Well forgetting the dope smoking, the canals and of course the tasty Heineken nothing symbolises Amsterdam like the Tulip and no visit to this fascinating European city is complete without a visit to the Amsterdam Tulip Museum. Located at Prinsengracht 112 beside the canal and in easy walking distance of Central Station and many of the major city sights. The museum shop has a wonderful array of bulbs, flowers and everything tulip. There are some lovely souvenirs, books, prints and even specialised gardening tools and equipment. The perfect place to pick up some mementos from Holland for your friends back home. The museum will send bulbs by post overseas but please check with your friendly customs people before ordering to see if there are any restrictions on importing bulbs into your country. Tulip Bulbs are usually available around September through to the end of the year but many other varieties are available at other times.

Back in 1862 with no room to set up shop a floating flower shop was set up on the southern canal belt of Amsterdam on the Singel between Muntplein and Koningsplein. This took off and today more than 15 stalls now on barges are tied to the canal banks. Here you can find tulips, narcissus and other bulbs and some of the most beautiful cut flowers and even small marijuana plants and seeds which are sort of legal in the Netherlands. The colors and the perfumes of the flowers are amazing and well worth a visit. The markets get very busy in the mornings so to avoid the rush pop in after lunch, they will still have an amazing array of flowers and bulbs.