Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam

The Hortus Botanicus is the calmest hour you can spend in central Amsterdam, and for garden lovers it is a genuine treasure. It was founded in 1638 by the city as a hortus medicus, a garden of medicinal plants for doctors and apothecaries, at a time when the plague made herbal knowledge vital. As the Dutch East India Company's ships brought back seeds and plants from Asia, Africa and the Americas, the garden became one of the great collections of exotic plants in Europe, and it moved to its present site in the Plantage in the 1680s. Its most famous story concerns coffee: a coffee plant grown here was given to the King of France in the early eighteenth century, and its descendants are said to have founded the coffee plantations of Central and South America. Today the garden holds thousands of plant species in a compact space. Outdoors, beds of medicinal plants, a pond, venerable trees and the semicircular order beds create a quiet, green maze. Indoors, the Palm House, a monumental glasshouse from the early twentieth century, shelters cycads, including one that has lived in the garden for centuries; the Three Climates Greenhouse, a modern glass building, takes you from subtropical to tropical rainforest to desert in a few steps; and the Butterfly Greenhouse is warm and full of colourful tropical butterflies, a favourite with children on a cold day. The orangery is now a café with a terrace in the garden. Admission is modest, payment is by card only, and children under four go free.

Why go: in a city of big museums, the Hortus is a small, restorative pleasure, and its history ties directly into the Golden Age trade networks you see celebrated elsewhere. Even in winter the greenhouses are warm, humid and fragrant, making it an excellent rainy-day refuge, and in spring and summer the outdoor garden is lovely. The Palm House is partially closed for renovation and a new part of the garden is being developed, so some areas may be restricted during your visit; the rest of the garden and the other greenhouses remain open.

Visiting well: the Hortus is open every day except Christmas Day and New Year's Day, with standard daytime hours. Tickets are available on the door, paid by card only, or online with a skip-the-line option on busy days. Allow about an hour, or longer if you want to linger in the café. Children from five to seventeen pay a reduced rate, and holders of the I amsterdam City Card enter free. Guided tours can be requested in advance. Paths are mostly flat, and the greenhouses are accessible, although some can be humid and warm, so dress in layers. Bring a camera for the butterflies and the giant water lilies in season.

Around the Hortus: the garden sits in the Plantage, a leafy district of nineteenth-century villas and broad streets that is one of the most pleasant parts of the city to walk. ARTIS zoo is a few minutes away, the Dutch Resistance Museum is nearby, and the Jewish Cultural Quarter, with the Portuguese Synagogue and the National Holocaust Museum, is just across the Nieuwe Herengracht. The Rembrandt House and the Waterlooplein market are a short walk west. Combine the Hortus with the Rembrandt House in the morning and ARTIS in the afternoon for a full day in this eastern part of the centre.