The Netherlands
When
March to May
Price
From 1 500€ excl. flights
(based on 2 people sharing)
How long
3 nights
Ideal length
Keukenhof, open only eight weeks a year between March and May, sees more than seven million tulip, hyacinth, and daffodil bulbs hand-planted each autumn by a team of gardeners following a plan renewed annually, making this thirty-two-hectare garden the world's largest bulb flower garden. Some thirty kilometres away, the nineteen windmills of Kinderdijk, built in the 18th century to drain the surrounding polders and UNESCO World Heritage listed since 1997, form the largest concentration of preserved historic windmills in the Netherlands.
Keukenhof, whose name literally means "kitchen garden" in reference to its medieval use as a vegetable garden for a nearby castle, today spans thirty-two hectares where more than seven million tulip, hyacinth, and daffodil bulbs are hand-planted each autumn by a permanent team of gardeners, following a pattern entirely redesigned from one year to the next. The garden remains open to the public for only eight weeks a year, between March and May, a narrow window that coincides with peak bloom and draws over a million and a half visitors from around the world each season.
The nineteen windmills of Kinderdijk, built around 1740 to drain water from the surrounding polders and channel it to the Lek River, form the largest concentration of preserved historic windmills in the Netherlands and were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997 as an exceptional testament to Dutch hydraulic engineering know-how. Several of these mills remain inhabited by caretaker millers who open their interiors to visitors, and today still occasionally operate alongside a modern pumping system, perpetuating a technical know-how nearly three centuries old.
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A Canal House in Leiden
A renovated canal house in Leiden, a short distance from Keukenhof and the surrounding tulip fields in spring.
A Traditional Farmhouse Near Kinderdijk
A renovated traditional farmhouse near Kinderdijk, rooms with a direct view of the windmills and surrounding polders.
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