Last Updated on April 12, 2024 by
Tulip season in the Netherlands is probably on the bucket list of many. Thousands of colourful fields with flowers as far as the eye can see. At least this is what I see when thinking about Netherlands in the spring. As soon as you buy your flights tickets to Amsterdam, there will be someone telling you to visit the Keukenhof Gardens. When I was planning my visit, I read I don’t know how many blogs online stating this is the most beautiful garden in the world, an unmissable stop on your Netherlands itinerary bla bla bla. Of course, I was determined to visit! However, my experience was quite disappointing. In this blog you will discover everything you need to know to visit Keukenhof Gardens. This will help you planning your visit in the best way and maybe decide to get somewhere else.
Before telling you more about my experience, I will give you all the information you need to visit the gardens. This is because I am not her to tell you not to go without a reason. Indeed, this is still one of the most famous gardens in Europe! Therefore you should have all the best information possible to plan your visit regardless of what my experience was.
Table of Contents
What are the Keukenhof Gardens?
Keukenhof Gardens is famous as the “Garden of Europe” and nonetheless is one of the world’s largest gardens. It is located in the municipality of Lisse and covers an area of 32 hectares. Historically, the garden lies in the medieval hunting grounds of the Teylingen Castle that were used by Countess Jacoba van Beieren for the castle’s kitchen. Indeed, the name of the garden comes exactly from keukentuin meaning “kitchen dunes”.
When Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641 the estate grew to encompass an area of more than 200 hectares. Nevertheless, it was only in 1857 that Keukenhof assumed its current shape. In fact, it was remodelled as an English-style garden by the architect Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher, who also designed Amsterdam’s Vondelpark. The garden as we know it today opened to the public only in 1950 after a group of 20 leading flower bulb growers and exporters came up with the plan to use the estate to exhibit spring-flowering bulbs.
Since then, the garden open yearly to display millions of flowers planted over the winter. It is estimated that each year about 40 gardeners plant about 7 millions bulbs donated by 100 flower bulb companies.
Practical information to visit Keukenhof Gardens
According to my experience, a visit to Keukenhof Gardens has to be planned largely in advance. This because tickets get sold out easily and you can visit the garden only during a limited period of time. Therefore a little planning in advance is more than essential (especially if you are travelling with small children).
What is the best time to visit Keukenhof Gardens?
A visit to Keukenof Gardens is dictated by the weather unpredictability. Indeed, there are two main issues that can potentially affect your plans. The first, is that the garden is open only for a short period of time every spring. The second, is that even in that short length of time, is not 100% granted you’ll see the garden in full bloom. The second problem is the one that affected the most our visit because the garden was bloomed only at its 30% when we visited but the crowd for this 30% was massive. This ruined our visit (together with other issues).
Because this caused some negative feedbacks from visitors, the Keukenhof management has now introduced a full disclaimer saying the flower bloom follows “the course of the nature”. Therefore, they can’t grant you’ll find what you expensively paid for. Despite this is understandable from a natural perspective. The administration should also “follow the course of the nature” and open the garden only if there is effectively something to see. Or at least introduce a flexible fare rather than charging visitors the full $$$ for just green grass.
Keukenhof Gardens Key Dates 2024
Having said so, please keep note of the Key Dates for the Keukenhof Gardens opening in Spring 2024 and how to grab your tickets.
Keukenhof Garden will be open in 2024 from from 21st March to 12th May from 08.00 am to 19.30 pm.
How to get your tickets for Keukenhof Gardens 2024
Tickets for the Keukenhof Gardens opening in 2024 are already online and you can buy them here.
The single entrance ticket for the garden €19,50 per person. To note this DOES NOT include the shuttle bus from Amsterdam (which you will likely use).
If you are travelling from Amsterdam and need to get to the Keukenhof Gardens, the only way (unless you have a car) is with their shuttle bus. In this case you need to buy a Combi-ticket and this has a cost of €36,50 per person. Children from 4 years old pay a cost of €17,50.
Buy a Combi-Ticket for Keukenhof Gardens here.
Remember always to pick up your date and entrance slot carefully as this might affect your journey. If you are travelling by car, you’ll need to buy a regular €19,50 ticket + the parking ticket of € 8.
