Trip 53

April 21, 2026

“voor de vierde keer” – for the fourth time.

Yes, this is our fourth visit to Keukenhof. We first visited in 2018, then 2022, then 2024, and again today.

Each visit brought us new experiences in exploring the different sections of Keukenhof as well as revisiting ones we always enjoy. Today was no different. The weather was just perfect, clear blue skies and cool temperatures. The flower parade took place just this past weekend on April 18th, and brings recognition that peak blooming is in store for the ~1.4 million visitors that will visit over the next eight weeks.

The history of Keukenhof dates back to the 15th century. Countess Jacoba van Beieren [Jacqueline of Bavaria] (1401-1436) used ‘Keukenduyn’ [kitchen dunes] as hunting ground for the kitchen of Teylingen Castle. Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641 and the estate grew to encompass an area of over 200 hectares (~80 acres). In 1949 a group of leading flower bulb growers and exporters came up with the plan to use the estate to exhibit spring-flowering bulbs, signaling the birth of Keukenhof as a spring park. The park opened its gates to the public in 1950 and was an instant success, with 236,000 visitors in the first year alone, now totaling 1.4-1.5 million visitors in the space of eight weeks; even though it was a Tuesday, it was really busy today. The plantings are sponsored by growers and exporters and you can (they hope) buy them in the visitors center.

We took the train out to RAI Center to catch a shuttle bus to Keukenhof. Nominally a 25-30 minute trip, due to traffic delays, it was 45 minutes, arriving about 11:00. As you enter Lisse, the nearest village to Keukenhof, there are vast fields of tulips,grown to be harvested for export, but this is not what you have come to see!

Rather than include so very many of the photos I took, I’ll include some here, and add a link to an online photo sharing site (Flickr).

All of the flowers are not tulips (the vast majority are), with a huge variety of colors, shapes and sizes, but include many other bulbs , some plantings include mixed varieties of bulbs in one bed.

The gardeners at Keukenhof plant 7 million bulbs, by hand, each year. The plantings are arranged in “levels” so that not all bulbs will bloom at once (since the garden is open for eight weeks). And as the season progresses, the gardeners are out, tending to the plantings, removing spent stems, blooms and foliage , mowing the grass around the beds.

There’s a large lake, with stepping stones for those wishing to cross a small section, fountains, streams, statuary, huge trees, even a calliope.

We spent seven hours here today and didn’t revisit every part of the park; there is just so much to see. As you stroll though the park, there are plantings where the air is sweet, perfumed by the blooming flowers.