How to Visit Tulip Fields Near Amsterdam

With spring on the horizon, it is time to plan your visit to the tulip fields in Amsterdam! 🌷

If you ask me, there is no better period to visit Amsterdam (and Netherlands) than during the tulip season.

In this travel guide I am going to share with you when is the best time to visit the Dutch tulip fields, how to get there and what tulip experience to choose!

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There are 2 options on how to reach Amsterdam from London.

Option A: Best flights are from London Gatwick with EasyJet.

Option B: Take a Eurostar train from London St. Pancras International.

Where to stay

If there is one advice I can give you for Amsterdam, that would be: book your hotel way IN ADVANCE!!

Hotels in Amsterdam are insanely expensive! And closer to your date, the prices will just be up and up and up.

I stayed in the Bilderberg Garden Hotel – it was 15 min walk from Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh Museum, and some 25 min walk from the main city centre.

The area was very nice, residential. It was so peaceful that we even heard birds singing in the morning. 🥰

Other great options:

Anantara Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky Amsterdam – the best and most luxurious hotel in Amsterdam

Motel One Amsterdam-Waterlooplein

Hyatt Regency Amsterdam

Pestana Amsterdam Riverside

Planning a trip to Amsterdam and tulip fields this year? Read more about pros & cons and things to do there in my 2024 Travel Bucket List blog. Spoiler alert: you may find additional 7 great bucket list ideas! 🤭

When is tulip season

Keukenhof Gardens

The tulip season in the Netherlands runs from the end of March till early May.

In 2024 the tulip season starts on March 21 and runs until May 12 when they are in peak bloom.

Post this date, it will be highly unlikely to see any tulips, so if you want to go and want to find the best flights/hotel/tours deals, you need to book this trip ASAP.

How to get to tulip fields from Amsterdam

To get to tulip fields from Amsterdam you have 4 different options.

1. Rent a car (like I did) via AutoEurope

If you know a thing or two about me, then you know I simply LOVE road trips! They are fun, easy to do and they totally fit with your pace and schedule! 🚗

We rented a car for just 1 day. We picked it up at Schiphol Airport and returned there too. From Schipol it’s fairly easy to reach the city centre via bus.

Our Fiat Hybrid 500

2. Rent a bike

And if there’s a thing or two you know about the Dutch, you know they love their bikes! 🚴‍♂️ Trust me when I say that you don’t need to watch out cars in Amsterdam, but bikes! They ride like craazyy! 😅

You can find some guided bike routes on GetYourGuide.

3. Take a public transportation

Now, this comes with additional tips & tricks as it may seem easy and simple, but is actually the most complicated option. 😅

If you’re looking to see tulips, most likely you’d have famous Keukenhof Gardens on your mind.

Since you’ll anyway need an entry ticket, the best is to then combine a shuttle bus with Keukenhof Tulip Gardens entrance ticket.

Once you visit the Keukenhof Gardens, you can rent a bike to cycle around the area and chase the most beautiful flower fields.

Fancy a different and unique experience? Why not try out GPS Audio Tour?

If you don’t want to visit Keukenhof Gardens, but you still want to explore Lisse tulip fields and chase them on your own, then take a public train from Amsterdam to Nieuw-Vennep Train Station.

If you’re taking a train, the best is to rent a bike in Amsterdam and get it with you to cycle around the area in the search for some tulip fields.

Amsterdam

4. Take a guided tour

Probably the easiest way because your tickets, transport and sightseeing activities would be organised by a tour company.

There are many great tours on GetYourGuide, see below for some options.

Where to find tulip fields near Amsterdam

Tulip fields near Amsterdam are in the Lisse area which is southwest of Amsterdam. It is a 20 minute drive from the airport and 35 minute drive from the city centre which makes it a perfect day trip.

1. Keukenhof Gardens

They are open from March 21 to May 12 2024.

Please bear in mind that while really beautiful, Keukenhof Gardens is just a park!

So you can ask me, okay Megi, why did you list them here then? Well, mainly because I want to debunk a common myth about them. And also because they’re still beautiful to visit, especially because they’re only open during this period, it’s not like you can go there whenever you’d like.

If you’re not spending some time researching where to find tulip fields in Amsterdam, and especially if you’re only scrolling through Instagram and TikTok, you may be in an illusion that Keukenhof Gardens are those wonderful fields of tulips you see all over social media. They are NOT!

I was thinking that exact same thing because not every travel influencer and travel blogger is transparent, especially if they want to create a wow effect just to increase their reach and follower rate.

While you will find many, many tulips in Keukenhof Gardens, you WON’T find tulip fields, so don’t get disappointed! Think of Keukenhof Gardens as Hyde Park in London or Central Park in New York, but with tulip displays. 🌷

You can check my Instagram Reel to see the reality of Keukenhof Gardens.

Are they still worth visiting? Absolutely! But remember, it is a park. 🙂

Keukenhof Gardens

2. Tulip Experience Amsterdam

The tulip farm is open from March 21 to May 12 2024.

What I loved about this tulip experience is that you’re supporting a family owned business and that you get to learn so much about tulips – from origin, history, cultivation to fun facts.

I bought tickets in advance, and while the experience was nice, I was left a tiny bit disappointed with their tulip fields. Supposedly, you can expect to see around a million tulips, walk in the fields and later do some flower picking.

However, when we were there in April 2023, the flowers were not in full bloom yet and the overall impression was: meh. Perhaps because spring of 2023 was quite rainy, cold and miserable, the weather conditions impacted the tulip bloom. Or maybe we came too early or too late. I am not 100% sure why they didn’t bloom as much. 🥹

So, my honest advice would be to leave your car/bike in the free parking space. From the parking lot you can actually sneak peek and see if the flowers are in bloom or not. If they are, go ahead and buy tickets on the spot. If they’re not, well, you can still go to learn about tulips, cultivation and have a coffee next to the fields. Or you can walk away.

The only risk here is that if the tulips are in full bloom and you don’t have your tickets already, they may be sold out and you’d miss to see it after all. I’ll leave this decision to you.

So, for buying tickets in advance, you have 2 options.

3. Random tulip field

Honestly, the best way to see these beautiful tulip fields in the Lisse area is to just wander around. That’s why it’s important you either rent a car or a bike.

While visiting Keukenhof Gardens and Tulip Experience Amsterdam is great, visiting a random tulip field is a million times better!

When you see those vast fields in red, yellow, pink, get ready to be blown away! 😍

Tulips are my favourite flower and seeing them was such a bucket list experience!

So beautiful, right!? 😍

And there you go, the only guide you’ll ever need for visiting tulip fields near Amsterdam.

Make sure you save it or pin it for later. 📍

Who’s visiting tulip fields near Amsterdam this year? 🌷