A Garden Center Road Trip To The Netherlands
As Dutchmen, we’re blessed to have so many wonderful and professional garden centres. Multiple times a year, I receive questions about stores that are worth visiting. That’s a difficult question since there’s no clear answer. Do you like big & bold? Low budget and discount? Plant-focused, or lifestyle & events? To help you plan your next garden centre road trip to the Netherlands, here’s a curated list of the best stores you shouldn’t miss.
It’s not a complete list of garden centres since Google Maps can do that perfectly for you. It’s simply my handpicked selection of garden centres worth visiting! I give some hints & guidance with each store, but you’d better go to see how they operate yourself. I also asked around for recommendations, so it’s a list made by insiders, and it will make your life easier for sure.
Practical Tips
Before I share my list, I have a few tips. We’re in a small country, so it’s not complicated to drive around. From North to South is about 3 hours, and from Schiphol Airport, all stores are within a 2-hour driving distance.
There’s no way you can skip the Intratuin group: it’s the biggest group with very nice & successful centres. The group is not a central group but a franchise, which means the stores are still owned by individuals or families. One Intratuin can be very different from another one. I added a few noticeable ones below, but you can pick other stores on your trip as well.
Other groups worth knowing about:
Ranzijn, a garden centre with a large pet area and vets
GroenRijk, a franchise group with medium-sized stores
Welkoop, this comes a bit close to the country stores known in the US & Canada
If available, owners are likely happy to welcome you for a chat. But we’re Dutch, so it’s very rare to disclose figures like revenue. Just so you know!
An important difference between North America and the Netherlands is that garden centres are not plant centres. Most DIY stores (Hornbach, Praxis, Gamma and others) do have a large or small range of plants and garden products, but garden centres are very strong in barbecues, garden furniture and other outdoor living products. In the US and Canada, these product groups are mostly at DIY or big-box stores, which we don’t have at all.
Below you will find a list for your road trip, and for your convenience, I’ve split up the country into four parts: West (the Amsterdam/Schiphol area), South, East and North. And I added a little bonus after these 4 areas.
West of the Netherlands
The west of the Netherlands is technically what you call Holland, the Amsterdam/Rotterdam area. My tips in this area for a day trip from Schiphol:
Tuincentrum de Bosrand Wassenaar/Oegstgeest
Wassenaar is the flagship store of this family-owned group. Oegsgeest is newly build. It’s a typical garden centre as you know it in the Netherlands: lots of plants, lifestyle and a restaurant. The thing I like in Wassenaar is that they have an interesting mix of plants for pretty affordable prices, yet also very expensive lifestyle products
Rijksstraatweg 361-B, 2245 AB Wassenaar
or
De Boeg 10, 2343 HK Oegstgeest
Intratuin Zevenhuizen
One of the bigger (busier) stores of the group, and worth a visit for sure. It’s Intratuin, so the retail side of things is good & clever. It simply works!
Bredeweg 86-C, 2761 KA Zevenhuizen
Van der Spek
Only 1 km away from Intratuin Zevenhuizen is Van der Spek. They started as a kind of discount farm store, but that has grown into a very busy discount garden centre. All the fancy retailing you can see at Zevenhuizen: forget about it. It’s a lot for a low price. Nothing complicated yet very successful & busy. They opened a new store around 2022, and it’s a hotspot for sure.
Bredeweg 110, 2761 KB Zevenhuizen
Tuincentrum Osdorp
This garden centre is only 10 minutes from Schiphol. A long time ago, it was on the outskirts of the city, but today it’s in the middle of a bunch of high-rise buildings (Dutch high-rise, no skyscrapers!). They have a great webshop, fully integrated into their garden centre operations. It’s easy to see what hobby the owner has if you walk into the BBQ area.
Osdorperweg 247, 1069 LL Amsterdam
De Boet
In the northern tip of Holland, you can find De Boet. One of the biggest independent stores in the Netherlands. They have a very wide product range, including DIY. De Boet is a go-to place for people living in this part of the country.
Ooster Boekelweg 2a, 1718 LN Hoogwoud
Not to miss: Boskoop
The Boskoop area, between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, is where many nurseries are located. You can also find a multitude of nurseries and small retail stores that are also selling to the public. If you have time, just visit the Boskoop area and drive around.
