Most shops are located in the city centre, concentrated around the Oudegracht, Vredeburg and Neude. There is also a large shopping centre extending east from the city centre in the direction of the Wilhelminapark. For general shop info and their openings hours you can visit openingstijden.nl it shows an overview of the most popular shops.
Hoog Catharijne, is a is large indoor shopping area connected to the central hall of Utrecht Centraal Station, the main railway station of Utrecht.
Books. Broese is a large bookstore at Stadhuisbrug 5. They have a fair selection of English books. Nearby there is also De Slegte , at Oudegracht 121, which has a wide selection of second hand books. Bijleveld at the Janskerkhof is an old bookstore with beautiful wooden show windows.
Music. Plato at Voorstraat 35 has a fair selection at reasonable prices. Boudisque at the Drieharingenstraat (near Vredenburg) the largest record store in Utrecht. Jazz, Classical music, Pop music and DVDs all have their own store. There are several stores operated by the large chain Free Record Shop all over the shopping area. Near the Vredenburg the Revenge has a fair selection of vinyl, focusing on electronic music.
Markets. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays there is a large open air market on the Vredenburg square. On Saturdays you can find a plant market on the Janskerkhof and a flower market on the Oudegracht. The Breedstraat houses a large fabric market (lapjesmarkt) on Saturdaymornings (0900-1300).
At Stationsplein 7 there is a give-away shop, open Tuesdays 1400-1800 and Saturdays 1400-1700.
El Beso, At Nobelstraat there is an excellent Wine, life and style shop, called El Beso (Spanish for Kiss). On Saturdays you can just walk in and try a wine, no buying obligations. International crowd.
Narcotics. Sarasani, opened in 1968, is the oldest coffee shop in the Netherlands. Located at Oudegracht 327 a/d werf, which means it is on the canal level, and physically sits under the main street. Sarisani is closed down at the moment(Sep 2007), let’s hope not for long. On Wednesdays and Saturdays Joepi makes a round through the center of Utrecht to deliver food and beverages with a little ‘extra’, mainly psychedelics, cannabis and energetic herbs.
Used cars. The Utrecht Car Market is one of the largest car markets in Europe, offering more than 2,000 second-hand vehicles every week and visited by buyers from all parts of the world. The market is open every Tuesday from 6 a.m. except on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day if they fall on a Tuesday.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Utrecht
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Utrecht - updated May 2024
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Utrecht Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
