Lisse, Netherlands

KeukenhofA garden that opens eight weeks a year

Seven million bulbs go into the ground each autumn for eight weeks of flowers in spring. The garden opens in late March and closes in early May; for the rest of the year not a single flower stands. The bulbs are lifted after blooming, so the beds you see are never last year's.

At Stationsweg 166a in Lisse, with direct shuttle buses from Schiphol and Amsterdam to the gate. You meet water channels and grass slopes first, before the flower beds.

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PlaceLisse, Netherlands

TypeSpring garden

SuitsGardens, flowers, short spring trips

SeasonLate March to early May only

It opens for eight weeks of the year

Lisse, Netherlands — Spring garden.

The garden opens for eight weeks a year.

It opens in late March and closes in early May; for the rest of the year there is not a flower to be seen. The bulbs are planted one by one in autumn and lifted after blooming, so the displays you see are never the same batch as the year before.

More than eight hundred varieties sit side by side. Tulips are only one kind among them — hyacinths, daffodils and cherry blossom each have their own plots. You do not need to know gardening to see that someone chose these.

Windmill and red tulips — Windmill behind red tulips

Flower band bending — Where the flower band bends

Boats on the shallow channel

A boat drifts along the shallow channel, the flower bands bending with the water. Sit on the bank and watch it pass — easier than queuing at the beds with a camera.

Shows in the Willem-Alexander pavilion

More than twenty flower shows rotate through the Willem-Alexander pavilion, with over five hundred growers showing cut flowers and potted plants. Return to the same spot a week later and the display has changed.

Tulips in the ground, north of the gate

Past the exit, bike paths run between tulips growing in real soil — row upon row, not the clipped beds inside. The fields are the source the garden only samples.

Route

The day at Lisse

Set it between Leiden and The Hague: in during the morning, then south along the coast in the afternoon.

Making the eight weeks work

The garden opens only a few weeks a year, so the visit has to be planned around the dates, not the other way round.

Before you go

Check the current opening dates — they shift slightly each year with the bloom.

Getting there

Shuttle buses run from Schiphol and Amsterdam; driving means parking queues at peak.

In the garden

Go early; the pavilions and the boat channel fill up by midday.

Plan this into a spring trip

Tell us the dates you are travelling and we can talk through how a day at Keukenhof fits with Leiden, The Hague or the coast.

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