Seven million tulips – the wonder of Keukenhof, the Garden of Europe

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on April 30^th 2024.

The tulips at Keukenhof have been on my ‘must see’ list for years. These world-renowned gardens are only open for a short period each year, March 21^st to May 12^th for 2024, and we had a window of opportunity over the weekend. Olivia Rose was not yet ready to go into the water and the boatyard owner kindly offered us the loan of his car to make the trip, roughly 90 kilometres away.

This blog will mainly be a photo gallery of what we saw but here are a few facts just to wet your appetite.

Also known as the Garden of Europe, Keukenhof celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year. It is the largest flower garden in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. Each autumn over 7 million bulbs are supplied free of charge from over 100 growers. On the face of it this seems a sizeable investment but these gardens are a showcase for the Dutch bulb industry, a living catalogue which promotes new varieties and so it must be worth the outlay. It takes a dedicated team of 40 gardeners three months to plant all those bulbs, beginning early October and finishing around December 5^th.

Once the final visitor leaves in May, and there were 1.4 million visitors in 2023, the entire display is dug up and used as livestock feed. This seems quite astonishing but many of the plants are the latest varieties and destroying them is one way to maintain control of supply. Another thing that struck me was how strange it is that these gardens are only open for such a short time. The entire site is beautifully landscaped with trees and shrubs and would be a pleasure to visit even without the tulips.

I’ve detailed some practical pointers at the end of this blog for anyone who feels moved to plan a visit for 2025 but that is enough of the facts. Time to look at some flowers!

And so to practical issues.

1. As of 2024 all tickets are purchased online and offered at specific time slots during the day. Weekends are busiest and tickets do sell out so it is best to try and plan ahead. Tickets are 19.50€ per person and we paid a further 8€ to park the car. Given the sheer number of visitors we were surprised how quickly we got in and out of the site.
2. The gardens are now cash free. You will need a credit or debit card even to buy an ice-cream.
3. There are places to buy food but prices are high and there are often queues. A less stressful, and much cheaper, option is to take a picnic lunch and your own drinks.
4. Be warned – you will be surrounded by hoards of other visitors, taking selfies, queueing for food, for entry to popular attractions like the windmill or to buy things at the gift shops. It is a VERY busy place and it is best to be ready for this or it will spoil your enjoyment. Having said that, I did still enjoy it very much, despite having a horror of crowds.
5. Wear comfortable shoes and check the weather. No rain had been forecast for our visit but that didn’t stop a few passing showers and the wind is always a feature in the Netherlands so dress up warm if necessary or take sunscreen should it be hot.
6. Allow 2 – 4 hours for a visit.

And that’s it for this week. We had hoped to go into the water today but, as is ever the way with boats, there have been a few issues and so we are not quite ready. Hopefully tomorrow we shall be afloat and our cruise can begin.

See you next week.

MJ