Has anyone been to the Aalsmeer flower auction? Is it worth going to? I see the best time to go is between 7-9am. I land at the Schiphol airport (which i see is very close) at 6:30am and wanted to go directly to the auction. Is there easy transportation from the airport to Aalsmeer? Can I bring my suitcase to the auction? Is there any place to leave it? I don't mind dragging it behind me but will I be allowed in with the suitcase? I don't want to go into Amsterdam and leave it at the hotel and then travel back the way I just came. Seems like a waste of time. We are in Amsterdam Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so the day we arrive is the only possible day to go.

Hi Lynnie, we went to the auction a few years ago and thought it was well worth the early morning. Its really pretty amazing to see all the beautiful flowers zipping around in the carts and the colours are stunning. I just wanted to grab up bunches and bunches. We ended up going in the wrong entrance and getting totally lost until an ex-employee (who had come to visit) took us under his wing and gave us a private tour. We even went down onto the floor and saw areas that the public don't normally get to see. You actually view the entire operation from overhead walkways above the action.

We had a car so I can't help you with transportation but they are really geared up for tourists so I imagine if you email them and ask I am sure they would let you know if you could store your luggage for a short time. You certainly wouldn't be able to drag it along the walkways I shouldn't think as its mesh type metal from what I remember.

I hope you manage to get there, I am sure you will have an interesting and enjoyable time and make sure you have plenty of memory in your camera!

Thanks Maudie

I figured that it would be difficult to drag the luggage while trying to take the tour.

What time in the AM did you arrive? How long do you need to view everything in the auction house? Did you see anything else while you were there?

You could leave your suitcases at Schiphol and return there to collect them.
Catch either bus 198, which goes directly to the flower auction, or bus 300 to Amstelveen bus station then 72 towards Kudelstaart. That also goes past the auction.

DO the same thing back to Schiphol, collect your bags and get the train in to Amsterdam.

Alternatively, but more expensively take a taxi, having left your bags, and phone for one to collect you to go back to Schiphol after our tour.

Hi again Lynnie

I should imagine it would be pretty easy to grab a cab from the airport to get there, it's not that far. When I "googled" Aalsmeer flower auctions there was info about catching the bus from the city so there has to be one going back.

I really don't remember what time we got there but it was probably around 8-8.30. I don't recall it being an actual tour you just went up onto the walkways which I think were in a one-way direction and just wandered along. You could spend 2 hours there or just 1 depending on how much you were enjoying it. It's over a huge area too.

We spent ages watching the carts whiz around then watched one or two of the auctions, a couple of the propagating labs then of course there is the obligatory gift shop to entice you.

The overall size and scale of the place blew us away and that was apart from the millions and millions of flowers. We went to the flower market in Amsterdam early one morning and purchased a bunch of tulips for our room.

Hope you have fun and enjoy it.

Aalsmeer really is awesome--and I didn't even get there until after the auction. (Some bus issues, plus I just didn't start early enough; at that time, there wasn't a lot of info.) But definitely go if you can; there's nothing like seeing entire football fields worth of flowers moving about.

Maudie, hetismij, Amy,

Thanks for all your help. All the info you give me makes traveling in an unfamiliar place that much easier. I was able to send an email to the auction complex and they were kind enough to respond. They said that we could put our luggage in their offices until we finished the tour rather than lugging it around. I thought that was so nice of them. I will talk to the other couple and see what type of transportation they want to use.
lynnie