How to Experience Keukenhof: The Garden of Europe

I originally wrote this guide when I visited Keukenhof for the first time, but now that I have been again, I decided it was time for an update!

I’ve never really thought of myself as a ‘flower’ person. I mean, I’ll look at flowers and think they’re pretty but I’ve never been hugely into visiting fancy gardens, I leave that to my grandmother. But I’m noticing as I get older, and maybe because I live in the Netherlands which is full of incredible floral sights, this is beginning to change. When I visited Keukenhof for the first time I was blown away. I couldn’t believe it took me so long to go and I’ll probably recommend it to everyone who asks from now on! Read on to find out why I loved Keukenhof so much, and all the nitty-gritty details of everything there is to see and do while you’re there.

About Keukenhof

Keukenhof is a flower garden located in the town of Lisse, about 40 kilometres outside of Amsterdam. Historically, the grounds of Keukenhof served as the garden for Teylingen Castle, Keukenhof literally means kitchen garden in Dutch. The ruins of Teylingen are actually located in Sassenheim, which is a fair way away, but a newer castle was constructed across the road from Keukenhof, which is called Castle Keukenhof! You can see some photos of it in this post if you’re interested.

The gardens are only open to the public from March to May but during this short period over a million visitors from around the world come through its gates. The park first opened to the public in 1950 so it’s been happening for the past 75 years, and she sure looks good for her age!

Each year in September the team of 40 gardeners start planting the 7 MILLION bulbs BY HAND! The planting is staggered so that no matter what time you visit in spring, there will always be a variety of garden beds in bloom.

What to See at Keukenhof

Keukenhof is filled with gorgeous gardens, pavilions and water features, but you definitely don’t want to miss any of the main sights. Here are the must-see parts of the gardens:

The main pond/lake and fountain

There’s a large pond/small lake in the northwest section of the park, which features a big fountain and some stepping stones that are always packed with people trying to get a photo. Walking around the edges of this lake offers some of the most beautiful views in Keukenhof. There’s also a lovely bridge that crosses the water, with some iconic sculptures.

The pavilions

Throughout the park are six pavilions, where you can go indoors to see more flower shows and displays, sit down and have something to eat, go to the toilet, or do some shopping! The pavilions are all named for members of the Dutch royal family (all but two are former or current monarchs), and one is literally named after the royal family line.

• Oranje Nassau: The Dutch royal family is the House of Oranje Nassau (House of Orange Nassau in English), and the Oranje Nassau pavilion is often the first one you’ll encounter as you enter the park. This pavilion houses rotating displays throughout the spring season, with different flowers here each week. There’s also a restaurant and toilets.
• Willem-Alexander: Named for the current King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander is the largest pavilion, packed with displays of various flowers, including more than 500 tulips, but also other plants like amaryllis, hydrangeas and more. There’s a restaurant and gift shop here too. There are also usually some nice photo ops here – this is where I got the photo below of the wedding dress, back in 2019!
• Juliana: Named for former Queen Juliana, this pavilion in the southwest of the park always houses a display about the history of Keukenhof and tulip cultivation in the Netherlands. When I visited in 2025 there was a special exhibition celebrating 75 years of Keukenhof, which was very cool.
• Irene: Named for Princess Irene (one of the children of Juliana), this pavilion only houses a restaurant, gift shop and toilet facilities, but has a cool pond and fountain out the front. There’s usually also an old music organ playing here, so it’s a good spot to sit and have a rest or something to eat. It’s located in the very southwest corner of the park, not far from the main entrance.
• Wilhelmina: Named for former Queen Wilhelmina, this pavilion is located in the northwest corner of the park, overlooking the main lake. Like the Irene pavilion, this one only houses a restaurant, gift shop and toilets, but the view from here makes it a great spot to sit and enjoy.
• Beatrix: Named for former Queen Beatrix (the mother of King Willem-Alexander), this pavilion in the northeast corner of the park always displays beautiful orchids and anthuriums. There are shopping, dining and toilet facilities in a separate building just near the entrance.

The windmill

Keukenhof is even home to a traditional Dutch windmill, which was originally constructed in 1892. Visitors can go inside the windmill and look out over the park or just get an iconic photo with the mill. This area is always super busy though, so unless you arrive as soon as the park opens, you’ll probably be sharing that shot with heaps of others!

The water features

Aside from the main lake, there are lots of lovely water features dotted throughout the park to admire, along with a couple of canals that run through the park. Obviously, they’ll just make for more nice photos, but it’s also often quite lovely to sit near them for a bit.

The sculptures

Another thing you’ll notice as you explore Keukenhof is that there are lots of cool sculptures dotted throughout the park. Some of these remain each year (like the white horse near the Wilhelmina pavilion) but some of them are different each year. I really like the ones that are carved out of wood, as well as the Miffy (Nijntje in Dutch) ones near the little Miffy gift shop!

The historical garden

One of the first sections you’ll encounter if you enter from the main entrance is the historical garden, a formal walled garden with hedges, sculptures and archways next to the canal. There’s also a traditional bridge near here that looks similar to the Skinny Bridge (Magere Brug) in Amsterdam and is a popular photo spot.

