Today, 8 of March in Romania but not only we honor the women’s day and I would like to celebrate this day with a post full of beautiful flowers.

The story of this trip starts in my third or fourth semester of bachelor when we had as exercise for history of parks and gardens to present our favourite park or garden. One colleague made a very nice presentation about Keukenhof park from Netherlands. I was soooooo impressed by the beauty and the history of this park and since then I always wished to see it one day. 

In spring of 2019 we had the idea of spending the Easter holidays in Netherlands and of course visit the Keukenhof park. For me at that moment one dream came true but I never knew it will be so impressive and rich in colors and textures.

The year 2019 had a nice and warm spring so it was the perfect Easter holiday for being outside. We planned one day for the Keukenhof park but to be honest if I will go again I would go earlier in the morning and take more time because it is immense and if you are there already just take the time to really see it and absorb the information.

The park is situated in Lisse, Netherlands a small town between Amsterdam and Rotterdam at the coast side of the country. This is the exact address: Stationsweg 166A, 2161 AM Lisse, Netherlands. The park was created by a group of flower experts and bulb producers to have a place for testing showing their products and helping the export industry. They opened the park for public in 1950 and since then, hundreds of thousands of people come to see millions of bulbs every year. 

We bought the tickets online from here, in this way we skipped the line from the entrance. The tickets are not very expensive and if you are going by car there will be an extra parking fee per day. I have seen many people coming by bike but by bus as well. There are good connections for all means of transport. The park has two entrances and the bus will leave you always at the main entrance. There are also lockers, touring cars and bicycle rent services.

Before entering I suggest you to take a map from the entrance so you can have an overview of the park. The park will be quite crowded but I think this is normal because there is a short period of time in which everyone can see the tulips in blooming. That’s why starting in the morning would be a good idea for skipping the peak of visitors number at the entrance and have more time until they close the park in the evening.

The park has really everything like a traditional windmill, a lake, picnic area, a big information center about bulbs, playground, shops, restaurants and so on. The bulbs combos all around the park are all extremely beautiful and creative. They created all the possible combinations of bulbs with different colors and textures. You will need a lot of time to stop and admire all of them and because of this at least one full day has to be planned for this park. In case you want to keep this trip at a reasonable cost bring your food because the park has the special areas for picnic with tables and sitting places but you can make a picnic on the grass.

The design and planting plan of the park is changed every year, in this way they present the new variety of bulbs that just appeared. This park is a very good inspiration for landscape architects or gardeners but for everyone who has gardening as hobby. If you have the chance, see it!

After you get inspired you can buy bulbs from the shop and bring home into your garden the ideas that you found in the park. Of course souvenirs are there too so you can buy for the dear ones some dutch articles.    

Happy women’s day and enjoy the beautiful nature this spring! 

I would like to dedicate this post to my mother Lenuța, my mother in law Cristina, my grandmothers Elena, Silvia and Hedy and to all my beautiful and amazing girlfriends around the world.

Lovingly,

Loredana