Plantage, Amsterdam
Hortus Botanicus
Six thousand plant species behind a wall, ten minutes from the busiest square in town.
- Best at
- Morning, Afternoon
- Kind
- Outdoors
- Page
- Written by us
- Image
- Mood still, made by us
The place
Founded in 1638 as a medicinal herb garden and still laid out like somebody's obsession. Iron and glass palm houses, condensation on old panes, paths that curl between ferns and cacti and things that have been alive longer than the country. The butterfly house is warm enough to fog your glasses. It is small, and that is the point: you can see all of it and still not have seen it.
Before you go
Rainy weekday mornings are close to empty, and the glasshouses are the one place in Amsterdam where rain is an advantage.
