Discover the Netherlands
Keukenhof and the fields around it
The garden is the famous part. The fields in the surrounding countryside are the better photograph, and almost nobody on a coach tour gets taken to them.
Keukenhof opens for about seven weeks a year. Outside that window we run the same day as a tulip field and coastline tour when the fields are in bloom, and the Waterland villages the rest of the year.
The garden, and the part outside the gate
Keukenhof is seven million bulbs in a landscaped park, and it is genuinely worth seeing. It is also extremely busy, ticketed by time slot, and surrounded by a car park the size of a small town.
What most visitors miss is that the commercial flower fields — the long stripes of colour in every photograph of the Netherlands — are not inside the garden. They are in the fields around Lisse and Noordwijkerhout, they are free, and they move every week as different varieties come into bloom. Knowing which road to be on in a given week is the whole job, and it is the reason to have a driver rather than a ticket.
The route, with times
Pickup at your hotel
Early, because the garden is calmest in the first ninety minutes.
Keukenhof
Three hours in the garden. We drop you at the entrance and collect you at the same spot, so no shuttle and no car park walk.
The fields
An hour and a half driving the lanes around Lisse and Noordwijkerhout, stopping wherever the bloom is best that week. This is the part you will photograph most.
Lunch in a village
Lisse or Sassenheim. Quiet, local, and nothing like the garden's food court.
The coast at Noordwijk
Twenty minutes away: dunes and a long North Sea beach. A good contrast after a morning of flowers, and optional if you would rather have more field time.
Back at your hotel
Door to door.
What is included
- Private Mercedes V-Class and driver for 7 hours
- Hotel pickup and drop-off in Amsterdam
- Drop-off at the garden entrance, no shuttle or car park walk
- Field routing based on what is actually in bloom that week
- Fuel, tolls, parking and all road costs
What is not included
- Keukenhof entry tickets — book directly, we will tell you which slot
- Lunch and drinks
- Gratuity
Questions
When is Keukenhof open?
Roughly from the third week of March to the middle of May. The exact dates change each year and the garden publishes them in autumn. We keep a guide with the current season and update it when the dates are confirmed.
Are the garden tickets included?
No, and that is deliberate. Keukenhof sells timed-entry tickets directly and they are often cheaper than any reseller. We will tell you which time slot to book for the day we are driving you, which matters more than who you buy from.
What about the tulip fields themselves?
The fields are outside the garden and they are free. They are also the better photograph. We know which roads have fields in bloom in any given week, because it moves, and we drive you there.
What if the flowers are late?
Peak bloom is weather dependent and can shift by two weeks. If you are booking early we will tell you honestly in the week before whether your date looks good, and you can move it at no cost up to 72 hours before.