Visiting the Aalsmeer Flower Auction – a gigantic Dutch flower market

Last winter Natascha found herself engrossed in Amy Stewart’s “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful.” The non-fiction book delves deep into the intricate world of the global flower industry. One chapter caught her attention with its detailed look at the Aalsmeer Flower Auction, one of the largest flower auctions in the world.

Reading the description, Natascha was fascinated by the contradiction: the fleeting beauty of flowers vs. the world of auctions and trade. In Aalsmeer these worlds are clearly clashing. We got intrigued to see for ourselves that bustling and economical world of flowers, so much in contrast to beauty and romanticism.

With plans already set to take the overnight ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle in Northern England, we seized the opportunity to visit this renowned auction personally. This is already the second time we go flower hunting within a year. Last summer we went on a kayak tour to see the rare Sagaribana flowers in Okinawa/ Japan.

In this blog post, we’ll share our experience and let you know what to expect when you visit the Aalsmeer Flower Auction at the Royal Flora near Amsterdam.

History of the Aalsmeer Flower Auction

Netherland and tulips go together. But did you know that the first tulips arrived in Holland from the Ottoman Empire in the 16^th century? And soon more and more growers expanded beyond tulips to a variety of different flowers. By the early 20^th century, the flower industry had become so large that a first flower auction was founded in Aalsmeer in 1912.

And by the 1960s, the Aalsmeer Flower Auction had become the largest flower market in the world! This development soon required the construction of a massive new complex in 1972. This new facility, located near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, allowed for the efficient export of flowers to international markets. Thereby the new setup was cementing the Netherlands’ position as the global hub of floriculture.

In 2014 the Aalsmeer Flower Auction merged with a few other regional cooperatives to form the Royal Flora Holland, as it is now officially called. Today the Royal Flora Holland operates the largest trading platform for flowers and plants worldwide. This flower marketplace is not restricted to Aalsmeer anymore. However, the Aalsmeer facility remains at the centre of the operations and auctions. Every day, a dazzling array of flowers – ranging from classic tulips to orchids and other exotic blossoms – passes through the large halls.

And different from many other wholesale markets, it is possible to visit the Aalsmeer flower market halls. On a visit you learn how these quantities of quickly withering joy are handled, sold, and brought to your local flower dealer.

Getting an early start is essential 

We had read that arriving early was essential to experience the Aalsmeer Flower Auction in full swing.  Arriving around 7 am would be best, we gathered. The day before we had already passed the sprawling industrial halls of the Royal Flora by bus. The flower market halls cover an area of more than 200 football fields, so it is not obvious from a map where the visitor entrance would be. But we knew already that we were headed for the bus stop “Flori Park” to get to the only entrance where visitors can enter the premises.

After buying an entrance ticket we climb a few steps and enter the unbelievably huge halls of the flower market. Visitors and staff can navigate the halls on foot on metal walkways at a height of around 5 meters. And that’s not only to give you a good overview – it is much safer up there! On the floor downstairs, hundreds of staff are whizzing around in small electro carts with trailers full of flowers.

The system of this large operation seems very intricate. Just by watching it is hopeless for us to understand what exactly is happening there! But luckily an App-based audio guide and some panels provide additional explanations. So, by and by we figure out which flowers are at what stage in their auction process.

From the auction to the buyer

Off the sides of the huge hall, we see connected storage halls where each seller keeps the flowers until the auction takes place.

On our elevated walkway, we first pass the place where workers move the boxes of flowers immediately after the auction. The flowers are generally stacked on mobile storage carts, dozens of them in a bucket, dozens of buckets on a cart. Every transaction at the flower auction involves at least several buckets but not necessarily a full cart. So, every bucket of flowers is marked with a barcode, ensuring each batch can be tracked at all times. This meticulous system guarantees that all flowers reach their destinations swiftly.

Hundreds of people in orange and yellow high-visibility vests are whizzing around on little trolleys that at first glance look like small forklift trucks without the fork. Instead, the trollies have a coupling at the back where the flower carts go.

