Trip 46

April 24,2024

Today we’re off to visit Keukenhof, for the third time, in its 75th anniversary year. Keukenhof is 32 hectares in size (1 hectare is about 2.47 acres, so about 79 acres) and is literally full of flowering tulips, bulbs and shrubbery of all types. The gardens employ 40 full-time gardeners and they plant (by hand) an astounding 7 million bulbs each year.

It was in the 16th century that tulips were imported to Holland from the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey). Just a few years after arriving in Holland, tulips became the most sought-after commodity in the entire Netherlands. At the time, tulip bulbs were worth more than gold and were sold for 10 times what a commoner made in a year. Needless to say, the time period was appropriately named tulip mania.

There’s obviously a large amount of planning and design that goes into the exhibition and cooperation with bulb growers (over 100) to make this garden a must see if you’re in the Netherlands during its 8 week period of operations (in 2024, this is March 21st through May 12th). You must buy tickets in advance, as the crowds can be massive (1.5 million in 8 weeks) and since our first visit, they’ve implemented controlled entry to manage visitors by making ticket sales for a particular day and time slot; tickets did sell out on several days before our visit.

We bought a combination ticket which included round trip bus transportation from the pickup center in Amsterdam and entrance to the gardens. Aside from this method, there are tours that operate to Keukenhof (we saw many tour buses parked in the designated area there) and private transportation (there was an ocean of camper vans parked there). On our first visit to Keukenhof years ago, there were signs posted that public parking was full, so the bus is probably the best method and it operates regularly both from in town and from nearby Schiphol airport. It took us 30 minutes on the Metro to reach the pickup point, arriving a bit before our designated 10am bus time, and a further one hour bus ride to Keukenhof, located in Lisse. As I mentioned, this was our third visit to Keukenhof and even having seen so much of it on previous visits, we spent six hours there.

There are a number of restaurants and some shops, located within the gardens. Wandering through the gardens is an overload of color; they plan the plantings between early, mid and late blooming plants so that whenever you visit during that eight weeks, you’re sure to see a lot of color.

The fields coming into the city of Lisse are planted with row upon row of tulips to be harvested for sale (worldwide) and many of the fields were already harvested.

The map can’t possibly relay the seemingly infinite variety of plants, blooming trees, shrubs and colors.

And it’s the Netherlands, so there’s a windmill.

Some of the beds are massed plantings of the same plant and color, while others are a mix.

I took over 150 photos while there and they simply cannot convey the massive size, varieties and colors of the Keukenhof gardens; you need to visit!