The Best Places to See Tulips Near Amsterdam

There’s nothing quite like tulip season in the Netherlands. Every spring, the countryside around Amsterdam – especially in and around Lisse – bursts into vibrant colour, with endless rows of tulips creating a patchwork of petals straight out of a dream. Over the years, I’ve made it a mission to explore this stunning region during tulip time, visiting every garden, experience, and flower-filled bike or driving route I could find.

This guide is the result of those adventures. I’ve pulled together the absolute best places to see tulips near Amsterdam – whether you want to wander through iconic spots like Keukenhof or discover quieter fields tucked away in the countryside. If you’re looking for the most beautiful, photo-worthy tulip experiences (with a few hidden gems, too), you’re in the right place!

How to See the Tulips Near Amsterdam

While you can find tulips in many parts of the Netherlands, in this guide I’m going to focus on just the area that is closest and easiest to get to from Amsterdam, so you don’t waste too much time on getting there and have more time to frolic among the flowers! But if you do want to venture farther afield, check out my guide to seeing tulips in the province of Flevoland here, as well as a guide to the free mini-Keukenhof garden in North Holland here.

DIY

If you have access to a car, then the easiest* way to see most of these tulip attractions is by driving between them, as most places provide free parking, aside from Keukenhof. You can also reach Keukenhof by public transport (the Keukenhof Buzz ticket) and then hire a bike from outside Keukenhof to cycle between the different places in this guide, most of which are all in the area around Lisse, where Keukenhof is located.

* – Relatively, see the next section for more info!

Renzy

Another fun way to see the different tulip fields and experiences is by getting to Keukenhof/Lisse by public transport and then hiring an electric car from Renzy to explore. We actually did this one summer to see the dahlia fields (which are also well worth seeing if you can’t make it for tulip season) and you can read more about our experience here.

Tour

If you want to visit some of the best fields of tulips, and some of the attractions I’ll outline below, you can also join a tour, usually departing from Amsterdam. There are many options available, some of which also go to Keukenhof. Many of these tours aren’t even that expensive either, so it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend a lot of money.

Tips and Must-Knows for Seeking Tulips in the Bollenstreek

The area I’m focusing on today is known as the Bollenstreek, or bulb region, and stretches between the cities of Haarlem and Leiden. As a heads-up, here are some little tips and must-knows for if you are exploring the area in search of tulips:

• While I said the ‘easiest’ way to visit all the attractions is by car, this isn’t always that easy as the roads in this area are very narrow and it gets VERY busy (especially on weekends and even more especially if it’s King’s Day weekend or Easter weekend). See the photo above for a little glimpse of what I mean.
• In some ways, it might be easier to visit these places by bicycle, but you should also be aware that the bike paths around here aren’t as separate from the roads as in other parts of the country, so you may not feel as confident cycling when there are cars and even big tour buses passing you. Also, the Dutch don’t wear bike helmets, so if you hire bikes these won’t be offered.
• Remember to drive – and cycle – on the right-hand side of the road. We saw a big group of people on bikes riding the wrong way on a bike path and slowing down all the already slow traffic.
• The sign in the photo above means no overtaking (no cars overtaking cars). If you are in a car you can overtake cyclists if it is safe to do so, just drive slowly and carefully while being very aware of what the cyclists are doing.
• If you are cycling and want to stop to take photos, get off the bike path as it is still technically the road. You should also use hand signals to indicate when you are turning anywhere.
• If there is a fence around a field of flowers – do not climb over it to take photos anyway! Sure, this seems like common sense, but we saw people ignoring fences. There are enough places to get photos without needing to trespass because…
• Tulip fields are private property. Any time you walk onto a random field you could get into trouble for trespassing. These flowers are farmers’ crops, so if you damage them, you are directly affecting the farmers’ livelihoods. Take as many photos as you want from the side of the fields, but if you want photos of yourself walking among the flowers, check out these other attractions instead.

