This spring, I went to a truly magical place. A place where over 7 million flowers are transforming the landscape into a paradise.
The Keukenhof in the Netherlands is probably the most beautiful park on earth. It’s only open during two months of the year and when you arrive you can see why: The park is an explosion of colorful flowers, especially tulips. You can find over 800 different kinds of tulips and each year they are creating new breeds to expand the variety of the park. As they only flourish during a short time between March and April, the Keukenhof is closed during the rest of the year. Inside you can also find different pavilions in which they also have more exotic flowers like orchids.
Is it all about flowers?
Mostly yes. But there’s art too! In fact, the Keukenhof is the biggest art sculpture garden in the Netherlands. Artists exhibit more than 100 works of art here. The pieces are for sale, but beware, most of them cost thousands of Euros. Beside the art, there are also events taking place here, such as flower and fashion shows. Tired of walking? Take a boat trip through the amazing tulip fields that surround the park or rent a bicycle and explore the surroundings.
Good to know:
The park is open from the 23. MArch- 21. Mai. This can slightly vary from year to year
Admission charge: 16 €. If you want to do a boat tour you have to pay an extra 8 €. You can buy the tickets in advance online. If you arrive by car, you also have to pay 6 € for the parking.
I wouldn’t recommend the park when it’s raining a lot, however, a cloudy day is perfect as there seem to be fewer tourists. During a minor rain shower, you can escape to the pavilions.
If you want to experience the whole color splash, you should visit during the first month of opening. We went at the end and the huge tulip fields didn’t flourish anymore. Nevertheless, there were still millions of other flowers and it was still amazing.
For more information, go to the official site.
Where to stay?
The park is easily reachable from Amsterdam, you can even buy a combo ticket which includes the bus and the entrance. The Keukenhof itself is in “Lisse”. We stayed in the hotel Van der Valk in Sassenheim-Leiden, only a 10 minutes car ride away from the park. I loved the hotel, the interior was very stylish and creative, the food was good, the rooms big, clean and cozy. It also includes a casino, sadly we didn’t have the time to explore it more.
For more information about the hotel, visit their official website.
The flowers:
The art inside and outside the pavilions:
Our beautiful hotel:
Have you been to the Keukenhof? Leave a comment and share your thoughts 🙂
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