Tulips and Tulip Fields are a must-see in the Netherlands. From tourist hot spots such as Keukenhof in Amsterdam to a much quieter Tulip Route in Noordoospolter. This blog post gives you tips and tricks on how to enjoy the Tulip Festival in Holland away from the hustle and bustle of tourists!
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The cold, dull winter days are coming to an end. Spring is near!
Whenever I think of Spring,
the first thing that comes to mind is flowers. Ever since moving to Germany and finding out about the Tulip fields
I made it a mission to see what it is all about out.
And I loved it. I literally felt like a kid in a candy store.
I did some research prior to our trip and I found that Keukenhof gardens were very popular. While the gardens are stunning, I personally wanted to have a more quiet experience.
Then one day, I read a post on a Facebook travel group about another popular Tulip region in the Netherlands called Noordoospolter.
We had planned to go to Ghent that weekend but we cut our weekend in Ghent short and crossed the border to the Netherlands to see what the hype is about and to make my dream of going to Tulip Fields come true!
To be honest, I was a bit nervous about going somewhere we couldn’t find on the maps because we didn’t have a name of a field or the coordinates. And we actually didn’t find the exact field that person posted about on Facebook.
We drove for about 30 minutes before making the executive decision to drive to Amsterdam for Keukenhof (it was our backup plan) and on our way there, we saw a huge sign and people coming out with bouquets of Tulips and I shrieked “STOP!”
So we literally parked our car on the side of the road and went in.
Things to know about the Tulip Fields in the Netherlands:
🌷 Tulips start blooming around March-April. I recommend doing research beforehand and calling the field you’re visiting to avoid disappointment.
🌷 Don’t wear white jeans to a field.
🌷 It does start to get a little warm around that time in the Netherlands. I actually felt hot in jeans.
🌷If you are going to take Tulips back home with you (more on that below), make sure to have some water handy for the drive.
Hotels near the Tulip Fields in the Netherlands:
Very close to the Tulip Fields, you can find the village of Marknesse. It is a very cute Dutch village with cute houses and bikes everywhere.
The hotels I found are kind of far out but there are some hotels close to the field.
Check them out below!
How to get to the Tulip Fields:
Like I mentioned earlier, we drove from Germany to Belgium to the Netherlands which was a pretty easy drive.
However, for the purpose of this post, I did some research for those of you that are planning to use public transport.
Marknesse is located about an hour away from Amsterdam by car. By public transport, it takes two hours. You’d have to stop in the nearby bus station of Emmeloord (which is where the majority of the hotels are located) and then take a bus to Marknesse.
I actually saw people walking to the field from the village! #whenthereisawillthereisaway
Click here for more information, routes and tickets.
Tulip Fields close to Amsterdam:
There are of course other Tulip fields in the Netherlands. You can take tours, even bicycle tours! Check out the activities below
The Tulip Field in Marknesse:
As mentioned above, we were driving towards Amsterdam when we saw this sign and I screamed to Luis telling him to stop. Our car did not appreciate the sudden breaking but good old Bessie saw much worse (like when I hit the side of the car in a wall when driving up a parking garage)
I did not do any research of course so I didn’t know what to expect.
As soon as we walked in, we were immediately greeted by the owner and his son. They explain to us how it works and that was pretty much it!
There is a small cafeteria at the back if you start feeling peckish from plucking Tulips from the field.
There is a €2 entry fee for each person. After you pay, you are given a bucket to fill with Tulips for you to take home.
The entrance fee to Keukenhof is €17 per person.
Here, with the entrance fee for both us, 46 tulips (more on that below) and a souvenir, the total was €14. So, if you’re trying to save some money, I suggest you give this place a try.
Location of the field:
Even though this is a very small field compared to Keukenhof, I did manage to find their official website.
Click here to visit their website and get the latest updates on when the Tulips are in bloom.
Like I mentioned earlier, we found this place by accident. Here is the exact location on Google Maps so you can easily save it to your maps for your adventure to the Tulip Fields!
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How the Tulip Fields look like:
Now for the fun part – the Tulips! Take a look for yourself.
An explosion of color!
As you can see, there’s barely any people around and lots and lots of Tulips everywhere. Just the way I like it!
It is a pretty big field and there were only 15-20 people so there were plenty of flowers for everyone! As you can see, some of the flowers were already picked but I still managed to leave with a full bucket.
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The colours on these flowers are absolutely stunning! My favourites were yellow, white and purple and white mixed ones. I think we spent a good 30-40 minutes walking around, picking flowers and taking pictures.
All over the field, you can find benches to sit and down and relax. There is also a mini “watchtower” where you can get a 360-degree view of the field and the surrounding fields.
This is my bucket when it was just half full. When the guy saw me come in with the bucket, his reaction was priceless! He told me ‘you couldn’t say no huh?’
He’s right. I couldn’t! If it were up to me, I’d have picked every Tulip. Can you tell that my favourite flowers are Tulips?
Each tulip cost €0.20c, which is a very good price! When you go to pay, the person at the cash will count the flowers, wrap them up in paper and you’re good to go.
On the left side of the field, there were more flowers. These were arranged according to their colour and not mixed like this one.
We weren’t allowed to pick any Tulips from this part of the field.
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As you can clearly see from the pictures, there were hardly any people around. This made the experience all the more enjoyable for us and made it so much easier to pose and take pictures. Like this one, for example.
After a lot of picking and posing, we carefully placed our paper-wrapped Tulips in the backseat of our car and drove home.
Taking your tulips home:
Like I mentioned earlier, the guy at the field wrapped our tulips in paper.
He told us to soak them in water with the paper still wrapped around them for an hour as soon as we got home. We had a five-hour drive so we poured some water at the very bottom and wrapped a towel around it so they’d have water for the whole ride.
As soon as we got home, I cut 1/4 from the very bottom, peeled away the leaves and placed the tulips in a clean vase.
When placing the tulips in a vase, make sure there’s some space between the stems.
After that, I filled 1/4 of the vase with fresh cold water and added 1/2 teaspoon of bleach and a tablespoon of sugar!
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Make sure to change the water every day and add bleach and sugar as well. Also, keep them out of direct sunlight! And that’s pretty much it. I managed to salvage 43 tulips from the 46 which is pretty good.
Do you have any more questions about the Tulip Field in Marknesse?
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