Tulips and Flower-Themed Attractions Near Amsterdam

Alright, without further ado, here are the best gardens, tulip attractions and experiences located near Amsterdam, with all the info you’ll need to plan your own visit:

Keukenhof Gardens

The most famous place to see tulips and other stunning blooms near Amsterdam is, of course, Keukenhof Gardens. This is one of the largest flower gardens in the world, where each year around 7 million bulbs are planted over a 32-hectare (79-acre) space to create beautiful floral displays. There are also pavilions with more special displays, live music, a traditional windmill and places to buy food and drink or picnic within the gardens.

Keukenhof isn’t where you will see fields of flowers, but there are bike rentals in the main carpark where you can hire a bike with a route on a map to see the fields surrounding the area too. If you have a car you can drive directly to Keukenhof and pay for parking, but they also have tickets which include public transport on the Keukenhof Buzz (bus) from Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Haarlem and Leiden. You can read more about my visits to Keukenhof here!

Entrance: €20

Parking: €9

Opening Hours: 8am to 7pm, seven days a week between March 20 and May 11

Tickets and Tours for Keukenhof Gardens:

• You can book entrance tickets, public transport and/or parking tickets for Keukenhof here.
• You can also join this tour which departs from Amsterdam Noord (just across the river from Amsterdam Centraal Station by free ferry) and is actually cheaper than booking the Keukenhof Buzz from Amsterdam!

Tulip Experience Amsterdam

Tulip Experience Amsterdam is part museum and part tulip-filled photo opp, with a show garden stocked with cute props for all your happy snaps, as well as an indoor museum about the tulip industry in the Netherlands. There’s even an indoor picking garden here where you can pick your own bunch of tulips to take home!

This was by far my favourite of the three places we visited in one day (here, The Tulip Barn and De Tulperij) for tulips, mostly because it has such an extensive museum section where you can learn more about the tulip industry and also adults can each take home five tulips with bulbs still attached to plant in your own garden. There are also lots of excellent props in the fields for cute photos, as well as some fun games for children like hopscotch, tulip twister (see below) and tulip tic-tac-toe.

They also had an on-site restaurant as well as a ‘market’ area with lots of cute tulip souvenirs and art to buy. I especially loved the big paintings on the walls with massive murals of people working in tulip fields, as well as a gorgeous series of paintings of the flower parade which takes place in the area each year. Read even more about our visit here.

Entrance: €12 (and includes five tulips per adult!)

Parking: Free

Opening Hours: 9am to 6pm, seven days a week between March 20 to May 11

Tickets and Tours for Tulip Experience Amsterdam:

• You can pre-purchase your tickets for Tulip Experience Amsterdam here.
• You could also join this guided cycling tour which departs from Keukenhof and visits a few different tulip fields, as well as the Tulip Experience Amsterdam.

The Tulip Barn

Unfortunately, this year the tulips are blooming a little late, so The Tulip Barn’s fields were less impressive than I’ve seen photos of in the past as many of the tulips aren’t out yet. We still saw lots of pretty fields of daffodils and hyacinths both here and in the surrounding area, but some of the photos we took were less impressive than they would be if you came at peak tulip flowering time. Of course, it’s very difficult to time that as it varies every year according to the weather!

Like Tulip Experience Amsterdam, The Tulip Barn has lots of fun props in the fields for you to take cute photos, as well as an indoor restaurant and souvenir shop, along with outdoor seating and some food trucks. All of these places you’re allowed to bring dogs into as well, so long as they’re on a leash, so we even saw some cute pups having their own floral photoshoots.

Entrance: €10

Parking: Free

Opening Hours: 7:30am to 7pm, seven days a week between March 28 and May 11

Tickets and Tours for The Tulip Barn:

• You can pre-purchase your tickets for The Tulip Barn here.
• You could also join this tour which visits Keukenhof and The Tulip Barn, and also includes a windmill cruise in the area!

De Tulperij

If you’re on a tight budget then De Tulperij is the best one of these experiences to visit since it’s free, at least to enter the show garden and check out the store. Their café is very popular too, especially since you can order your food and drink then sit outside in the garden to enjoy the sun. I was particularly charmed by their tulip-shaped pastries!

