When the tulip bulb was introduced to Europe from the Middle East in the early 17th century, they took the continent by storm. At the peak of the tulip mania in March 1637, 40 tulip bulbs sold for 100,000 florins, which is well over a million euros today. Thankfully, however, the economic bubble burst, and we can now not only afford to plant tulips in our own gardens, but also to view them en masse in the tulip fields. The tulips of Holland are rightly famous around the world, and the best time to view them is in the spring.
The Dutch tulip season begins in mid-March and continues well into May. The best selection of blooms can be seen in the regions of Flevoland and Kop van Noord-Holland, and also near to Leiden. All of these places are within half an hour’s drive from Holland’s cultural capital, Amsterdam, and easily accessible by public transport.
The most popular spot to admire the tulips in Holland is in the Keukenhof Park, which is planted annually with more than 7 million bulbs. The park is only open for for eight weeks each year, but in that short time attracts 800,000 visitors. The theme for the displays changes from one year to the next, and in 2015 it is inspired by the painter Vincent Van Gogh, who died 125 years ago. A flower bed creatively replicates one of his most celebrated self-portraits: it will be a stunning spectacle of scent and colour as the bulbs open up and the picture appears.
Commercially cultivated tulip fields surround Keukenhof, and as Holland is entirely flat, the best way to appreciate them is by bicycle. You can cheaply hire bicycles in any of Holland’s towns, and other road users are sensitive to cyclists. There are plenty of dedicated cycle paths to enjoy, and if you are not driving you can also appreciate Holland’s other famous exports, Heineken, Amstel and Grolsch.
If you come to Holland in April, you can combine your visit to Keukenhof with the dramatic Flower Parade. 20 gigantic floats and a similar number of cars wind their way along the 42km from Noordwijk to Haarlem, each one decorated with hundreds of thousands of flowers. When the floats arrive in Haarlem they remain on view for 24 hours, but this is still only a brief window of opportunity in which to admire these masterpieces of flower arranging.
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