An antique koekeplank (cookie mould)? Blue-and-white Delftware? A box of those delicious hard candies called Haagse Hopjes? A cutting-edge vest styled by Viktor & Rolf? Whether you go for Baroque or postmillennium, the variety of goods available here is one of the major joys of shopping in Amsterdam. Style-setters invariably begin shop-hopping their way through the elegant boutiques of the grachtengordel, or girdle of canals, where they find a concentration of specialty and fashion shops along the "nine little street," or negen straatjes. And everybody usually ends up at the year-round outdoor flea market at Waterlooplein, a holdover from the pushcart days in the Jewish Quarter.

Shopping hours in The Netherlands are regulated by law: one night a week is reserved for late shopping. In Amsterdam, department stores and many other shops are closed Monday morning but are open Thursday evening. Increasingly, following an easing of legislation governing shopping hours, you'll find main branches of major stores in the center of the city open on Sunday afternoon.