Keukenhof

Keukenhof is one of the world's largest flower gardens, in the town of Lisse in the Netherlands. It is also called the Garden of Europe. The park covers 32 hectares, and about 7 million flower bulbs are planted there every year.

It is best known for tulips, but also shows hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, roses, carnations and irises. Keukenhof is open to the public for only about eight weeks, from mid-March to mid-May, and the flowers are usually at their best around mid-April. The rest of the year the grounds rest, so the show is a short, special chance to see millions of blooms planted in neat patterns.

A kitchen garden turned flower show

The name Keukenhof means "kitchen garden" in Dutch. Today the park is a showcase for the bulb-growing region called the Dune and Bulb Region, between Haarlem and Leiden, south of Amsterdam. Growers plant new bulbs every year so that the beds burst into colour at just the right time in spring. Besides the public season, the grounds are also used all year for private events and festivals.

Planning a visit

Because the main display lasts only eight weeks, timing matters. Weather decides when tulips bloom, so the peak varies from year to year. Visitors can reach the garden by bus from the train stations of Haarlem and Leiden, or from Schiphol airport. In 2025 about 1.4 million people visited, roughly 26,500 a day, much busier than the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

On the globe

The toy globe marks Keukenhof in Lisse, the Netherlands. Zoom in to see the flower fields of the bulb region.