weekly flower update 2019 week 15

Weekly Flower update 2019 – week 15

Wishing you a wonderful Tulip – Wednesday today! We had some technical difficulties with our website yesterday. So we are sending the newsletter for one time on this Wednesday. It has been a very busy week with lots of flowers and the flower parade is coming up this weekend. Have a look at the current status and some other news

Current status of the flowers

For everybody arriving by plane make sure you have a window seat to see the flower fields from up in the air. The daffodils and hyacinths are in full bloom now and the tulip fields have just started to bloom as well. It Is a lovely sight from above and from the ground.

Keukenhof looks beautiful at the moment. I can’t remember that I have seen so many flowers in bloom at the beginning of April. We have had a warm winter and springtime is warm as well. Last Sunday we had warm sunny weather with temperatures around the 20 C/ 68 F. It was quite busy at Keukenhof and the roads towards Keukenhof from the early morning. Everywhere you look you see flowers in bloom or flowers that are about to bloom. If you are visiting in the next three weeks you are in for a treat. From the windmill you can see the flower fields in the distance and it is perfect for riding a bike through the flower area.

The indoor flower shows are lovely as well. I expect to see the indoor tulip festival at the Willem Alexander Pavilion for another week before it will be replaced by other flowers. The orchid show at the Beatrix Pavilion is stunning and last weekend I was very surprised by all the beautiful colourful Gerbera flowers at the Oranje Nassau pavilion. Make sure you have a look to these shows as well during your visit of Keukenhof.

Weather

For the next week temperatures between 10-16 C /50-60 F are forecasted with lots of sunshine and some clouds. Based on the current prediction there will be no rain but check your weather app in the morning before you visit the tulips. In The Netherlands and especially during spring time you can experience four seasons in one day.

Are you wondering when the tulips are in bloom in the fields or when the best time is to visit Keukenhof? Have a look at this blogpost “when the tulips are in bloom in 2019“. Planning to visit but you don’t have a ticket yet? Have a look at our selection of tickets and tours here.

Upcoming blooming

For the next week I expect to see more and more tulips in bloom especially with all the sunshine and predicted temperatures. The daffodils and hyacinths are at their peak now. The crocus are nearly gone and the muscari, for the famous blue rivers in the park, are turning to more blue colour. Keukenhof have planted the bulbs in lasagna style. That means that the first layer is in bloom now and that the second layer will start to bloom soon. After the second layer the final third layer will start to bloom. Blooming and growing depends on weather and temperature, when the weather is warm and sunny blooming will go faster, when we have cold and cloudy weather blooming will slow down.
I know that some of you will have a couple of questions:
1. When will the tulip fields be headed? Tulips in the fields will be headed right after peak blooming. Normally during a regular year the tulip fields are headed from the 30th of April into the first week of May. I expect some earlier heading because of the early blooming due to the warm weather.
2. Will there be flowers left in May? Based on previous years I expect there is always something to see in bloom at Keukenhof. Normally my personal favourite week is the first/ second week of May, because of all the flowers in bloom and the fresh leaves on the trees. We will have to experience how the weather will develop in the upcoming weeks. Now it is too early to predict how the blooming will develop.

Flower Parade

The weekend of 12, 13 and 14 April is flower parade weekend. If you are in the Netherlands and you want to visit the Keukenhof and the flower parade we have some tips for you.

1. Visit Keukenhof on Friday the 12th or Monday the 15th for the best experience. These days you can see the flowers without queuing up on the footpaths and you can travel without a lot of traffic jams towards the Keukenhof.

2. When you want to see the parade consider Noordwijk on Saturday morning or Haarlem on Saturday evening. These places are beautiful to visit and you can get there and travel onwards without much problems. Did you know you can see most of the floats in Haarlem on Sunday morning and beginning of the afternoon? Are you looking for a midday flower parade experience? Consider taking the train to the town of Sassenheim and walk to the parade route from the station in 15 mins. See the parade around 12:30 PM (find a good spot a couple of hours before) and walk back to the train station of Sassenheim without traffic problems.

