The largest and most colorful garden in the World, Keukenhof is located in Lisse in the Netherlands. Known as ‘the Garden of Europe,’ Keukenhof has more than 7 million bulbs in bloom, with a total of 800 varieties of tulips.
An unforgettable experience is provided by visiting this place, especially in spring.
Besides the colorful flowers, the Keukenhof Garden has a petting farm, a maze and a playground for children. This makes the garden a great place to spend quality time with family and friends and to just enjoy the living rainbow at their feet.
Visitors can also explore the surrounding area with its fields of flowers by hiring a bike or taking a boat cruise to fully enjoy the beauty around them.
Keukenhof has a variety of different gardens and garden styles. However, it doesn’t have long fields of tulips as many visitors expect to see. There are privately owned tulip fields and visiting them is not included in the garden’s entrance ticket.
The garden is placed on 15th-century hunting grounds and there’s an interesting story behind its name. Keukehnof’s ground was a source of herbs in the past and served to provide them for Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut’s castle’s kitchen. From here comes the name ‘Keukenhof’ meaning ‘Kitchen garden’.
The garden was established in 1949, by then-mayor of Lisse. The idea was to present the largest and most colorful garden filled with flowers grown from all over the Netherlands and Europe. This garden also helped the Dutch export industry, making the Netherlands the world’s largest exporter of flowers today.
The grounds of the Keukenhof’s Castle are open all year long. They’re mostly used for festivals, such as Castle-fest, Christmas Fair and the Ladies Winter night. However, the garden is only open in spring. The best time to see the tulips is around mid-April, depending on the weather.
This year, Keukenhof Gardens are open from 23rd March to 21st May, every day starting from 08:00 am – 07:30 pm.
During the spring season, the gardens will be a host of special activities, shows, and performances, especially on weekends and public holidays.