You can also book a ticket to walk out into their big flower field, which we didn’t do as the tulips weren’t out yet and we’d already seen plenty of daffodils that day. The show garden also wasn’t as impressive as it could be, although we’ve also visited here during summer when they have dahlias and it was stunning then. You can see more photos of De Tulperij in the post I wrote about visiting dahlia fields here.

Entrance: The show garden is free, their tulip field costs €7.95 to enter

Parking: Free

Opening Hours: 9am to 6pm, seven days a week between March 20 and May 11

Tickets and Tours for De Tulperij:

• You can pre-purchase your tickets for De Tulperij’s flower field here.
• You could also join this tour which visits De Tulperij and Keukenhof, as well as a windmill cruise.

FAM Flower Farm

Unfortunately, I missed out on getting a coveted spot to visit the FAM Flower Farm field this year, as they’re only open two days a year and all their booking slots were sold out within a day of them announcing them! This is the most expensive of all the places I’ve mentioned so far. Still, with that more premium price tag, you actually get the most exclusive experience for having a photo shoot within a field of tulips, with lots of props, a place to change outfits and only 20 people allowed in during each time slot.

Of course, this is also the hardest one for people visiting from overseas as they (FAM Flower Farm) announce their dates each year depending on when the tulips will be best, but if you sign up to their mailing list you will get the announcement once they make it and maybe you can manage to visit. Hopefully, I’ll also get to go next year so I can share some photos!

Entrance: €45

Parking: Free

Opening Hours: Only by reservation, sign up to their mailing list for dates between March and May

Tickets and Tours for FAM Flower Farm:

• Find out when FAM Flower Farm is open for visitors and make a reservation here.

Tulip Store Show Garden

Tulip Store Show Garden is a fairly small show garden of pretty tulips with a few photo props, but they also provide a great big field of tulips – of all different colours – behind the show garden where you can get as many photos as you want! This is probably the most affordable way to get photos actually frolicking in a field of tulips, as it only costs €5 to enter. When we visited, parking was free, but I also saw photos online showing that parking also cost €5, so maybe they changed their minds about charging for parking? I’d still suggest having enough money just in case.

While there was just a lady at the entrance taking money for entrance, she assured me that you can pay with either cash or card here, so don’t worry that you have to have physical cash on you either!

Entrance: €5

Parking: Sometimes it’s free, sometimes it’s also €5…

Opening Hours: 10am to 5pm, seven days a week (weather permitting), between April 11 and May 11

Tickets and Tours for Tulip Store Show Garden:

• You can only pay for entrance for the Tulip Store Show Garden on-site, but you can read more about them on their website.

Tulip Fields

Now if you really want to get photos walking in a field of tulips, then you may be able to find fields that are open in the area around Keukenhof, or other parts of the country. As I mentioned earlier, you can hire bikes from the Keukenhof parking lot which usually provides routes to see the fields, just make sure you don’t go into any fields that are clearly signposted as do not enter. And even if there isn’t a sign, don’t be surprised if you get yelled at by a farmer.

In order to avoid any of this, I would really recommend joining a tour which includes a visit to a field (or fields) as these are organised in collaboration with farmers so you know it’s ok for you to be there. Sometimes you might find a public field that has been planted with extra space between the rows for walking and photos (like we did in the photos below) but generally, I would say it’s much better to join a paid tour where your guides will take you to fields and you’re also paying for the privilege of being there, rather than traipsing into any field you find where you could be damaging the farmer’s crops.

Entrance: Technically free, but usually you shouldn’t actually enter them unless you’re with a tour group, where prices range from €55 – €160

Tickets and Tours for Tulip Fields:

• There are lots of great tours that will take you to fields where you can take photos amongst the tulips; check them out here.

Bonus: Museum The Black Tulip

If you’re staying over in Lisse while visiting Keukenhof Gardens and the other tulip attractions nearby, then you should also check out the Museum The Black Tulip (Museum De Zwarte Tulp in Dutch). This is a very interesting little museum all about the history and growth of tulips in the Netherlands, with plenty of beautiful art featuring the tulip as the subject. All the information is in Dutch, but they do give you a brochure with the information in English if you need it, or you can just use your phone to translate the signs.

