Insider tips to see the best of the bulb region in the Netherlands
These tips will make your trip 100x better!
It’s the time of year when the landscape of the Netherlands comes alive, with every colour of the rainbow…. as it’s tulip season!!
It’s my favourite time of the year, and I always make sure I spend a lot of time in the bulb region, which is generally south of Amsterdam-ish. But, there’s also another bulb region, in the north, about an hour and a bit above Amsterdam.
In this guide, I’m gonna share a few of my tips for visiting the Netherlands during the bulb season. I hope you enjoy it.
First of all, you can start seeing various spring bulbs if you visit during March, as the crocus, hyacinth, and early daffodils come through. However, it’s not usually until the last week of March that the gardens of the Keukenhof open up, and start to get busy with visitors.
As each week passes, more and more spring bulbs join the procession, and there’s always something to see whenever you go between March and late May, when Keukenhof closes its gates for another year.
1. Sit by the window of the plane
If you’re someone who likes to be on the aisle, as you need to run to the toilet a lot, you need to forget about that on the (really quite short) flight from London to Amsterdam.
If you sit by the window, you will get a drone-like view of the bulb fields which will make you ooh and aah. As long as the sky is clear, you’ll enjoy a patchwork of rainbow colour, and it’s sooo worth it!!
Inside the Keukenhof gardens
2. Willem-Alexander Pavilion
Now, as a bit of a plantsman, my first stop is always this particular pavilion, where they tend to showcase brand-new tulips. Everything is laid out in rows, which makes it easy to navigate, and pick out your favourites.
The beds are constantly refreshed, so there is always something new to see. You may even see some new ones, which only have numbers, not even a name yet! You will also see a lot of unique displays that feature some favourites such as Hosta, Astilbe and Amaryllis, depending on the season.
