Our airline bumped up our stopover to give us an additional night in the city of bicycles – and in this case – tulips! Which we utilized by visiting Keukenhof! Yes, we could’ve accomplished much more than we did, which was mostly lounging and snacking, we’re on leisure mode, pre giant road trip, and honestly, Amsterdam is a pricey city to visit. Flowers bring me joy and I’m not regretful of my life choices.

Keukenhof is right up my alley, and it’s prime viewing time, literally right now, mid April. The weather today was relatively temperamental, like home this time of year. Although it was a bit chilly, the wind never seems to stop here, hence all the windmills I suppose. We made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

Keukenhof, for those of you that don’t know, is a vast (almost) 80 acres of flower heaven. 7 million bulbs are planted by hand on the grounds in the fall, methodically planned around bloom times of course, so no where is barren over the 8 weeks that the gardens are open to the public. Coming in as one of the world’s largest flower gardens, they draw in droves of flower lovers, back in 2019 they saw the likes of 26,000 people per day on average – more on sunny days – which brought their total visitors to 1.5 million. So, be prepared.

We booked our tickets online a month in advance, and after our arrival we simply scanned my phone and breezed right through, no queue for us. We had a small amount of stress though, you see, we arrived via Uber, and he got lost… late to pick us up, missed the easy turn onto the freeway, took a slow detour… and our tickets only allowed for admission from 9-930. We arrived at 9:26. Not ideal. Then, buddy had the audacity to attempt to charge more through the app… bringing the total to over €50, which I disputed, and Uber agreed to return the cost to the originally agreed charge. The kicker, it happened again on the way back. Disputed again, lowered again. So, watch out for the Uber scams here. Long hauling. It’s one thing in a taxi, but when I’m tracking the ride I can tell we’re headed the wrong direction. So that’s fun. And if I’m already paying $60 for what looked like a 20 minute ride, I don’t see the sense in bumping it up to over $90.

Anyways. We didn’t let that rain on our flower parade. Not even real rain could put a damper on us, we got cute ponchos and continued on our giddy way.

After traipsing around outside, getting thoroughly turned around and seeing a mind boggling amount of blooms we headed into the massive covered greenhouses to get out of the weather and see some rare tulip varieties up close. I’ve always been a big fan of parrot tulips, with their unique thick ruffled petals, and the array inside certainly did not disappoint.

Prepare for flower spam…

As the morning went on, closing in on noon, the crowds were starting to really flood in, tour groups arriving, class field trips, busses and humans as far as the eye could see. We were satisfied with our experience, getting peopled out, and ready for lunch, so we checked out and headed across the massive parking area to the main road. Access to the trails leading to Keukenhof Castle were adjacent to the gardens and just a short jaunt through a haunted looking forest. We passed a handful of friendly grannies assuring us we were headed in the right direction, meanwhile google maps wanted us to trespass over a pointed fence. Classic.

I’d already sussed out the menu at the castle, and it did not disappoint. We arrived to ample seating in a cozy warm dining area, ordered two hot chocolate’s with fresh whipped cream right off the bat to warm us up. We split a hearty spread; a ribeye sandwich, tomato soup, croquettes, veggie wrap & chips. It was plenty of food, and well executed. We finished up, took in the castle grounds and caught our ride back to the hotel. What ubering lacks in morals they make up for in convenience.

All in all it was a whirlwind half day outing. Very enjoyable, lots of laughs and memories that’ll last a lifetime.