Tulips Amsterdam Keukenhof Gardens – Take in the breathtaking beauty of Keukenhof Gardens, where there are seven million tulips covering 800 varieties. Located in the scenic Bollenstreek region, it is the ultimate day trip in Amsterdam during tulip season. Don’t miss the tulip festival – book Ke…
The word ‘Keukenhof’ can be translated to ‘kitchen garden’ in Dutch, referring to the herbs that were collected in the area for the castle’s kitchen.
Tulips Amsterdam Keukenhof Gardens
The park is home to an English landscape garden, a Japanese landscape garden, a spring meadow, a natural garden, a historical garden, a garden maze, and several inspirational gardens that are uniquely planted each year.
Amsterdam Tulip Festival
Keukenhof was established in 1949 by a consortium of bulb producers and flower exporters to display their products.
The Tulip Gardens are the most famous attraction in Keukenhof. They are open during the Tulip Festival in the spring. More than 7 million flower bulbs are planted by hand each year in the fall, and in the spring, more than 800 different tulips come into bloom. There are also flower shows, surprising inspirational gardens, unique artwork, and other events.
Once you’ve walked around the tulip fields, enter the indoor pavilions filled with flower bulbs, cut flowers, and potted plants. Inside these pavilions, more than 500 growers present their prized blooms to leading flower arrangers for use in their unique displays. These include hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, roses, carnations, and irises.
It is also possible to explore Keukenhof Castle. Built in the 1600s and enlarged over the years, this castle is full of interesting rooms and historical tales. Also called Kasteel Keukenhof, entrance to the Castle property is free (except during special events). You can also choose a guided tour, which costs around €10.
Keukenhof Gardens And More Tulip Fields In The Netherlands
Besides the tulip gardens, Keukenhof has several other lush gardens. These include an English landscape garden with winding paths, a walled garden with historic plants, and a Japanese Country Garden. In addition, four other pavilions contain exhibitions and flower exhibits.
The landscaped gardens, pavilions, and exhibits are the main attractions of the Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam. You can also go on a 45-minute boat trip through the canals that cross the endless fields of tulips around the park. It will definitely be spectacular!
Another way to explore the flower fields is to rent a bike and ride alongside them. A bike costs around €15 for 3 hours or €20 per day. You can book your bike online and get a FlowerCard, which comes with a digital magazine about the Keukenhof area and information about the best hotspots. Located in Lisse, Keukenhof is a seasonal garden that contains millions of the most quintessential Dutch flowers: tulips. A beautiful landscape, it is a sight to behold, and at only 40 km from Amsterdam, it makes for an easy day trip from the city. During a recent trip to Holland, my husband and I had the chance to visit Keukenhof, and what follows is an overview of our time in the gardens, including how we got there and what we did while there.
After a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal in our hotel room, we left later than intended at 10:15 am for Keukenhof. We had booked timed tickets with entry from 11:30am to 12:00pm, so we knew we would have to hurry if we wanted to make our booking. With this in mind, we chose to take the metro to Centraal Station instead of walking, which was our original plan. Once in Centraal, we bought a return train ticket to Schiphol Airport from one of the self-service kiosks located near the station entrance.
Amsterdam To Keukenhof Gardens: Complete Guide 2024
Unfortunately, Lady Luck was not watching over us, because when we got to the train platform, we saw that we had just missed the train to Schiphol and we would have to wait 20 minutes for the next one. This delay meant that by the time we arrived at Schiphol, we only had a little over 30 minutes to get to Keukenhof before we lost our reservation. We had planned to buy tickets at the airport for bus 858 to Keukenhof, but with little time, this was no longer an option. So, we begrudgingly called Uber and paid €38 for the 20 minute ride to Keukenhof. We arrived at the gardens with a fantastic four minutes.
If you’re reading this post and planning a trip to Keukenhof, learn from our mistake and allow yourself more travel time to the gardens. I also recommend looking at the combi ticket; includes both entrance to Keukenhof and transport to and from the gardens by bus.
