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One of the things I like best about Amsterdam is the fact that it’s such a green city! The entire place is like a big garden. Even though the space is not always generous, people are planting flowers everywhere and we can admire them almost all year long.

In the middle of this big garden, in the beautiful Plantage area, there’s another one, smaller and a bit more exotic: Hortus Botanicus or the Botanical Gardens of Amsterdam. After you’re done admiring the tulips, roses or whatever is in season around the city, you can have a stop at this lovely place, to see their collections of rare plants.

History of Hortus Amsterdam

Hortus Botanicus is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, founded in 1638 by the Amsterdam City Council to serve as an herb garden for doctors and apothecaries. That was a time when botanical extracts were the primary treatment for ilnesses. Hortus Medicus, as it was named by then, served also as a place of training for physicians and pharmacists. The initial collection was put together through plants and seeds brought back by traders from the Dutch East India Company. Over the centuries, the botanical garden of Amsterdam expanded its plant collection and continued to be a place for research. There is even a Hortus library, with some prestigious works of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, which is now located at the University of Amsterdam University Library. Nowadays, Hortus Botanicus is a place that attracts many local and international tourists.

Nowadays, Hortus Botanicus is a quiet and relaxed space where tourists and locals visit for an afternoon walk. It’s not very big and usually not too crowded, so a few hours only are enough for a visit. You will leave this place in a Zen mood and ready to face the hustle and bustle of the city once more!

What can you find at the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam?

The botanical garden of Amsterdam has a few greenhouses, a garden, a pond with giant water lilies, a space for events and creative activities and a cool cafe to stop by for a drink. Here are a few of the sections that can be visited:

The Three Climate Greenhouse – here you can find three different zones with different climates, representing the subtropics, the desert, and the tropics. It was designed in 1993 by Zwarts & Jansma Architects. The Hortus is planning to undergo a huge renovation of this greenhouse in a sustainable manner.

The Palm greenhouse – which is a protected monument, designed in 1911 by the architect Johan Melchior van der Mey for the Professor Hugo de Vries. It houses a collection of palms, palm ferns (Cycadees) and container plants. Most of the container plants are moved outside for the summer but some stay inside. That’s the case for the famous 350-year-old Encephalartos altensteinii.

The butterfly greenhouse – housing hundreds of tropical butterflies, it’s a magical place if you like butterflies. Here you can watch and get very close to splendid butterflies, but watch out: it will make your glasses and camera lens very steamy! The plants growing in this greenhouse (like cacao trees, tea, rice, pepper plants, and sugarcane), play an important role in the education programmes of the Hortus.

In the summer, from 2 May until 29 August, De Hortus is open until late in the evening for the Hortus Summer Nights. You can enjoy this beautiful space, including the cafe, until 9 pm.

If you are a photographer, you can pay a fee to be allowed to do photo sessions in the botanical garden. Oh and BTW — break for shameless promotion — if you are someone who wants to have a beautiful photo session there, you can book yours truly as a photographer! Check out my photo sessions to see if we are a match.

Practical info about visiting Hortus Amsterdam: keep in mind that the place is pin-only, so you can’t use cash here. Also, the Museum Card is not granting you free entrance to this place (a minus point for attracting the locals), but you have free entrance with the I Amsterdam City card.

For more information, please visit the Hortus Botanicus website, and for a quick impression, here are some photos, taken in spring:

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