Peak tulip season is just around the corner, and there may be no better place to mark the occasion than the Netherlands.
Each spring one of the world’s largest flower gardens opens in Lisse, a Dutch town about an hour’s train ride from Amsterdam. Keukenhof is only open for eight weeks a year, and its primary focus is showing off the millions of tulips planted across its 79 acres.
Tulips were first imported to the Netherlands from Turkey in the 1500s, but nowadays the Netherlands grows most of the world’s tulips.
When To Go
This year, Keukenhof is open from March 21 through May 12. Visit early in the season for daffodils and crocuses and a few early tulips. Hyacinths join the scene midway through.
The best time to visit Keukenhof is between mid-April and mid-May when the tulip blooms are at their peak. You’ll want to book early though. An estimated 26,000 people visit Keukenhof each day during peak season, four times the number of visitors to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
How To Get There
You can get from Amsterdam to Keukenhof by public transit, car and bus services. You can’t ride your bike through the gardens, but you can cycle to them and around them, so an ambitious bike ride is another option. The bike ride from Amsterdam Central Station is about 25 miles.
I took a bus when I was last at Keukenhof in April 2022, and it made for an excellent (and easy) day trip from Amsterdam.
A Hack for Procrastinators
Because I was trying to time my visit around rain forecasts and an Easter holiday, I didn’t book early enough to reserve the time I wanted directly. I was still able to visit at the time I wanted by booking through GetYourGuide.
I was able to get a bus ride and a ticket for my desired entry time but wasn’t stuck with a tour group. I grabbed a map and began wandering the trails through the flowers, but you could also sit back on a canal boat and watch fields of color float by.
*If you decide to use this hack, you can support this site by booking through our partner link.