Esveld is a very special place with a lot of rare specimen plants. It feels like a park but is still a store - see the photo above. A few hundred meters down the road, you can go to the Proeftuin van Holland for lunch and tour around their gardens.
North of the Netherlands
The North of the country is where the fewest people live, so there are also fewer garden centres. But there are still multiple good ones to visit!
Groencentrum Witmarsum
This garden centre is a really well-run organisation. It’s medium-sized, started 25 years ago and is an established name in the north by now. They also own the holiday village on the opposite side of the street and tend to attract tourists to both their enterprises. Their Christmas displays are spot-on and worth a stop.
It Fliet 3, 8748 EA Witmarsum
Tuindorado Drachten
Tuindorado has multiple stores in the north, but this is their primary location. It’s a family-owned business and a really smooth store. There’s nothing special: they don’t have the biggest Christmas displays, the wildest BBQ area or the largest restaurant. But it’s just a really good store to see how Dutch garden centres operate.
Het Zuid 26A, 9203 TD Drachten
Tuinland (4 locations)
Tuinland is a regional chain with stores in Groningen, Assen, Wilp en Zwolle. All centres are medium-sized and will give you a good impression of how Dutch garden centres operate. Tuinland used to be part of Intratuin (until 2004) but since then, they have been operated as an independent business. The store in Assen has both a garden centre and a home-deco store.
Borgstee 70, 9403 TV Assen
Good to know: if you drive North from Schiphol, you can also visit De Boet.
The South of the Netherlands
The South is where the magic happens! Life is more relaxed, Summers are warmer, and people are very welcoming. And it’s also the part of the country where you can find the best independent garden centre in the country.
Tuincentrum Leurs
If I had to pick 1 centre that has it all - I would go for Leurs. And I would pick them over Intratuin since Leurs is just a stand-alone store. A beautiful restaurant, a lot of plants, events, hospitality and especially the attention to detail. Leurs is customer-focused: customers interacting with them, regardless of the channel, should have a happiness moment. But the same applies to team members, so the owners spent a lot of time working with them to improve their business even further. During Christmas, a store you can’t miss, but it’s actually worth visiting 365 days a year.
Laurens Doesborgh of LookINsight started his career at this store and is still very much involved in the design & routing.
And if you’re there, you can make the short trip to Budgetplant (approx. 5 km away). Budgetplant manages to survive competition from Leurs & DIY chains by its price focus. It’s a lot for not a lot of money.
Tuincentrum Leurs, Straelseweg 370, 5916 AD Venlo
and
Budgetplant, Landweerweg 12A, 5915 PC Venlo
Plantencentrum Velden
Velden is not a garden centre, but a plant centre. And they are really passionate about plants! You can see and experience that once you’re there. Completely different compared to the Intratuin stores we have all over the place. Velden is worth a visit if you love plants.
Vorstweg 60, 5941 NV Velden
Tuincentrum Daniels & Tuincentrum Schmitz
These two stores are neighbours. Not a mile down the road. Literally next to each other. Daniels is the bigger one, with a lot of lifestyle products and a large restaurant. Schmitz in the smaller store with more focus on regular gardening. One stop, two different kinds of centres, both doing well and part of the same buying group.
Fun fact: Daniels was our first garden centre customer in 2002. We developed their website in an age when a website was a rarity among centres!
Herkenbosserweg 2, 6063 NL Vlodrop (and next door, number 4)
Coppelmans Nuenen & Valkenswaard
This family-owned group has multiple stores in the province of Brabant. Each store is owned by a family member. The two stores worth visiting are Nuenen and Valkenswaard. Nuenen is simply a medium-sized centre, very well organised and ticks all the boxes, but not too massive. Same for Valkenswaard, where they recently renewed and expanded their store.
To be fair, Brabant is spoiled with very good garden centres, and competition in the area is intense, so they have to push it to remain successful.
Kapperdoesweg 8, 5674 AJ Nuenen
and
Nieuwe Waalreseweg 199, 5552 EJ Valkenswaard
BijSTOX Roermond
BijSTOX Roermond is a former Intratuin store that rebranded to the family name a few years ago. There are two things to note: early in the year, part of the centre becomes a Carnival store. This helps to overcome the quiet months and generates footfall from people who usually won’t go to a garden centre. The other one is the garden furniture area, which is basically a shop-in-shop. It reduces pressure on stock and cash flow, while customers still have a full offering - what they expect to get.
