Maastricht : shopping paradise

The well conserved and excellently maintained small-scale Wyck quarter on the Eastern bank of the Meuse offers a refined shopping culture, with its renowned and long-established stores specialized in art, antiques, design, home furnishings and accessories and fashion, and its delicatessens. Much of the former glory of the quarter has been preserved in its late 19th century Stationstraat and Wycker Brugstraat, and its 17th-18th century Rechtstraat and Hoogbrugstraat.

The city's Western quarter on the Meuse with the oldest region around the Stokstraat district - has a particular appeal to visitors. It offers them a large number of convivial (pavement) cafes and restaurants alternating between exclusive and specialized stores, inclusive of famous fashion houses, interior stores with home accessories and furniture, jewellers, antique shops, and galleries. This quarter is bordered by the attractive and surprising shopping streets in the Jeker district, such as the Sint Pieterstraat.

The old centre between St. Servaasbrug and the Market accommodates a large number of shopping streets and alleys. During the course of 2003 the Bijenkorf concern opened its first department store in Limburg, on the Maastrichter Brugstraat. The city also possesses a mall, the Brusselse Poort shopping centre, which is located on the Dr. Bakstraat at the periphery of the city centre.

Bargains A Fortnight Ahead Of Time

Not content with having a delightful shopping mall at their disposal, the people of Maastricht are also benefiting from an early sales period. Indeed, these are beginning approximately a month before the official Belgian date! An additional reason for going out of your way to get there for your Christmas shopping or for simply spoiling yourself a little in advance. The more so as the shops of our Dutch neighbours generally offer the latest innovations of designer fashion. Pretty avant-garde and even sometimes straightforwardly eccentric, the international brands available in Holland will astonish and enchant the world and his wife.

The opening hours differ slightly from those in Belgium:

• on Thursdays : it's a shopping night until 9.00 PM
• on Saturdays : shops close at 5.00 or 6.00 PM
• on Sundays : shops are closed except on the first Sunday of the month (and in November and December)
• during the rest of the week :  most shops are open until 6.00 PM 

 How to get there?

• By car : minimum 1h20 journey and it is impossible to park elsewhere than in the underground payings carparks
• By train : 1h30 journet and between 10 and 20€ a return ticket