It is one of the best times of the year in Holland-Spring has finally arrived! Ryan and I have taken full advantage of the flower season that Spring brings in the Netherlands.
Flower timeline
The tulips tend to peak around April 15 which means you will see them in full bloom in the fields around then with the daffodils and hyacinth earlier. Around the beginning of May the farmers go through and cut the tulips in the field so that the plant can focus its resources to the bulb since that is what gets actually harvested in the fall. Only a small amount of the tulips grown in the Netherlands are for actual flowers sold around the world- most are for bulbs. In addition to the fields, there are many tulip tourist attractions such as the world-famous Keukenhof gardens that is only from March 24-May 15th.
Biking through the fields
Like last year, we decided to take a day to go out and see the many many fields of tulips and flowers in Holland. We rented e-bikes in Haarlem at a bike shop right next to the train station (Rent a Bike Haarlem). It was beautiful and we took a million photos as Ryan and I were joined by a few friends as well. It is a leisurely activity to bike around and I highly recommend e-bikes as it is always windy in the Netherlands. We ended up doing about the same distance as last year- 35 miles and you can take a look at our route below. As a note, you should always be respectful of the farmers as these are their private farms and livelihood. The field we were at the longest had the farmer’s small kids outside selling some tulips so of course I couldn’t say no to a 5 year old local boy selling tulips.
In addition to seeing the fields, we were able to see the annually flower parade that goes from the South of the Netherlands to the North. The parade is long and I kid you not goes from 9am to 9pm! It is fun to see all of the floats from the local towns all decorated with local flowers.
Keukenhof
A few weeks later when my friend Mikayla was in town we took a day to see the famous Keukenhof flower garden. We went on a Wednesday during the week and went early in the morning which I highly recommend as the garden got busier throughout the day. We got a combo ticket that includes transportation from Amsterdam and picks up in the city not far from my apartment. Overall, it highly exceeded my expectations! The gardens were so massive I still don’t believe how big it was. They had several buildings with inside attractions (like a giant building dedicated to orchids for example). I also like how there were many different types of tulips and displayed in such beautiful arrays of colors and designs. In total, I took almost 300 photos so here is a condensed view of my favorites….. Definitely a bucket list item checked off the list!
❤️Melanie
Smiles from Miles Away 