Tickets bought at the entrance gate are more expensive. Please note the ticket doesn’t include the boat trip to the tulip fields surrounding the gardens. This is an extra €10
Getting to Keukenhof Gardens from Amsterdam
If you are based in Amsterdam you can reach the Keukenhof Garden in two ways. By Car (a 35 mins drive via the A4) or by bus.
The bus you need to take is not just a regular bus. In fact, you need to take a Keukenhof Express that has to be pre-booked and paid in advance with your Keukenhof entrance ticket. From Amsterdam, the main boarding points are the RAI Station and the Schipol Airport. Your boarding time will be specified on your ticket at the time of purchase. Don’t be late as there is a risk you won’t be accepted aboard.
To note you won’t be the only passenger and you’ll need to queue in line between 15 and 30 minutes to board the next available bus. We waited for about 25 mins. Particularly because we had the strollers and the bus needed to have enough space for us. Considering the waiting line, plan accordingly your visit considering your garden entrance slot.
The bus ride can be 30-40 mins depending on the traffic.
Visiting the Keukenhof Garden from other cities
A Keukenhof Express shuttle bus is available also for people departing from Haarlem or Leiden. Tickets in this case are €31,50.
How long does it take to visit the Keukenhof Gardens?
Depending what you have planned for your day, a visit to Keukenhof can go from 3 hours to the a great part of the day. We originally planned for a great day out but after facing the reality (I’ll tell you later about our experience) we just got back after lunch.
Things to see at the Keukenhof Gardens
As soon as you enter the gardens, you can pick-up a map to orientate yourself. This will look similar to the picture above. As you can see, the garden is divided into different pavilions sections that dictate the layout of what you will see.
Visit the Pavilions
You can choose to visit the gardens by checking the different pavilions (there are 6 in total). I didn’t know what to expect from them, but they are basically giant flower shops with a few flower exhibitions. I honestly didn’t get particularly excited about them and, unless you are really crazy about flowers, you’ll get probably my same impression. Moreover, we shared the space with other thousands of people at the same time and this probably didn’t help me to appreciate those pavilions as I should?
A good reminder for your orientation around the garden is that each pavilion usually includes a shop, a restaurant or bar and toilet facilities. So, if you need any of those, you can just pop around to the closest pavilion.
The six different pavilions are:
- Willem- Alexander. The biggest one at the centre of the garden. Built in 1966 and characterised by its highlight ceiling glass.
- Wilhelmina. Located directly across the pond is also home of one of the largest restaurants in the garden.
- Juliana/ Tulpomania hosts a permanent exhibition about the history of the tulips in Holland.
- Oranje Nassau hosts the themed exhibition for the year with some photo opportunities corners and a quite overpriced souvenir shop.
- Irene. This was actually the former entrance of the Keukenhof gardens now turned into an organ barrel area. There is a large fountain, two small restaurants and, of course, toilet facilities.
- Beatrix. This is located not far from the wndmill area and usually host a orchid display.
Check out the Inspirational Gardens
There are five “inspirational” gardens scattered across the park, mainly near the area of the windmill and playground. As the word says, these small gardens serve to give people “inspiration” and they are planned according to a specific theme each year. We don’t have yet the inspirational gardens for 2024 but the 2023 themes were the following:
- Organic Garden
- Tropical Beach Garden
- Pink Tea Garden
- Graffiti Garden
- Red Romance Garden
Climb the Windmill
If you didn’t have the chance to visit the windmills in Zaanse Schans, this is your chance to see one up-close and even climb it. To note the windmill isn’t originally belonging to the garden but it was brought here from another location. One of the main reason to visit the windmill in Keukenhof is its terrace overlooking the tulip fields in the outer park of the garden. The entrance to the windmill is free but be prepared to queue for at least 10 mins in order to get inside.
Take a whisper boat around the tulip fields
Just next to the windmill there is a small dock where you can board a “whisper boat”. An electrically-propelled boat that is made to navigate peacefully the Dutch canals. This little whisper boat takes tourists around a canal surrounding the famous tulip fields of the area. The tour last about 45 mins.
To note tickets for the whisper boat are not included in the Keukenhof garden main ticket. However, you need a garden ticket to buy a boat ticket.
Indeed, these have to be bought online in advance or from the small booth near the windmill.
