Updated August 15, 2020.
Heading to the Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse, The Netherlands? It’s just a quick bus ride away from Amsterdam, but it’s only open about two months out of the year! You definitely want to do it right and know what to expect, so I’m writing this post to help you out!
When to Go
Check the official Keukenhof website for exact dates, as the dates will shift a little from year to year, but generally, the Keukenhof is open from mid-March to mid-May.
Price and Getting There
It’s almost unbelievable just how easy it was to get to Keukenhof Gardens when we landed at Schiphol Airport! Almost as soon as you land, you will start to see posters telling you where to go for the Keukenhof bus. It’s at Arrivals Hall 4!
Just walk out the door and you’ll see the ticket booth. You’ll see package prices for adults and children. You can get just your Keukenhof admission ticket, or just the bus ticket, or just the round-trip bus ticket, but we (and I think most people) needed both the round-trip bus ticket and admission, so our price was €24.50!
More here: What to Know Before You Visit Amsterdam
The buses leave every 10 minutes, and they are much larger than the one pictured above! The buses go directly from the airport to the Keukenhof and back, all day long, so you won’t have to wait long for a bus to get there or to get back. There were plenty of people without luggage also riding the bus with us, and we later realized that this is the best way for most people to get from Amsterdam to the Keukenhof: train to the airport, bus to the gardens, bus to the airport, train back into Amsterdam!
Luggage Storage
There are storage lockers onsite at the Keukenhof Gardens, but they are not very large. We had a 46L backpack (as seen in the photo where Steve is buying tickets), plus two smaller backpacks that were our personal items for the flight, and we put the large backpack in one locker and the smaller two in another. Lockers are FREE!
If you have larger checked luggage or a hard-case roll-aboard that will not fit, please check out my Packing page for strategies to pack less and pack more efficiently!
The Flora
It’s not just tulips! There are daffodils, hyacinths, roses, orchids, and more!
More here: 10 Reasons to Visit Amsterdam
But if you’re there for the tulips (like me!), you will be delighted to find ruffly tulips, multi-color tulips, and tulips that don’t even look like tulips at all!
More here: How to Savor Your Travels
Dutch Culture
While you’re traipsing around the tulips, make sure you stop over at the windmill and klompen store. Klompen are the wooden shoes Holland is famous for! You can go up into the windmill yourself and even try on some wooden shoes for yourself! Take a look:
Read on: How to Embrace Cultural Differences
Food
Getting hungry? There are several options! There are cafes and food carts scattered around the gardens. Don’t miss the Dutch Apple Pie because, well, it’s Dutch!
Still hungry? What to Eat in Amsterdam
Tips and Recommendations
- Go early! No, really, you need to get there when it opens! The gardens get very crowded during the day and in the afternoons, so if you prefer lower crowds and fewer people in your photos, you don’t want to wait until later in the day. There was no line for the bus when we arrived at the airport around 8:00am, but when we returned to the airport around noon, the line to purchase tickets was wrapping all over the place! There must have been at least 300 people in line.
- There is FREE wifi! They want you to post about your visit on social media, so take advantage of that!
- There are indoor gardens, too. It was pretty cold and cloudy the day we went, so the tulips outdoors were not all the way open. They were still beautiful and bright, though! But if you want to see tulips fully open and at full maturity, head inside and warm up with hundreds of your full-size tulip friends!
Are you ready for your own trip to the Keukenhof? Tell me in the comments! And find more on my Netherlands Page, too.
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Your photos are great! I especially love th fringy tulips. They look like they are made out of fabric!
Thank you! I thought those were the most fun. It was basically tulip heaven! 😍🌷
TERRIFIC tips! Cannot wait to get there next week. Thank Steve for giving me the link to your blog!! LOVE IT!!
Thank you! I will definitely tell Steve! Enjoy your trip!