If you’re planning to visit Amsterdam this Spring, you’re in store for one of the city’s most iconic sights – blooming tulips. A classic symbol of the Netherlands, nothing is as impressive as the riot of colour when the country’s tulips blossom for just a few weeks each year.
Tulipomania comes alive again each Spring, and if you’re lucky enough to be there when the flowers are in bloom, you can visit some of the city’s best tulip gardens.
National Tulip Day
While you may associate tulips with the Spring months, one of Amsterdam’s biggest tulip celebrations actually occurs in January. On National Tulip Day, the city’s famous Dam Square is blanketed with more than 200,000 tulips that you can both admire and pick, absolutely fee of charge. It’s a wonderful way to bring a pop of colour and cheer into what can be an otherwise grey month.
The Annual Tulip Festival
Don’t get this festival mixed up with National Tulip Day – the Annual Tulip Festival runs throughout the entire month of April in locations all over the city. You’ll see these stunning flowers decorating all of Amsterdam’s most beloved sites – more than 800,000, which amounts to one tulip for every resident!
Participating locations include the Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, Vondelpark, and Rembrandtplein, but keep your eyes open everywhere you go.
Visit the Legendary Floating Flower Market – Bloemenmarkt
You don’t have to walk very far to stumble upon a flower market in the Dutch capital. However, the Bloemenmarkt, located on the Singel Canal, is the world’s only floating flower market. This bustling tourist attraction is equally popular with locals, who come to buy tulips, bulbs, and other flowers. This is a magical photo spot and a great place to buy bulbs to take home and relive your Amsterdam memories.
Learn the history of tulips at the Amsterdam Tulip Museum
There’s more than meets the eye to the history of the Dutch tulip trade. Learn all about the fascinating 17th-century period of Tulipomania at the Amsterdam Tulip Museum, and marvel at the intense period of speculation that saw tulips the world’s most expensive natural resource. Make sure you look for the Cabinet of Curiosities, filled with unusual tulips.
Take a daytrip to Keukenhof
Keukenhof Park is located in Lisse, a suburb of Amsterdam, and it’s well worth the journey. This jaw-dropping garden, spread across 32 hectares, includes more than 7 million tulips in a rainbow of colours. The gardens are curated throughout March to May to show off a dazzling array of designs and patterns.
Take a trip down the Flower Strip
Fancy a tulip road trip? Take a tour, bicycle, or hire a car to travel down the Flower Strip, or Bollenstreek. This 20-kilometre stretch starts near Amsterdam and is most beautiful in mid-April. That’s when you’ll see a wide array of daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, and of course, tulips. For a true local’s experience, hire a Renault Twizy, a 100% electric 2-seater quadricycle that comes with a tulip-centric audio guide of the area.
Exploring Amsterdam’s tulips is one of the most quintessentially Netherlands experiences, and it just gets more beautiful each year. Enjoy your own personal tulipomania!