A Morning at Keukenhof

I left Canada on a Saturday afternoon and ended up arriving into Amsterdam for a 6 hour layover on Sunday morning at 8:00am.  I didn’t get much sleep on the plane and seeing as it was midnight at home, I was a bit hesitant on whether I’d be up for leaving the airport for some sightseeing.  Well, perhaps it was adrenaline, but I felt wide awake and ready to explore the minute I landed at Schiphol Airport. 

I had decided to head to Keukenhof to see the Tulips and the 6 hour layover was the perfect time to do that.  Keukenhof is one of the largest flower gardens in the world and consists of approximately 7 million flowers being planted each year within a 32 hectare area.  It runs from mid-March to mid-May, so make sure to check the dates as it does vary a bit each year.

At the airport, I made my way towards Arrivals Area 4.  There is an exit located close to the Starbucks and just outside the exit of that arrival area, you will find the stop for Bus 858.  (There is a second Starbucks closer to the main entrance of the airport – make sure you make your way to the one in Arrivals Area 4).  There is a Keukenhof booth right at the exit and you can purchase a ticket that will include admission and the roundtrip bus ride.  Bus 858 departs every 15 minutes and will take approximately 20-30 minutes to get there.

I was dropped off at the entrance of Keukenhof, which turned out to be exactly as described – an endless display of all sorts of flowers.  The place is a huge tourist attraction, so it wasn’t surprising for me to see and hear tourists from all over the world.  In fact, I even saw a man carrying a pink EF bag, which reminded me of my time in China.

The garden was split up into several different sections and it was just row after row and section after section of beautiful flowers.

It took me about 2 hours to walk around the entire place.  If I had the intention of taking more pictures and reading all the signs, it would have taken much longer.  However, it started to rain and I wanted to return to the airport to ensure I had enough time to go through security so I decided to leave after 2 hours. 

For more photos, please see my Photo Gallery of Keukenhof.
Keukenhof
Address: Stationsweg 166A, 2161 AM Lisse, Netherlands
Phone: + 31 252 465 555