Keukenhof Gardens Tulips

Keukenhof Gardens 2024

Keukenhof Gardens tulips is a place for garden enthusiasts, photographers and anyone who enjoys natural beauty. Keukenhof Gardens only opens in Spring, which makes visiting Amsterdam in Spring high on many peoples lists. The initial idea, way back in 1949 was to turn the garden into an exhibit for spring time flowers. A plan by leading bulb growers and exporters created a stunning garden full of colour that attracted 236,000 visitors in the first year alone.

Since then, Keukenhof Gardens has grown in popularity exponentially and in 2024 sees its 75th year. Being such a momentous anniversary of the first planting of bulbs at Keukenhof, this year will be something special.

Each year the gardens have their own theme, back in 2022 when the garden reopened for the first time after the pandemic the theme was ‘Flower Classics’, in 2024 the focus is all around the 75th anniversary of the gardens.

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Keukenhof Gardens Tickets

Keukenhof tulip gardens is popular, very popular. Tickets often sell out in well in advance, so it is very advisable that you book your desired tickets or tour as far in advance as you can.

Most people visiting Keukenhof Gardens from Amsterdam will choose to do so either on a transfer tour or on a half day or full day tour. As Keukenhof Gardens are so popular and the opening time is limited to Spring, there are various choices of tickets or tours to choose from.

You can choose just to book a ticket and then transfer and explore at your leisure, with regular coaches between Amsterdam and Keukenhof for you to choose from. You could choose a tour that takes you around the tulip growing region as well as Keukenhof Gardens, so that you experience other parts of the colourful region before the highlight at Keukenhof.

There are also tours that include places like Delft or The Windmill Village of Zaanse Schans. It is also of course possible to make your own way to Keukenhof Gardens too.

Entry tickets cost €20 for adults and €9 for children 4-17.

Enquire here for Keukenhof Garden Group tickets for 9 or more people.

Below we have selected a few of our favourites tickets and tours. You can also use our full list of Keukenhof Garden Tulip tours.

Keukenhof Gardens Tulips and Castle

If you want to assail your visual senses with a riot of colour and let the scent of millions of fresh flowers wash over you, then there is no better place than Keukenhof Gardens.

Every Spring, 7 million flower bulbs over 32 acres start to bloom creating a natural flower spectacle like no other. Walking around the garden alone would be enough, but there are also statues to enjoy, a hedge maze, petting zoo, treasure hunts and a theme pavilion. This is a perfect escape for individuals, couples and families and one of Amsterdam’s most popular half-day and day trips.

Flower Festival 2024

A magical annual flower parade that in 2024 runs from 17 April until 20 April. The first few days allow you to see the floats being decorated. On Saturday 20 April ‘Corsa Saturday’ the famous parade travels from Noordwijk to Harlaam.

This flower parade usually attracts thousands of visitors. If you are going to be in Amsterdam that week, then it is definitely something you should consider adding to your itinerary. You can easily and quickly get to Haarlam from Amsterdam on public transport for example.

Tickets and timeslots

Although Keukenhof is an outdoor space so is inherently safer in the covid world, there are still the standard precautions in place at Keukenhof Gardens. Timeslots were put in place in 2022 to make sure numbers were more controlled, it is likely this will remain for 2024 too. So, as with most attractions now, it is recommended to book your tickets in advance online.

Keukenhof Castle

Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641 with an estate of over 200 hectares. The park was designed in an English landscape style by Jan David and Louis Paul Zocher, landscape architects in 1857. It is often overlooked due to the Keukenhof Gardens tulips overshadowing everything. The castle though can be visited outside of Spring, hosts myriad festivals and events and has free entry to its grounds. 

Built by Adriaen Maertensz Block, the Keukenhof Castle is home to paintings by Nicholaes Maer a student of Rembrant and a collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain. The estate holds special events throughout the year including a Christmas market and various festivals.

The castle gardens are home to a sculpture garden, petting zoo and a play area for children. The gardens are open all year round April-September – 8.30am -7.30pm and October-March – 8.30am – 5pm. Entry to the castle gardens is free.

There is a restaurant called Hofboerderij within the castle gardens where you can enjoy a BBQ, high tea or make your own pancakes.

The castle is open from May to October and visitors can only go in by booking a guided tour. At present the castle attic is being renovated so there is currently no entry to the castle.

Guided Tours – Adults – €10 – Children 4-17 – €5

Tulips in Amsterdam

We also have a dedicated Tulips in Amsterdam page that details all the flower attractions and events you can find in Amsterdam.

Where is Keukenhof Gardens

Keukenhof Gardens is in the town of Lisse in South Holland. Its nearest cities are Haarlem and Amsterdam. You can use the public transport 9292 website to plan how to get to Keukenhof Gardens independently.

Keukenhof Gardens Address:

Stationsweg 166A
2161 AM Lisse

What is the best time to visit Keukenhof Gardens

As it is only open in the Springtime you are limited to an extent on opportunities to pick and choose your visit time. The gardeners at Keukenhof plant the 7 million bulbs in such a way that attempts to guarantee that different areas of the garden are in bloom at all times. By planting three sets of bulbs at different depths, they extend the flowering, as the shallowest bulb flowers first and as it fades away, it is replaced by the bulb below and so forth.

As this is a natural garden (even if it is pre-planned) they are reliant on weather conditions, which does mean that they cannot guarantee what will be flowering and when. If you were to go on the very first week for example, if flowering is later than expected because of a cold winter, you might see less on your visit. If the winter is mild and the months leading up to Spring are warmer than expected, then the bulbs may grow faster and disappear earlier.

As you now need to book your tickets online in advance you really are in the hands of the weather as to what you will or will not see on your visit. In theory at least, the last couple of weeks of April and the first week of May are the optimum times to visit. If you want to see the surrounding tulip fields in full bloom then it is worth knowing that a lot of the tulips are cut on or around 30 April each year. If you visit after this time you may not see the fields of tulips outside Keukenhof on your visit.

In terms of the best time to visit Keukenhof Gardens then early moring is quieter as is later afternoon and evening. If you arrive at 8am there is a good chance you can go to some of the most beautiful places and find some solitide. You’ll probably see a photographer or two looking to get photos without crowds of people in at this time.

Keukenhof Gardens Accessibility

Keukenhof is a pedestrian park so no bicycles are allowed. Visitors are not allowed to walk through the bulb fields but you are able to take photographs from the road.

Dogs are allowed in the park on a lead but a maximum of one dog per person. Manual wheel chairs are available for hire at €5 each but a deposit of €20 is required.

Visitors can use electric wheel chairs in the gardens but there are none available for hire.

Tickets for a cruise through the bulb fields surrounding Keukenhof (awaiting running confirmation during Covid restrictions) can be purchased from the official website.

Can I bring my own food and drink

Visitors are able to bring their own food and drink into the gardens, however there are a number of restaurants and mobile food outlets on site.

Poffertjes – which serve traditional dutch mini pancakes.

Restaurants specialising in Italian and Asian food.

Mobile outlets for hotdogs, herring and strawberries.

Keukenhof Gardens tours and day trips

There are many tours and day trips to choose from when deciding to visit Keukenhof Gardens. You can visit the gardens only or combine your visit with a tour of nearby attractions. There is also the opportunity to include Keukenhof as part of a longer day trip to cities such as The Hague, Delft and  Rotterdam.