Keukenhof: The Tulip Fields of the Netherlands
Perhaps, one of the main reasons that I wanted to go to the Netherlands was specifically for this one place called Keukenhof, the Garden of Europe, in Lisse. Established in 1950, it’s the second largest garden in the world after the Dubai Miracle Garden, and is known for their fields of Tulips. Since it is a garden and flowers have certain seasons, this place is only open for a certain time of the year. For 2015, they’re scheduled to be open again from March 20 to May 17.
You can purchase a ticket that includes both the entrance to the park and the bus going there for €23 for Adults, drive by yourself or ride the Number 58 bus and buy the ticket at €16 when you’re there already. The buses going to the Airport and leaving the park leave every 15 minutes.
Since it was towards the end of the season when I went, most of the massive fields of Tulips had already been swept away by the rains the week before, but there were still a lot of flowers and the park was still a very beautiful place. I super suggest that you come a few days before mid-season when the flowers are in full bloom already and they haven’t been swept away by the rains.
It’s open from 8am to 7:30pm, but they stop selling tickets at 6pm. The park is very big and you probably wont be able to see most of it if you just stayed for an hour and a half. Wi-Fi is everywhere.
There are restaurants, but they’re a bit pricey. Also if you’re going to buy a souvenir, it might be better to buy them somewhere else unless you want those specific to the place. There are many postcards and products being sold of the various types of flowers present in the garden, especially the tulips.
There were a lot of places to just sit down and enjoy the view.
I liked how they had free lockers where you just deposited 1 euro, especially since I was on the way to Luxembourg and my backpack was difficult to carry around the whole time. They also have strollers for children and wheelchairs free of charge, but they do require a 10 euro deposit.
There were a lot of couples when I went there so for a while I felt a little sad that my significant other was half-way across the world. Even if there is probably going to be a lot of people during your visit, the park is massive and there is never a lack of opportunity to take nice photos, and from a solo traveller’s perspective, there’s no lack of possible people to take your picture.
There’s not much to do besides look at flowers or eating in one of the restaurants, but if you’re someone like me who enjoys the mere act of walking around and looking at beautiful things then this is a great place to go to. For those who are bringing children though there are playgrounds where they can have fun. It’s also very senior citizen and disabled friendly so you can take your grandparents here for a pleasant afternoon enjoying nature.