Upon entering Keukenhof, we were immediately greeted by a colorful display of tulips, and as beautiful as it was, it was just a prelude to what was to come. We made our way through several beautiful gardens full of fountains, sculptures, and artfully arranged flowers before arriving at the first visitor center, the so called Juliana/Tulpomania building. There, we grabbed a couple of much needed coffees, as well as blueberry muffins to hold us over until lunch.
We spent the next hour exploring one beautiful garden after another (and taking an obscene number of photos) as we made our way to the Wilhelmina building for lunch. Accustomed to the rather lackluster nature of visitor centers in America, I was caught off guard by how beautiful this was. It was clean, spacious, and had a range of food options, including many vegetarian ones. I settled on a quinoa salad and found it to be quite good.
Welcome To Keukenhof
Soon, we began our exploration of the gardens. It had started to rain while we were having lunch, but luckily, that morning we had checked the forecast and brought our umbrella. Under her shelter, we continued to enter the gardens for the next few hours.
Eventually, the rain stopped, and we grabbed ourselves a mid-afternoon snack of hand-cut Belgian fries from a food truck. The fries were as tasty as they looked, and it didn’t take us long to praise them.
We saw several other gardens, as well as commercial tulip fields next to each other, before leaving Keukenhof. We also went into one of the gift shops to buy various souvenirs to take home to our families.
Since we weren’t racing against the clock like we were that morning, we were able to take the bus back to Amsterdam, which saved us some money. Because we had bought return tickets to Amsterdam Centraal from Schiphol Airport earlier that day, we took bus 858 to Schiphol. We arrived at Schiphol about 30 minutes after leaving Keukenhof.
Colorful Tulips In Keukenhof Park In Amsterdam Area, Netherlands. Spring Blossom In Keukenhof Stock Photo
Helpful hints — The bus stop at Keukenhof is to the right of the main entrance (exit the main entrance, turn right, and walk until you see queues of people and signs for the various buses). If you don’t already have a bus ticket (ie you haven’t bought a combined ticket), you can buy a ticket at the bus stop using a QR code, which is what we had to do.
Once in Schiphol, we went inside and headed to the train platforms. There, we boarded our train to Centraal Station, and from Centraal, we boarded the subway for one stop to get to our hotel.
By the time we got back to our hotel, it was a little after 5:00pm; it had been almost seven hours since we had started for our day of tulip sightseeing. Despite the crowds at Keukenhof, I still really enjoyed my time there and would heartily recommend it to anyone visiting Holland during the spring.
Previous Previous Review: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor Next Review Next: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini TayloTulips! Tulips! Tulips! Experience the magic of tulips at the Keukenhof tulip Gardens near Amsterdam! Spring opens the doors to this flower paradise for only 8 weeks. Make 2024 unforgettable with a visit to Keukenhof, where vibrant blooms stretch as far as the eye can see. Bring the family together for a magical journey through the wonder of nature. Join a guided tour to uncover the fascinating history of Amsterdam’s beloved tulips and their cultural significance. Don’t miss the Flower Parade, where this year’s theme, Flower Power, aims to inspire peace and harmony. Embrace the beauty of spring in the Keukenhof tulip Gardens—it’s an experience to cherish forever! Keukenhof will be open in 2024 from March 21 to May 12.
Keukenhof Tickets & Tours 2025
Before you visit the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens, here’s everything you need to know to prepare you for a wonderful visit.
In 16th century Holland, a farmhand could only dream of catching a glimpse of the rare tulip, as it was a prized rarity! The craze for these bulbous and vibrant flowers peaked during that century, sparking an economic frenzy famously known as tulip mania. Introduced to Europe during the Dutch Golden Age, tulips were originally brought from the Ottoman Empire in Central Asia. Loved by their beauty, the Dutch incorporated tulips into everything from paintings to insignia. Although the tulip craze eventually subsided, the locals