The workers stand on the trolleys, using a leaning seat like those found in some underground trains. When they collect a new cart, they scan the barcode details and head off, receiving real-time instructions via headsets. Their next destination is the collecting points for all the buyers of the flower batches on this particular cart. They navigate the bustling space to get to a set of coordinates denoting the buyer’s location, load off some flower buckets on the buyer’s cart, and receive the next instruction from the headset. This seamless coordination keeps the process always moving, ensuring that every flower finds its way from auction to buyer with incredible efficiency.

A shipment gets ready

Now the flowers stand on a different cart at the collection point of the buyer. Once all the flowers that a single buyer has bought in auction have arrived at that collection point, a worker from the buyer’s side links these carts in a row. Then they go to the buyer’s distribution centre, where workers prepare the flowers for further shipping. These procedure takes place in several halls. Most of the transport is done with the little trolleys. However, we also notice self-driving flower carts in some areas. And in addition, there is also an automatic conveyer belt system in operation that transports flower carts like a cable car into a different set of halls across a busy road.

Most of the flowers at the Royal Flora in Aalsmeer are standing upright in standard auction plastic buckets, but some others, like orchids, come in lightproof cartons instead.

You would expect so many flowers to be wonderfully fragrant. But surprisingly, this sea of flowers hardly smells at all. Flowers need strength and energy, both to develop a fragrance and to keep firm and crisp. In order to prolong the blooming life of flowers, most of the fragrances have been bred away.

The famous flower auction clock at the Royal Flora in Aalsmeer

From the iron walkway we also get a glimpse of the auction room. It is dark and not in use. Before our visit, we had read about the famous auction clock at the Royal Flora. Unlike traditional auctions where prices go up with each bid, the Aalsmeer flower auction clock operates in reverse. A large circular clock displays a price that starts high and decreases by the second. Buyers must act quickly, pressing a button to stop the clock and secure their purchase before someone else does.

To our disappointment we find out that the auction rooms are no longer in use. Nowadays, all the bidding takes place online. However, there is a screen at the souvenir shop showing the live auction clock. Since we have read about it both beforehand and on the panels along the visitor pathway, we know in theory how the auction clock works. So we try to follow the development of one auction process: What is on offer? Who is selling, how many flowers are the minimum set? But everything is happening so incredibly fast that the next batch of flowers is on by the time we have even read the description!

The staff at the souvenir shop who had been answering our questions patiently now reassures us:

“You have to learn the bidding for about one year – and then you need another year to find out if you are any good at it and are going to pursue a career in flower bidding.”

An opportunity to take some silly pictures

At the end of the walkway visitors get an opportunity to take pictures on one of the flower carts and to try their hand at a flower bidding game. And you can cut yourself into a promotion video for the Royal Flora. We did all this and had a lot of fun.

How to get to the Aalsmeer Flower Auction at the Dutch Royal Flora?

There is a direct bus from Amsterdam Central station going straight to the auction buildings in Aalsmeer. However, to arrive early you will have to take a bus at 6 am or earlier. We chose to stay at a hotel in the centre of Aalsmeer from where it was a 15-minute bus ride (1 change) or 40 minutes walking.

Is the Aalsmeer Flower Auction worth a visit?

We spent around two hours in the huge flower halls, which should be enough for most visitors. From the overground walkways we got some fantastic views onto one of the world’s largest flower markets. It was fascinating to see the commercial side of flowers, the more so as we are used to think of flowers in a more romantic way.  

What else to see in Aalsmer?

If you decide to stay in the town of Aalsmeer, there are two more sights to visit, both connected with flowers. On the one hand there is an art museum that focuses on flower art. And on the other hand, the Historical Garden that deals with the history of Aalsmeer’s horticulture since 1700. As we visited on a Monday, unfortunately both were closed. There are some nice canals to walk along, however. 

Normally, we are not so much into flowers and gardens, but we also enjoyed a visit to the gardens of Prince Pückler-Muskau in Germany. And of course, we read up on the theory of Persian gardens when we visited Iran.

We received no sponsoring to write this travel blog post and paid the full price for the entrance ticket to the Aalsmeer Flower Auction.

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