Aalsmeer is a small Dutch town about 20 km southwest of Amsterdam, best known for one extraordinary fact: the Royal FloraHolland flower auction located here is the largest flower auction — and one of the largest buildings by footprint — in the world. On a typical morning, some 12 to 20 million cut flowers and plants change hands in its vast halls before being trucked to nearby Schiphol Airport and flown to destinations across Europe and beyond. Roses from Kenya and tulips from Dutch greenhouses are auctioned, packed, and gone within a few hours of arrival.
Tours of the auction are available on weekday mornings and the spectacle is remarkable — elevated walkways above a sea of flowers on rolling trolleys, Dutch-clock auctions ticking down in seconds, the sheer industrial scale of something as inherently delicate as flower trading. Book in advance; visitor slots are limited.
Beyond the auction, Aalsmeer has a pleasant village centre and the Westeinderplassen — a large lake complex to the south, formed by centuries of peat extraction, that is popular for sailing and cycling. The Historische Tuin gives context to the local horticultural history. It is easy to combine Aalsmeer with a visit to Amsterdam or a layover at Schiphol.