Visiting Keukenhof, Holland

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Keukenhof.

Keukenhof?

Another place I’ve never heard of before, and I wonder why?

Anyway, better late than never, right? 

When I think of The Netherlands what comes to my mind are (apart from Amsterdam and its cannabis/red lights district) windmills and tulips. So I asked my friend who is hosting me, “Where can I see the tulips?” and she answered “in Keukenhof”!

Keukenhof, in case you also didn’t know, is a botanical garden in Lisse, Holland, where all the amazing flowers that are grown in the area are beautifully planted and shown along its 15kms of paths – there are about 7 millions flowers awaiting in the gardens.

The park has been open since 1949 and last year it welcomed about 1 million people! And I din’t know about this place. How come?

And how could I possibly live without a picture with giant wooden shoes? I wonder.

And I have also been lucky enough to book a stay in Amsterdam during one of the few weeks when the park is open. In fact, the Keukenhof gardens are open from the 22nd of March to the 20th of May only. Lucky me!

I emailed the info center and they kindly offered me a ticket, together with a nice press pack and a smile. 

Normally the entrance fees are €14,50 for adults, €7,00 for children (4-11), free for infants. And for the parking be ready to pay €6,00.

And then, what can I say. These were definitely the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen! I have been to other botanical gardens, such as in Singapore; I’ve been to temple parks in Japan; but this is all about the flowers, really. Now that I think of it, I think I never ever raised my head while in the park – I was always looking at the flowers. So if I have to tell you how the park itself looks, apart from the flowers, well I have no idea!

The only time I actually looked up was when I found a nice mill (my first Dutch mill!) and climbed it, to take some photos of… the flowers. From above.

There are flowers of any imaginable shape and color, sometimes they’re multi-colored, or even black!

Apart from the flower fields themselves, there are some pavillions with flower exhibits and competitions (!) in them, and also some art installations: Oranje Nassau Pavillion, Beatrix Pavillion, Willem-Alexander Pavillion. Some very cool art exhibits are going on there!

My visit duration was about 3 hours, but if you want to see everything you can spend even a full day in the park. If you want a tip, try to go in the morning as early as possible – it gets really crowded around lunch time! And we the photographers are so bulky. You don’t want us in the way.

If you were thinking something like “yeah but I will go with my bike and save time!” you’re wrong. It’s forbidden to bike inside the park, even if you can rent a bike to see the beautiful surroundings.

Also today I was a bit concerned about the weather – the sky was grey and gloomy – but luckily it didn’t rain at all, and the flowers were open but not too much as they do when it’s very sunny, so photography-wise it was a great day! 

Oh and wifi is free!

Enjoy the following photos –  I hope you like them, shoot me a comment saying which one is your favorite! Have you been to Keukenhof and did you know about this place? I am curious to know!

You can find more about Keukenhof on the website, Twitter account and Facebook page.