Amsterdam has more trees per square kilometer than any other city in Europe.  Often the density of the city streets obscures the number of trees nearby.  More than thirty parks adorn the city, from large to small, and in spring, most of them have beautiful tulips, daffodils and roses.  Here are a few of the best known:

Vondel Park
Originally planted and opened in 1865, this 120 acres of green oasis in the heart of the city welcomes 9 million visitors per year.  When a statue of the Dutch poet and playwright Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) was erected in the park in 1867, the name stuck and the park became Vondel Park.  This is the busiest and most famous park in Amsterdam, and it includes an open-air theater and music stadium, as well as the Amsterdam film museum.  Most performances in the park are free.

Hortus Botanicus            
Opened in 1682, this venerable botanical garden is where the Dutch of the Golden Age kept their amazing tropical plant collections.  Today it houses more than 8000 species of tropical, sub-tropical and desert plants, including the world’s oldest potted plant, a 300 year-old cycad.  In 1706 it became the first place outside Arabia to succeed in cultivation of coffee. Later the Dutch exported their coffee to Brazil and other tropical places in the world.

Amsterdam Bos
As part of a job creation scheme in 1930, 5000 unemployed Dutch citizens worked to develop the woodlands into the city’s largest park at 940 hecatres.  Twenty times as large as Vondel Park, the Bos (Forest) never seems crowded.

Amstel Park 
Surrounded by cafes, the Amstel Park has a real windmill at its southern end.  This park also has a lovely rose garden.

Ooster Park
Built in the 1880s to accommodate the nouveau riches of the city’s diamond trade, this is a sprawling English-style park, just south of the Troppen Museum and particularly lovely in Spring and Summer.

Sarphati Park
This is another English-style park, named after the 19th Century philanthropist Samuel Sarphati.  It is a nice place for a picnic among the ponds and fountains.

Other Parks
Include the Wester Park, the Rembrandt Park and the Wertheim Park.  The Musueumplein is also a type of park, in style between a square and a true park.