3. The local secret is to see the flower parade in Noordwijkerhout on Friday afternoon and evening. These are the same floats but without the crazy crowds. From 4 PM they are parked into the lovely town of Noordwijkerhout. Have a look in the beautiful flower decorated white church, see the flower mosaics and walk around the floats which are parked in the city centre. After that have an early dinner in Noordwijkerhout and find a spot along the route for the evening parade of 9 PM. Make sure you travel by foot, bike or own car because public transportation (and taxies) is closed for the evening due to the road closures of flower parade.

4. When you are determined to visit Keukenhof on parade day make sure you arrive early. (And I mean arrive before 9 AM!). Locals only travel by bike on this day because traffic jams can be horrendous, up to 2 hrs waiting in traffic is no exception and road closures and parking lot closures (Full!) are predicted from Noon (sometimes earlier!). This means that cars, public transportation, coaches, taxies can’t reach Keukenhof anymore. So please arrive early. Keukenhof will be extremely crowed, you have to wait in line around the park for everything. I always advise people to visit on another day than on Parade day. The parade will drive by at Keukenhof from around 3:30PM and a lot of people will line up along the roads for hours before to get a good spot. It will be crowded anywhere along the route at Keukenhof. If you want a good spot rent a bike and find a spot between Keukenhof and Hillegom (more further down the route) or see the parade before it arrives at Keukenhof (along the road between Sassenheim and Lisse). After the parade is finished nearly 80% of the people will head for their car, coach, bike, public transportation immediately. They expect to be the first to leave but they forget that around 100.000 people are expecting the same. Until 7 PM the roads will be jammed. Best advise? Head into the town of Lisse for dinner or a snack or go back into Keukenhof and wait until the roads are cleared. You have to wait anyway so make it a fun experience.
Another tip for people visiting on Saturday by public transportation. Because of the road closures, public transportation (and taxies) will be jammed until the moment the blockage is removed. That means that until 7 PM there won’t be any public transportation or taxies at Keukenhof and the surrounding area. When they arrive, expect to wait in line for a couple of hours, because every one wants the same first bus back to the airport/ other train station. Visiting the Keukenhof on Parade days is a full day experience, bring drinks and snacks with you.

5. Visiting on Sunday will be extremely busy especially when there is sunny weather predicted. Arrive early before 9 am, expect traffic jams from 10 AM and some road/parking lot closures from Noon. You will have to fight the crowds at Keukenhof shuffling along the flowers.

6. Best advise? Visit Keukenhof on Friday during the day, drive your (rental) car to the nearby town of Noordwijkerhout at 4 PM, see the floats when they are parked, have dinner in Noordwijkerhout and see the flower parade in the evening from 9 PM before you drive back to your hotel. And skip the Keukenhof area on Saturday/Sunday.

To see some other tips and tricks for Parade Day see our website here.

Important dates for April

12 April – Flower Parade Noordwijkerhout
13 April – Flower Parade Noordwijk – Lisse – Haarlem
14 April – Flower Parade stationary in Haarlem
20 – 22 April – Easter weekend
27 April – Kings Day, our National Holiday to celebrate the birthday of our King, Bring something orange to wear on this day.

Tickets and Tours

In the past few weeks we have added several new tickets this year. Have a look to our tickets & tours:

Visit Keukenhof on your own

Keukenhof 2019 – Skip the line
Bus + Skip the line entrance Keukenhof 2019 (also from the new added bus stations)
Rent your bike (3hrs or full day) to see the flower fields around Keukenhof yourself

Visiting Keukenhof by tour

Flying Above tulip fields by helicopter (in the town of Creil in the Noordoost Polder – reachable by (rental) car only)

Tulipfield Helicopter Flight

If you are looking for other tours like canal boats or bike tours in Rotterdam have a look at our full tour list on our website.

Wishing you a lovely week!

Kind regards from Tulips in Holland,

Nienke

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