Letting Go of the Bay Leaf: I Hope You Like Tulips!

“I’ve always wanted to go to the tulip fields,” my mother-in-law said. And that was enough to set the wheels in motion for our epic trip to Amsterdam.

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Research has always appealed to me; maybe that’s why I enjoyed college and grad school so much. I love fleshing out a barely structured idea, distilling multiple sources of information to the essential and subjecting them to a well-ordered Excel spreadsheet or essay, complete with footnotes! I thrilled to the many questions that bounced around my head like kernels of popcorn exploding into puffy goodness. When is the ideal time to visit the tulip fields? Could we combine it with a tour of Amsterdam? What else is there to do? How many days would we need?

Usually, my husband does the trip planning; in this case, I took it on. I quickly found that it is a circular process – some decisions impact others, and you have to stay flexible until you have worked out most of the details. It was (mostly) fun.

I don’t know how people planned trips before the Internet – travel agents? Hours were consumed with Google searches, Tripadvisor recommendations, websites, and public transport maps. I even talked to other people who have been there – imagine that! I was telling my dental hygienist about our trip and she took a moment to show me the website of Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with 19 historic windmills.

You could spend weeks in/around Amsterdam and not see everything, so I focused on a few priorities. Keukenhof quickly surfaced as the most critical destination. Given my mother-in-law’s request for ‘tulip fields’, an excursion to a tulip farm was also high on the list. And could any trip to Holland be complete without windmills? In between, we would explore parts of Amsterdam.

This post will show you only the first two days of our trip.

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My husband and I are experienced travelers, but public transport can still take a day or two to figure out. (Just ask us about the subway in Prague!) Sometimes, the hardest part is just getting the right train from the airport!

On our first day, we had taken a very early flight from the UK, so we left our bags behind the desk at the Best Western and were nibbling lunch at a sidewalk bistro by 11 am. So very European!

We strolled through Vondelpark – it was a Monday and yet there were many people enjoying Amsterdam’s largest public park. It features an open-air theater, playgrounds, ponds, various sculptures and cafes nestled among the trees. It was getting warm, and there was a temptation to stop and enjoy an adult beverage. But we carried on – more to see!

We hopped a tram to Bloemenmarkt, a picturesque floating flower market. Souvenirs, tulips and bulbs of all kinds are displayed on barges that from the outside look like real shops, colorful and fragrant. The market dates back to 1862, when merchants used barges to transport flowers from the suburbs to the city center. Today, you can find many types of souvenirs – such as Baby Gouda - buy three and get the fourth for free!

We started to feel the effects of our early start, so we returned to the hotel and decided to take advantage of its restaurant for a convenient dinner. We wanted to be ready for the major excursion the next day – Keukenhof!

I was a little nervous about getting to Keukenhof – it would involve taking a tram, followed by a short ferry ride. Then, a brief walk to the bus terminal. Our tickets had a time window, and so we worked backwards from that to figure out when we should leave the hotel. I was relieved that it all went smoothly. It was an hour bus ride to the Flower Exhibition, and our anticipation was building as the landscape became more rural and the rainbow stripes of the tulip fields drew nearer.

As early as the 13^th century, the area served as a hunting ground for the counts of Teylingen Castle. Hence, the dunes and forests were already named Keukenbos (Kitchen Forest) and Keukenduin (Kitchen Dune). In the 17^th century, the Keukenhof estate was established. Nearby, the Zandvliet country estate was created. During the 18^th and 19th centuries, Zandvliet became part of the wealthy Keukenhof estate and thereby a pleasure garden for its owners, the Counts of Lynden. In 1949, the last Count of Lynden leased the former Zandvliet for a splendid idea: the Keukenhof Flower Exhibition.

2025 marks 75 years after the flower exhibition first opened to the public. During the almost 8 weeks it is open, well over 1.4 million people from around the world will visit the exhibition. Keukenhof thereby provides a major contribution to the tourist and floriculture sector in the Netherlands.

As you can see on the map, the extensive gardens are dotted with buildings featuring cafes, and various inside displays. We took advantage of one of these to have a light breakfast.

One building hosted a history of Keukenhof by the decade. Here I learned about the “Lasagna” planting method. In order to ensure that there are fresh blooms throughout the 8 weeks that Keukenhof is open, the gardeners plant three layers of bulbs. The deepest layer of bulbs will be blooming near the end of the 8-week season. So clever!

You might have guessed by now that it was no hardship for me to visit Keukenhof – I am a flower lover and could not get enough of the stunning displays. I took so many photos, and I hope they begin to convey the beauty of the landscapes.

I am glad we took the first bus available (we arrived at the Gardens at 9 am). As the day went on, Keukenhof became quite crowded. We opted not to go to one of the inside displays since that corner of the Gardens was wall to wall people.

We could leave the garden at any time; when we were ready to go, we boarded a bus and only had to wait a few minutes for it to depart. We re-traced our journey, and part of the way back to the hotel, got off the tram and found a(nother) sidewalk bistro for an afternoon snack. How idyllic to have a view of a canal and a church from our table.

After a nap and showers at the hotel, we walked a short distance to a restaurant situated on a canal that is large enough to appear like a lake. A glorious way to end a spectacular day. It’s a tough life but someone has to do it!