Coffee shop, café, smartshop: know the difference
In the Netherlands, a coffee shop is a place that sells cannabis (weed or hash), where no alcohol is served or consumed. You will also find soft drinks and sometimes snacks, but the word has nothing to do with a regular coffee house. For a coffee and an ordinary slice of cake, look for a café (a bar, which serves alcohol) or a koffiebar or koffiehuis instead.
Amsterdam has around 160 licensed coffee shops, many of them in the historic centre. A licensed shop displays an official green-and-white sticker issued by the city in its window. Coffee shops are not allowed to advertise cannabis: their façades stay plain, and menus are only shown inside.
Not to be confused either:
- Smartshops sell so-called natural products, including magic truffles, which remain legal to sell. Magic mushrooms, however, have been banned since 2008.
- Souvenir and seed shops with cannabis leaves in the window are not coffee shops and are not allowed to sell it.
The principle: cannabis is tolerated, not legal
The Dutch Opium Act prohibits the sale, possession and production of cannabis. Since the 1970s, however, the state has applied a tolerance policy (the gedoogbeleid): police and prosecutors do not pursue the sale of small quantities in a coffee shop that meets precise criteria, nor possession for personal use. These national criteria are:
- no sales to minors;
- no more than 5 grams per customer per transaction;
- no sale of hard drugs;
- no advertising;
- no nuisance to the neighbourhood.
For an individual, possession of 5 grams or less of cannabis is in principle not prosecuted. Above that, the police can confiscate it and issue a report. All other drugs (cocaine, ecstasy, MDMA, mushrooms…) remain illegal, whatever the quantity.
Since 7 April 2025, a national trial of legal cultivation (the wietexperiment) has been running in ten municipalities, including Breda, Tilburg, Groningen and Maastricht: their coffee shops now only sell cannabis produced by licensed growers. Amsterdam is not part of this trial and remains under the classic tolerance regime.
Who can go in: 18 and a photo ID
Entry is restricted to people aged 18 and over. Staff check age at the door or at the counter: show a valid passport or identity card, the original and not a photo. Without ID you will be turned away, even if you look of age.
Tourists can go in. The law lets municipalities reserve coffee shops for residents of the Netherlands (the residence criterion, applied in some border towns in the south of the country), but Amsterdam does not apply it. Mayor Femke Halsema long argued for this measure in the city, without a majority on the city council; the coalition agreement presented on 3 June 2026 by the new city council majority dropped it. Rules can still change: check them before your trip on the City of Amsterdam website.
Buying and consuming inside
Once inside, you buy at the counter, from a menu. A few rules to know:
- 5 grams at most per person per purchase. Staff will refuse a larger quantity.
- No alcohol: a coffee shop does not sell alcohol and you cannot bring your own. Conversely, a bar will not let you smoke cannabis.
- No tobacco indoors: the ban on smoking tobacco in public venues also applies to coffee shops. Joints mixed with tobacco are therefore banned inside; people smoke pure cannabis or use a vaporiser.
- Cannabis cakes and sweets (space cakes) act late, often after 30 minutes to 2 hours, and for a long time. Do not take another piece because you feel nothing.
- If you stay and sit down, order a drink: it is customary in most places.
Opening hours vary from one coffee shop to another: most open in the late morning and close between 11pm and 1am. Some small ones have hardly any seating and mainly serve takeaway.
The cannabis sold in Amsterdam is often stronger than what visitors are used to. Start with a small amount, do not mix it with alcohol, and do not use it on an empty stomach or when very tired. If you feel unwell, emergency services answer on 112: they are there to treat you, not to punish your use. Do not drive after using, neither a car nor a bike: driving under the influence of drugs is prohibited, for cyclists as well as motorists.
Where to smoke: the street, the Red Light District and banned zones
This is the rule visitors ignore most often. Since 25 May 2023, smoking cannabis in public spaces has been banned throughout the Red Light District (De Wallen), on Dam Square, on the Damrak and on the Nieuwmarkt. The ban applies to tourists and residents alike. After a first warning, the fine is €100, and it can be issued by the police as well as by city enforcement officers. Coffee shop terraces in these zones are not affected.
Elsewhere in the city, other squares and streets have their own ban, marked by a round sign with a joint crossed out (blowverbod), often together with a ban on drinking alcohol. Even where there is no sign, smoking in a park or by a canal is only tolerated, and the police can step in if it causes a nuisance. The rules to remember:
- No cannabis on trams, buses, metros or trains, nor in stations, where smoking anything is prohibited.
- No cannabis in bars and restaurants.
- At your hotel, ask first: many places to stay ban smoking in rooms, cannabis included.
The Red Light District at night
Most visitors discover coffee shops in the evening, in the Red Light District. That is also where the city concentrates its measures against nuisance: no cannabis smoking or alcohol drinking in the street, earlier closing of bars at weekends, frequent checks. Since 2023, the city's online "Stay Away" campaign has targeted visitors who come mainly for excess: its messages point out that a night that goes too far can end with a fine, an arrest or a trip to hospital.
The street dealers who approach passers-by in the Red Light District, on the Leidseplein or the Rembrandtplein sell illegal products, often fake or cut. Always say no: our detailed advice is in the guide scams and safety in Amsterdam. For the rest of the evening, bars, clubs and areas to go out in, see our guide Amsterdam at night.
Another real danger: the canals. The quays often have no railings, and visitors fall in every year after drinking or using. Keep away from the edge at night.
Taking cannabis home: prohibited
Cannabis bought in a coffee shop must be consumed in the Netherlands. Taking it abroad, even a few grams, even to another Schengen country and even by car or train, is drug trafficking: Dutch tolerance stops at the border. Customs carry out checks at Schiphol airport and at the borders, and cannabis cakes and sweets count just as much as weed. Finish or throw away what you have left before you leave. For the journey to the airport, see our guide Schiphol airport to central Amsterdam.
Summary table
| Rule | What applies in Amsterdam |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | 18, original photo ID required |
| Tourists | Admitted (no residence criterion in Amsterdam) |
| Purchase | 5 g at most per person per transaction |
| Possession | Up to 5 g tolerated; above that, confiscation and prosecution possible |
| Alcohol | Neither sold nor allowed in a coffee shop |
| Tobacco | Banned indoors, including mixed with cannabis |
| Smoking in the street | Banned in the Red Light District, on the Dam, the Damrak and the Nieuwmarkt |
| Fine | €100 after a warning |
| Hard drugs, street dealers | Illegal in every case |
| Driving (car, bike) | Prohibited under the influence of drugs |
| Leaving the country | Prohibited, even to a Schengen country |
| Medical emergency | Call 112 |
Rules and fines checked in October 2026.
Further reading
To plan an evening in the centre, read our guide Amsterdam at night and our page on the Red Light District. For the city's other traps, from pickpockets to fake taxis, see the guide scams and safety in Amsterdam, and to get around by day or night, our guide to transport in Amsterdam.