The flower gardens

Of course, everywhere you go in Keukenhof you will see bed after bed of colourful flower gardens! While there are lots of beautiful tulips, other flowers are planted here as well, including daffodils, bluebells, lilies, roses, carnations and irises. If you arrive early in the season then many of the cherry blossom trees will also be in bloom.

The mosaic

Finally, each year there’s also a special mosaic made from flowers, located between the main entrance and the Oranje Nassau pavilion. From memory, when we visited in 2019 this wasn’t really in bloom yet so it was hard to see, but in 2025 the theme was “World of Flowers,” and as you can see above, there’s a world inside a tulip (with another tulip inside that) made out of much smaller flowers! There’s always a sort of scaffolding overlook here so that you can get up a bit higher to look over the mosaic, although the only way up is via some stairs.

What to Do at Keukenhof

Obviously, there are SO MANY beautiful gardens to wander amongst and take millions of photos at Keukenhof, but if you’re worried that you (or your kids or your partner, let’s be honest) might get bored, never fear. There are a lot of fun and interesting things to do within the gardens, besides just the cool photo opportunities which change every year. Here are my favourite things you can do at Keukenhof:

• Music and events: Throughout the eight weeks that Keukenhof is open there are often live music performances or other events to see. For example, there’s a special ‘romantic’ weekend of live classical music and people in costumes on Mother’s Day weekend. On my last visit there was also some live music in the park and we saw some fancy stiltwalkers as well.
• Petting farm and playground: For children, there’s a cute little petting farm which had lambs and kids (the baby goat kind) frolicking around. There’s also quite an extensive playground area and a maze. You can also get scavenger hunts at the entrances to keep your children occupied.
• Whisper boat cruise: You can take a cruise around the outside of Keukenhof and the surrounding tulip fields on a whisper boat. These cruises depart from behind the windmill, although they do get very busy and they also cost an extra fee.
• Guided tour: If you want to know more about how Keukenhof works and what you are seeing, with some history thrown in for good measure, you could book a guided tour of the park. These tours take 60 minutes and are available in Dutch, English, German and French.
• Food and drink: As I’ve mentioned, there are a number of different restaurants and food stalls throughout the park, so you don’t need to bring anything to eat and drink (unless you want to). You can have some traditional Dutch treats like poffertjes (mini pancakes), apple pie and fries, as well as other seasonal delights like strawberries with cream! Everything is more expensive than you would pay outside the gardens though, so feel free to bring a picnic to save money.
• Shopping: There are also plenty of souvenir shops dotted throughout the park for all the magnets, mugs, hats and bags plastered with tulips you could desire! There’s also a cute little Miffy (Nijntje) store with children’s souvenirs and you can buy tulip bulbs to take home to plant in your own garden.
• Photo ops: I know I’ve mentioned photos already but aside from just the pretty floral displays, there are always lots of special photo ops that have been set up specifically so that you can get fun and pretty photos in the park or pavilions. Or silly ones, like the one above where I pretended to be inside a yellow submarine!

How to Avoid the Crowds

As you can see in the above photo, Keukenhof gets very busy. The generally accepted advice is to try and visit on a weekday and get to Keukenhof as soon as it opens. We visited on a Friday but we didn’t actually get there particularly early (we’re not early birds) and to be honest, I think some parts of Keukenhof will be busy no matter what. On my second visit, I went on a Sunday and the crowds didn’t feel too different to the Friday of our previous visit.

I did notice, however, that the further into the park that you go (further away from the two main entrances) the fewer people you will see. Around the windmill and near the entrances were where we saw the most crowds. If you’re worried about getting nice photos (without twenty other people photo-bombing you) it’s totally possible to find secluded little spots, just not on the ‘lily pad stepping stones’!

Exploring the Tulip Fields around Keukenhof

If what you really want to do is frolic among endless fields of colourful tulips, then you want to visit the fields in the area around Keukenhof. You can do this by hiring a bicycle from the Keukenhof carpark, or maybe you’d prefer to use an eco-friendly electric car? Renzy is a company located just around the corner from Keukenhof that provides GPS tours with audio guides to the tulip fields. This is a fun and responsible way to see the tulips without the crowds you find in Keukenhof. For more info check out my review post about a dahlia fields tour I did with Renzy and the details of the tulip tour they offer in spring. I also have a full guide to all the flower-themed attractions in the area which you can check out here.

How to Get to Keukenhof

Keukenhof is in a sort of odd location that’s not easy to reach by train, unlike much of the Netherlands. It’s in the town of Lisse which you can only reach by car or bus. By far the easiest way to visit the gardens is by car, there’s ample parking and it costs €9 for the whole day.

If you don’t have a car then you can visit either by catching a train and a bus, or just a bus, depending on where you’re coming from. Check out my full transport guide here.

If you don’t feel confident manoeuvring the Dutch public transport system (no judgement there!) then there are some affordable tours that you can join which depart from the centre of Amsterdam and take you directly to the gardens. You’ll then be able to explore by yourself and be transported back to the city later.

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Have you visited Keukenhof before? Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed any must-sees or must-dos or pin one of these if you’re planning to visit Keukenhof yourself!