Can tourists visit coffeeshops in the Netherlands?

That is the answer. The rest of this page explains why the answer is split, how to tell which situation you are walking into, and what "you can go in" does not mean — because the rules that catch visitors out are usually not the entry rules at all.

Why the answer depends on the city

Cannabis is not legal in the Netherlands. It is prohibited under the Opium Act (Opiumwet), and the coffeeshop system works by tolerance (gedoogbeleid): the Public Prosecution Service undertakes not to prosecute shops that stay inside a fixed list of criteria. This distinction matters here, because it is what makes the rules local rather than uniform.

The criteria are known by the acronym AHOJGI. Written out, a tolerated coffeeshop must not advertise, must not sell hard drugs, must not cause nuisance, must not admit or sell to minors, must not sell more than 5 grams per person per day, and must not admit or sell to anyone other than a resident of the Netherlands. It may not serve alcohol, and its trading stock may not exceed 500 grams — except in the ten municipalities taking part in the national supply-chain experiment described below, where a different stock rule applies. The residency rule is the final letter, and it has been in the national guideline since 1 January 2013.

Here is the part almost nobody explains properly. The same guideline that sets out the residency criterion also says that criminal enforcement against a coffeeshop for breaching it happens within locally agreed coffeeshop policy, coordinated in the local "triangle" of mayor, public prosecutor and police chief. It explicitly allows lokaal maatwerk — local tailoring — and phased enforcement. So a rule that reads like a national ban on tourists is, in practice, a national default that each municipality decides whether and how to act on.

Enforcement also moves, and it has moved mostly in one direction. Tilburg enforced the criterion until 1 March 2018 and then stopped, after which non-residents had access again. Vlissingen has stopped enforcing it. In Roermond it is formally a low enforcement priority, which the CCV — the government-affiliated Centrum voor Criminaliteitspreventie en Veiligheid — describes as meaning that in practice it is not enforced. The reason repeatedly given for these reversals is that refusing non-residents at the door pushed the trade onto street dealers instead.

This churn is also why so many lists on this subject are wrong. Widely-copied pages still name Goes and Lelystad as enforcing municipalities, and one frequently-cited explainer carries a "last updated" date of March 2021. Goes and Lelystad have since moved away from enforcement and Heerlen has since started, so that list is now wrong in three places — yet newer articles keep quoting it. Check a specific city close to your travel date rather than trusting any article, including this one, that was written months earlier.

Where non-residents are actually refused

At the review date shown above, the CCV names six municipalities as actively enforcing the residency criterion. Most sit close to the Belgian or German border, and the policy exists to manage cross-border drug tourism rather than to discourage tourism generally.

Not every entry on that list rests on equally strong evidence, and it is worth being open about which is which. Breda, Heerlen and Maastricht are confirmed by primary government sources: national guidance on the cannabis supply-chain experiment states that participating shops in those three border municipalities may admit only people living in the Netherlands, and Breda's own published policy says the same in its own words. Dordrecht, Sittard-Geleen and Terneuzen rest on the CCV listing and one industry source that agree with each other, without a check against each municipality's own policy document. They are very probably right. If you are travelling to one of those three specifically, confirm it with the municipality first.

Breda, Heerlen and Maastricht have a second reason to keep enforcing: all three are participants in the national closed-chain cannabis experiment (the wietexperiment), whose conditions make the residency criterion mandatory for the border municipalities taking part. The experiment's main phase began on 7 April 2025 across ten municipalities — Almere, Arnhem, Breda, Groningen, Heerlen, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Tilburg, Voorne aan Zee and Zaanstad. Participation on its own does not mean a city refuses non-residents: Arnhem, Groningen, Nijmegen and Tilburg take part without enforcing the residency criterion.

If you want the full picture of how this criterion works, who introduced it and how it has moved, that is covered in detail on the residents-only criterion page.

Amsterdam specifically

Amsterdam is where most of the confusion comes from, because the city has repeatedly been reported as being about to ban foreign visitors from coffeeshops. It has not done so.

The mayor proposed introducing the residency criterion, but the city council found no majority for it on 30 September 2022. The proposal has resurfaced periodically since. In June 2026 the incoming PRO/D66 city coalition presented its agreement for 2026–2030 and stated explicitly that it will not introduce the i-criterium. So the position at the review date is clear: a foreign visitor aged 18 or over with valid photo ID can enter a coffeeshop in Amsterdam.