Sint Wirosingel 180, 6042 KZ Roermond
The East of the Netherlands
Garden centres towards the east are leaning heavily on the German market. There are not many big Dutch cities, but the border is always close and not only do you like to see Dutch garden centres - Germans do so, too. Even worse, it’s not uncommon to have road closures and traffic jams on German holidays, since they are all crossing the border for their shopping.
Intratuin Barneveld or Duiven
If I were to say Barneveld is a flagship of Intratuin, I would probably upset the other group members. But it’s definitely one of the best stores in the group. If you only want to visit 1 of their stores, this should be your primary pick. The Duiven store is a different beast. About half their turnover is generated during the 2 months of Christmas. It’s MASSIVE - not big. Actually, the rumour is that this Christmas store is the biggest in Europe. You can not skip Duiven if you’re around to see some good Christmas displays. Traffic jams? Check. Popular? Check. 1000+ seat restaurant? Check. Dedicated Christmas retail space, all year long? Check. On your shortlist? Hope so!
Lithograaf 1, 6921 VA Duiven
and
Burgemeester Aschofflaan 1, 3772 MV Barneveld
Oosterik
There’s no way to decide who’s the biggest - but if you ask around, Oosterik will be on the list of most people. It’s massive and also attracting a lot of Germans during the weekend & holidays. Garden Centre Advice has been helping them to get the most out of their 50.000 square meters of retail space - no typos.
By the way, in square meters, Tuincentrum het Oosten (Aalsmeer, the West) is likely to be the biggest in square meters with almost 80.000 m2. But turnover figures in the Netherlands are not publicly available, so it’s hard to define “the biggest”.
Johanninksweg 68, 7591 NR Denekamp
Bonus: the Centre of the Netherlands
We’re such a small country that it’s hard to define our centre, but it’s usually Utrecht & surroundings. You can visit these centres if you’re on your way to the South or East and depending on your journey, the North, since they are all along the major roads in our country.
Eurofleur
One of the bigger independents in our country. They have a 2-story building, a great restaurant, and if you happen to be in the area during Christmas, go! It’s a major store in the area and is worth a stop. Also strong with pet products, ensuring year-round footfall.
Ursulineweg 44, 3833 AA Leusden
Tuincentrum Abbing
This is a lovely greenhouse and not one of a kind, since it’s basically a building surrounding the outdoor plant area. The Zeist area is well-known for parks & forests, and this centre is surrounded by a nice green scenery.
Our friends from Garden Center Advice helped with the layout and in-store improvements; it was built by Smiemans Projecten.
Odijkerweg 132, 3709 JJ Zeist
Tuincentrum Huiting
This store was one of the surprises of the 2022 IGCA Tour in the Netherlands. It’s very recognisable for North American visitors since it’s primarily a plant centre, not a typical large-scale retail store. It’s a very professional yet friendly place, and the people are passionate about plants.
Lexmondsestraatweg 2, 4133 LA Vianen
Steck Utrecht
The former garden centre located in this building went into administration. The building was empty for years, but it came back alive! Steck is a very special place since it’s all about sustainability. It’s about workshops, inspiration, and they even have a bamboo forest. Good pick for something different.
Gageldijk 3, 3566 ME Utrecht
So that’s my list of recommendations! Again, I’m pretty sure some people will disagree with me, but you can’t have a road trip with 89 garden centres to visit.
The Christmas Shortlist
If you’re coming over to experience Christmas in garden centres, I would recommend that you go to
Intratuin Duiven, the biggest of them all
Tuincentrum Leurs, best overall experience
Coppelmans Nuenen, medium-sized but extremely good
Groencentrum Witmarsum, medium-sized and more intimate
You can easily combine this with stops at Kaemingk, Koopman & Edelman.
Have a good trip!
I’m not a tour guide, but I was a bus host of the IGCA 2022 tour in the Netherlands, so I know how interesting it can be to visit stores. Ideally, you don’t go on your own but with a group of colleagues, since everyone will spot different things they like.
My home & office are both close to Schiphol airport, and we’re always happy to serve a hot coffee or ice-cold Heineken - because there are more great things than garden centres in the Netherlands!
Good to know: all photos are from the websites of the garden centres.