Send Flowers to Turkey from the Netherlands: A Practical Guide

Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Arnhem: wherever you live in the Netherlands, there is a good chance someone you love lives in Türkiye. It may be your parents in a town in Central Anatolia, an aunt in Istanbul, your partner's family in Izmir, or friends who swapped Dutch winters for a flat in Alanya. This guide covers what is specific to sending flowers to Turkey from the Netherlands: the cut-off in Dutch time, why iDEAL won't work and which card will, how Moederdag lines up with the Turkish calendar, tulips, and how to write an address a Turkish florist can find. For the general ordering process, see how to send flowers to Turkey from abroad.

Nothing is shipped from the Netherlands

You order online, and a local florist near your recipient arranges the bouquet by hand and delivers it in person. There is no parcel, no customs declaration and no waiting in a sorting centre, so the flowers arrive fresh. Once they have been handed over, you receive a delivery photo by email or WhatsApp. We deliver to all 81 provinces of Türkiye, down to neighbourhood (mahalle) and village (köy) level.

The cut-off in Dutch time: 12:00 or 13:00

Orders placed before 14:00 Türkiye time are delivered the same day in the larger cities; in remote villages the bouquet may arrive the next day. Türkiye stays on UTC+3 all year and never changes its clocks. The Netherlands does, on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October. That gives you two cut-offs:

• Winter time (CET): Türkiye is 2 hours ahead, so order before 12:00 Dutch time.
• Summer time (CEST): Türkiye is 1 hour ahead, so order before 13:00 Dutch time.

A quick example: an order placed in your lunch break at 12:30 in July reaches us at 13:30 Türkiye time and can still go out that day. The same order at 12:30 in January arrives at 14:30 Türkiye time and is delivered on the next delivery day. Belgium and Luxembourg are in the same time zone, so the same times apply there.

There are no deliveries on Sundays or on Turkish public holidays: 1 January, 23 April, 1 May, 19 May, 15 July, 30 August, 29 October and the days of Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı. Dutch holidays such as Koningsdag on 27 April, Ascension Day or Whit Monday are normally ordinary delivery days in Türkiye.

Paying from the Netherlands: card, not iDEAL

Most Dutch web shops let you pay with iDEAL, but we accept Visa and Mastercard only. In recent years most Dutch banks have replaced the old Maestro debit card with a Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit, which can generally be used for online payments abroad; a credit card works too. A few practical points:

• You pay in Turkish lira (TRY). Prices on the site can be shown in euros as an approximate guide, but your card is charged in lira and your bank converts the amount at its own rate. The figure on your statement can therefore differ slightly from the one you saw.
• Check for a currency surcharge. Many Dutch banks add a mark-up (koersopslag) to payments outside the euro. Your bank's tariff list will tell you how much.
• Approve the payment with 3-D Secure, usually in your banking app. Keep your phone to hand.
• Payment declined? Some Dutch banks let you limit where your card can be used. If a payment fails, check the card settings in your banking app before trying again.

The delivery fee depends on the district and is shown in the cart before you pay. For every cost element, read how much it costs to send flowers to Turkey.

Moederdag and Vaderdag: same date, earlier delivery

Good news first: the Netherlands and Türkiye celebrate Mother's Day on the same day, the second Sunday of May (9 May in 2027). Father's Day matches too: Vaderdag and Babalar Günü both fall on the third Sunday of June (20 June in 2027). The catch is that both are Sundays, and we don't deliver on Sundays. Flowers for Anneler Günü therefore arrive on Saturday 8 May 2027, and for Babalar Günü on Saturday 19 June 2027. These are among the busiest days of the year for Turkish florists, so order a few days ahead.

Valentine's Day 2027 also falls on a Sunday: choose Saturday 13 or Monday 15 February. Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı are public holidays, so Bayram flowers are delivered on the days before. Their dates move about eleven days earlier every year, so check the calendar in good time.

Tulips: a Dutch favourite with Turkish roots

For someone living in the Netherlands, tulips are often the first idea. The tulip (lale) is an old Turkish symbol as well: it appears on Ottoman tiles and textiles, and Istanbul fills its parks with tulips every spring. Keep in mind that tulips are a spring flower in Türkiye too. Outside the season the local florist may not have them, so for an autumn birthday a bouquet of roses or seasonal flowers is the safer choice. Colours and numbers can carry a different meaning in Türkiye; our guide to Turkish flower etiquette explains the details.

Where Dutch orders go

Many Dutch-Turkish families have roots in Central Anatolia and on the Black Sea coast, while other relatives live in Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir. We deliver to cities such as Konya and Kayseri, and to the villages around them, just as we do to Istanbul, whether it is for a birthday, a Bayram or a get-well bouquet. Other orders go to the coast, where many Dutch people spend their holidays or own a second home: Alanya, Side in Manavgat, Didim and Kuşadası. When you search for an area on the site, you can type names without Turkish characters.

Writing a Turkish address

A Dutch address starts with the street and ends with the postcode and town. A Turkish address runs the other way, from large to small:

1. İl (province), e.g. Antalya
2. İlçe (district), e.g. Alanya; this sets the delivery fee
3. Mahalle (neighbourhood) or köy (village)
4. Cadde or sokak (street), building number, kat (floor), daire (flat) and, in gated complexes, the site name and blok

What matters most to the courier is the right mahalle and a phone number that is switched on. In villages without house numbers, add a landmark such as “next to the mosque” or “opposite the school”. In hotels, flowers are handed to reception, so give the guest's full name and room number. For hospitals, add the ward and room. If the courier cannot reach a remote address, we contact you.

A few lines in Turkish for the card

Even one Turkish sentence means a lot to an older relative. Some lines that work well:

• “Anneler Günün kutlu olsun, canım annem.” – Happy Mother's Day, my dear mum.
• “Babalar Günün kutlu olsun.” – Happy Father's Day.
• “Nice mutlu yıllara!” – Many happy returns!
• “Uzaklardan sevgilerle.” – With love from far away.
• “Bayramınız kutlu olsun, ellerinizden öperim.” – Happy Bayram, I kiss your hands (a respectful greeting to elders).

Sign with the name the family uses for you, for example “Oğlun Emre, Rotterdam” (your son Emre, Rotterdam).

Quick checklist

1. Area selected down to mahalle or village
2. Delivery date is not a Sunday or a Turkish public holiday
3. Ordered before 12:00 (winter) or 13:00 (summer) Dutch time for same-day delivery
4. Recipient's phone number added
5. Visa or Mastercard ready, with your banking app to hand for 3-D Secure

If the bouquet arrives damaged or wilted, send us a photo within 24 hours and we will deliver a replacement or refund you. Questions before you order? Message us on WhatsApp or write to info@flowerturkiye.com. Ready to choose? Browse our bouquets.