What Amsterdam has done is restrict cannabis use in public in parts of the old city centre. From 25 May 2023 a street smoking ban has covered the Wallen area and the Dam, Damrak and Nieuwmarkt. It applies to residents and visitors alike; enforcement begins with a warning, and ignoring it carries a €100 fine. Coffeeshop terraces are excluded. Rules like this sit in local by-laws and can be redrawn, so follow the signs on the street rather than a boundary you read about online. Several English-language articles have compressed "Amsterdam bans smoking in the street" into "Amsterdam bans tourists", which is how a rule about behaviour became a rumour about entry. More on this in the Amsterdam guide.

What you need to show at the door

Two separate checks can happen at the entrance. Everywhere in the country, shops check age. In the enforcing municipalities they also check residency.

• Age — everywhere The Dutch legal minimum is 18, and tolerated shops may not admit minors at all, whether or not they buy anything. Expect to be asked for ID regardless of how old you look. A passport, national identity card or EU driving licence is normally accepted. A photograph or scan of a document on your phone is not a document.
• Residency — in the six municipalities above Official guidance describes proof of registration in the Netherlands: an identity document together with an extract from the population register (Basisregistratie Personen, or BRP). What individual shops accept in practice may be less demanding than the written rule, but you cannot rely on that. If you are not registered as living in the Netherlands, plan on not getting in.
• Hazely's own age rule This site and the Hazely app are intended only for people aged 21 or over. That is stricter than Dutch law, and deliberately so.

Being a resident is not the same as being Dutch. The criterion is about registration in a Dutch municipality, not nationality — which is why some non-Dutch residents pass the check and some Dutch passport holders living abroad do not.

What "you can go in" does not mean

Entry is the question people ask, but it is rarely the rule they break. The ones that cause actual trouble are these.

Cannabis is not legal, it is tolerated

Possession outside the tolerated context remains an offence. The tolerance applies to the shop's conduct within its criteria and to small quantities for personal use; it is not a general permission, and it does not travel with you. What that distinction actually means is set out in is cannabis legal in the Netherlands?

Using it in public is restricted in many places

Municipalities set their own rules on public use through local by-laws, and several city centres, plus areas around schools and stations, have designated no-use zones carrying fines. Signage is not always in English. See where you may and may not smoke cannabis for how the by-laws work and what Amsterdam's zone covers.

You cannot take it out of the country

Crossing any Dutch border with cannabis is a criminal offence, in the Netherlands and in the country you are entering. This includes a short train ride to Belgium or Germany, and it includes airports. Nothing about the tolerance policy changes that — see taking cannabis out of the Netherlands.

Driving is a criminal offence

Driving under the influence is prosecuted and roadside saliva testing is routine. Walking, cycling with care, or public transport are the options.

The shop's own rules still apply

Alcohol is never served in a coffeeshop — that is one of the national criteria, not a house preference. Cash-only counters remain common. Photography inside is usually not allowed, and staff enforce that firmly. Opening hours are set per municipality and are often shorter than visitors expect, which is covered on the opening hours page.

How to check before you travel

1. Decide the municipality, not the region. The rule is set per municipality. Maastricht and Amsterdam are in the same country and give opposite answers.
2. Search the municipality's own site for coffeeshopbeleid or ingezetenencriterium. Municipal policy documents are published on lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl. Remember that the criterion appearing in a policy does not prove it is enforced.
3. If in doubt, ask the municipality rather than a forum. Enforcement is their decision, and it is the only source that is current by definition.
4. Check the date on every other source you read, including this page.

Hazely maps licensed shops with their opening hours, house rules and walking directions so you know what you are walking towards. It is an information tool only: it sells nothing, takes no orders, handles no payments and ranks no shop in exchange for money. More about what it does.

Related guides

• The residents-only criterionWhat the ingezetenencriterium says, where it came from, and why it is on the books far more widely than it is enforced.
• Coffeeshop rules in the NetherlandsID, age, the 5-gram limit, no alcohol, no photography, and the rules on using cannabis in public.
• Opening hoursWhy closing times differ between cities and between areas of the same city.
• AmsterdamEntry rules, the city-centre street smoking ban, and what the 2026 coalition agreement changed.
• Where you may and may not smokeGetting in is only half of it — public use is a municipal question, with designated no-use areas and fines.
• Is cannabis legal in the Netherlands?Tolerated, not legal, and the ten-municipality supply experiment that changed part of the picture.
• Taking cannabis out of the NetherlandsThe tolerance policy stops at the border, and the border is closer than most visitors think.

All eight reference pages are listed on the coffeeshop guides index.

Sources