Tickets prices:
Adults (incl. 65+) €10,00
Children (aged 4-11) €5,00
Children (aged 3 and younger) Free of charge
Where to Eat at Keukenhof Gardens
As said before there are plenty of restaurants inside the Keukenhof Gardens. Indeed, each pavilion has its own service area where you can either find a restaurant or a snack bar. You can also take your own food, but, in this case, you’ll need to use the specific picnic area as restaurants don’t allow external food.
We didn’t have enough time to prepare for a picnic so we decided to dine in one of the restaurants. We chose the biggest one at Wilhelmina pavilion. To note this is a self-service restaurant. However, it is made of several areas with different types of food you have to order and take with you to a table (if you find one).
They have everything from pizza to cold dishes to chicken with fries. The only problem (for us) was finding a space. In fact, we couldn’t plan to order anything until we finally spotted someone leaving his table and we literally jumped on it! Another problem was finding the high chairs for the children. Indeed, it was quite shocking to see such a big restaurant with just four high-chairs and (of course) all of them were busy and we needed 2!
It took a while until we spot some free high chairs and could accommodate the children too. Moreover, both chairs were disgustingly dirty and we had to clean them on our own.
Food was quite expensive as we paid about €56 for two small pizza, one chicken with fries and two cokes.
Overall: Food 6/10; Service 2/10; Atmosphere 1/10
Where to stay to visit the Keukenhof Gardens
There are two main hubs from where its easier to access the Keukenhof Gardens: Amsterdam and Leiden.
In Amsterdam
Luxury stays
My favourite luxury retreats in Amsterdam offer definitely a perfect base to explore the Keukenhof Gardens. Intercontinental Amsterdam is my forever favourite for its elegance and historical heritage. However, I have a soft spot also for the sober luxury of Waldorf Astoria. Perhaps, younger travellers might find the W Amsterdam an optimal choice for its sleek interior design and excellent location.
Budget stays
Amsterdam (and the Netherlands in general) are not cheap place to visit. Particularly for families. Indeed, prices for a week stay for 4 people (2 adults, 2 children) ranges between €1000 and €5000. This doesn’t include luxury options. As we didn’t want to spend that much for a mid-year holiday, we evaluated what was the best budget option for our need.
I searched for a place that had large rooms, very good connections with the central areas, a supermarket nearby and within the budget of £1000. Ibis Budget City South had all these requirements, plus I am an Accor member so our stay made us also gain some points! We paid slightly more than €1000 for a week and our stay was very pleasant.
Leiden
Two of my favourite hotels in Leiden are Huys van Leyden and City Hotel Nieuw Minerva. Both of them have a old-fashioned style with modern amenities. Located into two beautiful historical houses they have never-ending charm and excellent services.
Keukenhof Gardens. Is it worth visiting them?
I wish my straight reply to this question was yes, but unfortunately we had a bad reality check with the Keukenhof Gardens. In fact, I will remember them forever as the slap-in-the-face of our trip to the Netherlands. This because, my expectations were not only disappointed but reality was far worse than I could ever imagined. So I don’t think they are worth to visit. Particularly for the reasons below.
Why I didn’t like the Keukenhof Gardens?
There are several reasons why I think this place is incredibly overrated.
- It’s worrisomely expensive for what you get in return. If we take in account how much we paid for a day trip to Keukenhof in total the cost is really not justified. As a total expense for our day trip we paid around £200 (including tickets, transportation, food and drinks). I believe we could have spent those money in a much better way. Taking in account that £72 was only the price of our entrance tickets.
- It’s terribly overcrowded. With this I don’t mean there is just people here and there. I mean that I didn’t see that level of crowd since my day at Chandni Chowk in New Delhi during the Christmas week. There were literally thousands of people. So many that we even didn’t let the children walk alone because we could loose them in the crowd forever.
- It looks like a giant garden nursery. I was expecting to see millions of flowers but it looked like an open-air flower shop with an overcrowded garden.
- It’s basically a tourist trap. Everything you look is overpriced and prepared ad-hoc for you dummy tourist who paid almost €40 to be on a shop in the shop. To give you an example, A bag of tulip bulbs that we paid just €5 at the market, there were priced between €20 and €25 per bag. A total scam.
- The famous “animal farm” for the children is just an enclosure with a couple of poor sheep surrounded by hundreds of people looking at them. Not sure why they even keep them there.
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