Entrance: €10 (free with the Museum Card)

Parking: Free

Opening Hours: 11am to 5pm, Tuesdays to Sundays, year-round

Tickets and Tours for Museum Black Tulip:

• You can book tickets to the museum here.

Extra Bonus: Keep an Eye Out for the Giant Bulbs!

And one last thing, while you’re driving or cycling around the area you might notice some random giant flower bulbs along the way. These are part of an art project that began in 2018, all by local Dutch artists, and you can seek out the giant bulbs at any time of year. On the official website, you can see all the giant bulbs and find out more about the artists who painted them, plus find out where they are located. Some of them are located outside of the Bollenstreek (one is even in the USA) and the bulb seat in the photo below is not actually part of the official project, but is located in Lisse near Museum The Black Tulip!

Where to Stay While Seeking Tulips

If you are planning a visit to the Netherlands just to see the tulips, then you do need to be prepared for peak pricing to go with the peak tourist season. You will also need to book as far in advance as possible, as places book up fast with other visitors who are seeking tulips! You could easily base yourself in Amsterdam and do day trips out to the area around Keukenhof, or you could stay in one of the nearby towns if you want to ensure you get there as early as possible. If you’re curious, the photo above was taken in Sassenheim.

Amsterdam

Basing yourself in Amsterdam is a great idea if you are planning to seek out tulips and also spend some time exploring the city or going further afield. I have a whole guide on the best areas and hotels to stay in Amsterdam which you can check out here, as well as a three-day itinerary for seeing tulips both in and around Amsterdam here.

Lisse

Since all the attractions I’ve mentioned in this guide, and a lot of the flower fields, are located in the bulb region near the town of Lisse, you might also like to base yourself there so that you are even closer to the flowers. This way you can arrive at Keukenhof and the other gardens first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds. Lisse is quite a cute little town, with lots of places to eat and some charming places to stay overnight (or longer) as well. If you happen to visit over the Easter weekend, you might even spot floral displays like the one above at the local market!

Bed & Breakfast De Vier Seizoenen

This is a restaurant and hotel combined in the centre of Lisse, about a 20-minute walk (or quick Uber ride) from the entrance of Keukenhof. The rooms are clean and cosy.

Hotel de Duif Lisse

This three-star hotel is also located right in the centre of Lisse and features a lovely fake blossom tree in the lobby when you arrive. The rooms are very spacious and modern.

Hotel Lowietje Lisse

This four-star hotel is located on the outskirts of Lisse, about a 15-minute walk from Keukenhof Gardens, with spacious rooms and a delightful bar/restaurant on site.

Boutique Suites Lisse

Some of these four-star suites come with gorgeous flamingo wallpaper, while all of them are very spacious and comfy. You can also hire bikes directly from here to explore the area.

Other

Aside from within the town of Lisse proper, I also found some other lovely-looking places to stay in the nearby towns of Hillegom and Sassenheim, as well as a very pretty place right in the middle of the tulip fields!

Hotel Villa Flora

This three-star hotel is located in the nearby town of Hillegom and features cosy rooms with colourful wallpaper. There’s also a restaurant and bar on-site, and you can hire bikes from the hotel.

Wellness Bed & Breakfast Pergamo

This unique B&B is located between Lisse and Sassenheim, sometimes with tulip fields right outside! There are just three rooms in the former bulb barn, one decorated with tulip art, one with forest and one with beaches, plus there’s a small ‘wellness’ centre with a sauna and outdoor bathtub. It’s also just down the road from Tulip Store Show Garden and they rent bikes directly.

Lodge & Loft

The photo above is of this bed & breakfast in Sassenheim, which is right by the ruins of Teylingen Castle. There’s also a sauna/spa, with a deck directly next to the canal looking towards the castle and the rooms look beautiful.

Map of Where to See Tulips Near Amsterdam

I’ve also made this map which shows where all the places I’ve mentioned in this guide are located, so you can better visualise where they are in relation to each other and to Amsterdam! Click on the map to see the full version.

Pin Me!

Have you visited any or all of these tulip attractions near Amsterdam? Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed any must-visits or pin one of these if you want to see tulips near Amsterdam yourself!