relaxed lunch than a quick market stop.
This isn’t the kind of place you rush through. It’s the kind of place where you sit on the grass with a glass of something and lose two hours without noticing.
9. Foodhallen
Best for: Rainy days, evening eating, craft cocktails, upmarket street food
Open: Daily, 12 PM to 11 PM (until midnight Friday and Saturday)
Where: Bellamyplein 51, Amsterdam West. Tram 7/17 to Ten Katestraat
I saved Foodhallen for last because it’s the one you’ll probably need. Amsterdam’s weather is famously unreliable, and Foodhallen exists for the days it lives up to its reputation.
This indoor food market is housed in a converted tram depot in Amsterdam West, fully covered and heated, with about 20 stalls serving food that’s genuinely a notch above what you’d expect from a market setting.
Several vendors were started by chefs with Michelin experience, which sounds like marketing speak until you taste the food and realise it’s just true.
The format is simple: walk around, order from whichever stalls catch your eye, eat at the communal tables in the middle. There’s a proper cocktail bar and craft beer options. Weekends bring live music. It gets buzzy in the evenings without feeling overwhelming, which is a combination Amsterdam doesn’t always pull off.
What to eat at Foodhallen
The Butcher does the best burger in the building. De Ballenbar makes bitterballen (the deep-fried Dutch bar snack that’s basically a legal requirement after 5 PM) with creative fillings ranging from truffle to rendang.
Renato’s pizza is properly Neapolitan, not the sad triangle kind. The Vietnamese stall is strong. For something sweet, the churros or the Dutch-style pancakes both work.
Friday and Saturday evenings are packed. Lunchtime on a weekday is the best time for a relaxed visit. And since Ten Katemarkt is right next door, you can combine the two without even trying.
When to Visit Amsterdam’s Food Markets: A Quick Guide
Saturdays are the big day. Noordermarkt, Lindengracht, Nieuwmarkt, and ZuiderMRKT all run on Saturdays. Albert Cuyp, Dappermarkt, and Ten Katemarkt are open Monday through Saturday. Foodhallen is open daily. Plan accordingly.
Get there early. 9 to 11 AM is the window. The produce is freshest, stalls are fully stocked, and crowds haven’t built up yet. By early afternoon, popular items sell out and some vendors start packing down.
Cash still matters. Card payments are increasingly accepted, but smaller stalls (particularly at Dappermarkt and Albert Cuyp) are often cash-only.
Hit an ATM before you go. This is not the time to discover your card doesn’t work.
Combine strategically. Noordermarkt plus Lindengracht is the natural Saturday double (they’re one street apart, it would be strange not to). Ten Katemarkt plus Foodhallen is the natural West side pairing. Albert Cuyp is best done solo because it’s big enough to fill a morning on its own.
Weather plan. If it rains (it will), Foodhallen is the indoor backup. Everything else is outdoors and unprotected. Dress accordingly, or just accept that you’re going to get a bit wet. This is Amsterdam. It’s part of the deal.
Frequently Asked Questions About Amsterdam Food Markets
What is the most famous food market in Amsterdam?
Albert Cuyp Market in De Pijp is the most famous and the largest, with over 260 stalls. It has been running since 1905 and is the most popular outdoor market in the Netherlands.
What is the best street food to try at Amsterdam markets?
Fresh stroopwafels (caramel-filled waffle cookies made on a griddle), raw herring on a roll (broodje haring), kibbeling (battered fried cod with garlic sauce), bitterballen (deep-fried meat ragout balls), and poffertjes (tiny fluffy pancakes with butter and sugar). Albert Cuyp Market and Foodhallen are the best places to try all of these in one visit.
Are Amsterdam food markets open on Sundays?
Most outdoor markets close on Sundays. Foodhallen is open daily. Pure Markt runs on select Sundays at park locations around the city. The Sunday Market in Westerpark happens on the first Sunday of each month.
Which Amsterdam market has the fewest tourists?
Lindengracht Markt and Dappermarkt have the highest local-to-tourist ratios. Both are excellent for authentic food at local prices. Noordermarkt on Saturday mornings also skews heavily local.
Is there a food market near the Rijksmuseum?
ZuiderMRKT runs on Saturdays and is a 10-minute walk from the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. Albert Cuyp Market is also about 15 minutes’ walk from Museumplein.
Want a Local to Show You Around?
Look, we built these tours because we kept sending friends to these markets with a list of instructions on a napkin and thinking, “there has to be a better version of this.”
Our Self-Guided De Pijp Street Food Tour is that version. It takes you through the Albert Cuyp area with exclusive tastings, local discounts, and the backstories of the food and the people who make it, all at your own pace, with snackable stops so you can actually taste everything without needing to be rolled home.
If you’d rather have a guide (someone who knows where the good stalls hide and has opinions about stroopwafels), our Private De Pijp Food Tour covers the same ground with a local by your side.
For the Jordaan neighbourhood, our Private Jordaan Food Tour takes you through the Noordermarkt area and the surrounding food spots that most visitors miss entirely. It’s the kind of morning that makes you feel like you live here. Temporarily, at least.