FLOWERS OF AMSTERDAM
Public Transport Map Se
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Amsterdam City
Haarlem
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Amsterdam Sloterdijk
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Elandsgracht 80 397
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Heemstede
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polder
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397 357
Schiphol Airport
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Amstelveen
397 858
Hoofddorp
www.keukenhof.nl
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Hillegom
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Visit Royal FloraHolland Aalsmeer
Haarlemmermeer-
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The most beautiful spring garden in the world 22 13
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Bus station
Keukenhof 854 858
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Lisse A
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Noordwijkerhout
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NieuwVennep
www.iamsterdam.com/area 858
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Aalsmeer
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Westeinderplassen
357 Kudelstaart
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Visitor Centres & Highlights I amsterdam Visitor Centre
Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket (ARTT)
A VVV Lisse (www.vvvlisse.nl) B VVV Hoofddorp (www.hlmrmeer.nl/en) Braassemermeer
Highlights Keukenhof Rent-a-Bike van Dam Aalsmeer (Flower Festival 16-17 June 2018) Lisse (Flower Festival 22 March-13 May 2018) Annemieke's Pluktuin Haarlem Tulpomania Keukenhof Hotel Express Haarlemmermeer The Historic Garden Royal FloraHolland De Olmenhorst Cruquius Steam Engine
30 50 57 854
Station
Open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 07.00-11.00 am and Thursday from 07.00-09.00 am.
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Central Station or Amsterdam Airport Schiphol www.iamsterdam.com/area
Kager Plassen 50 57 854
Railway
Uithoorn Bus station 340
Leiden
TRAVEL WITH THE
Day Trips
AMSTERDAM & REGION TRAVEL TICKET
tulpomania haarlem 22 March to 13 May: ‘Museum in Bloom’ at Frans Hals Museum Tulpomania city walk Tulpomania beer Jopenkerk
by bus, tram, metro & train
Visit to Keukenhof
Get out of Amsterdam with the ARTT, which grants you unlimited travel on the city's public transportation and beyond. From flower auctions and windmills to beaches and medieval castles, ARTT is the easiest and most economical way to explore everything the greater Amsterdam Metropolitan Area has to offer! Pick up yours at an I amsterdam Visitor Centre, participating public transport company ticket counter or selected hotel or campsite. (Don't forget to check in and out whenever you get on or off a train or bus!) ARTT tickets are valid on any bus, tram, metro and train services offered by GVB, Connexxion, EBS and NS (including night buses) from 0:00 until 4:00 the following day. Tickets also accepted on Arriva bus 50 from Haarlem and Arriva bus 858 from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to Keukenhof Gardens 23 March-21 May 2017. 1-day tickets are €18.50, 2-day tickets €26 and 3-day tickets €33.50. Find more information and a map of all included routes on: www.iamsterdam.com/area
Once you’ve seen it, you will love it. Boattrips, watersports and events, beautiful surroundings for cycling and walking around the Westeinder Lakes, largest flower auction in the world and only 20 minutes from Amsterdam.
Book your package at Tulpomania.com now
EVERY 30 MINUTES TO KEUKENHOF Smell the flowers and visit the world’s largest spring garden! Bus tour and fast-track entry to Keukenhof included. DAILY DEPARTURES, EVERY 30 MINUTES
HOPONHOPOFFHOLLAND.COM STOPS: AMSTERDAM (A’DAM LOOKOUT)
€ 38
KEUKENHOF
Keukenhof and beyond 1/2 day or full day World of Flowers full day To fully explore the wonderful world of flowers, a boat or bike tour through the bulb fields is highly recommended. Discover the bold stripes of colour that flame across the landscape each spring. After you’ve visited the Keukenhof , rent your bike at Rent-a-Bike Van Dam , just in front of the garden’s main entrance (www.rentabikevandam.nl, €10 a day, including a map with cycling routes). Or relax as you enjoy the peace and quiet of the endless bulb fields in an electrically propelled ‘whisper boat’. You can buy tickets for the boat tour at the Keukenhof’s only windmill. To get back to Amsterdam, take the Keukenhof Express bus (bus 858) to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol or bus 50 to Haarlem. From there, take the train to Amsterdam Central Station (one hour total).
You can’t leave Holland without visiting the famous Keukenhof gardens. Open for just eight weeks each year (22 March-13 May 2018), the Keukenhof boasts a staggering seven million blooms, planted over 32 hectares (www.keukenhof.nl). From Amsterdam Central Station, take a train to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and then the Keukenhof Express bus to the Keukenhof. Alternatively, take a train from Amsterdam Central Station to Haarlem Station, and then bus 50 to the Keukenhof. Both journeys take around one hour. Located opposite the garden is Keukenhof Castle. The Black Tulip Museum (a kilometre away, Heereweg 219) is also worth a visit if you want to know more about the history of the Bollenstreek (bulb region) . If you’re heading back to Haarlem Station with bus 50, make a stop at Annemieke’s Pluktuin to pick your own bouquet (Ford Museum stop).
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FloraHolland
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Bus 357
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Getsewoud Centrum 397
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Royal FloraHolland, only a short distance from Schiphol Airport, is the world’s largest trade centre for flowers and plants. It offers you a sight that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world.
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Amsterdam Central Station
80
Zandvoort 80
Discover the Amsterdam Area
Rent a bike! The best way to experience the flower fields around Keukenhof!
WWW.RENTABIKEVANDAM-KEUKENHOF.COM
+31 6 12 08 98 58
VISITAALSMEER.NL
Holland in Bloom
Discover the heart of Holland's booming and blooming flower industry, and the country's most colourful landscapes, just an hour outside the capital city. Holland produces a staggering 70% of the world’s commercial flower output. For a colourful glimpse into contemporary Dutch flower power, you need go no further than the so-called ‘flower strip’ (known in Dutch as the Bollenstreek), just an hour from Amsterdam. With Holland’s famous bulb fields in full bloom, you’ll be surrounded on all sides by a rainbow of flowers: purple hyacinths, pink crocuses, bright yellow daffodils and, of course, countless varieties of tulips. Visit our website iamsterdam.com/area for excursion tips and more suggestions.
Castle Keukenhof
Bulb Fields and beyond
World of Flowers
The Dutch bulb fields, whose bulbs and blooms support a billion-euro industry, are a carpet of geometric colour blocks from mid-March through to August.
Aalsmeer knows a thing or two about flowers. Not only is it home to the world’s biggest flower auction, you can also learn about the history of growing flowers and plants and sail through the region’s horticultural past.
From Leiden to Haarlem, bold, beautiful stripes of colour flame across the landscape. After the crocuses, it’s the turn of the tulips, daffodils and hyacinths – an impressive display that continues into May and beyond. In late summer the gladioli, dahlias, carnations and asters stage a second show. You’ll catch an eyeful on many of the trains heading southwest from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – and even from your airplane when you’re coming in to land – but the bulb fields truly deserve a closer look.
Black Tulip Museum
Royal FloraHolland Flower Auction
Keukenhof Hotel Express Haarlemmermeer
Keukenhof Gardens 22 March-13 May It may be perpetually outshone by its showy neighbour, but this castle (located straight across from the world-famous Keukenhof gardens) boasts an impressive history with Golden Age roots. Inside, you’ll find portraits, artefacts and period furniture; in the 230-hectare wooded estate, leading artists’ work. For details of upcoming events and exhibitions, please see www.kasteelkeukenhof.nl
TIP: Tulpomania 22 March-13 May Nowhere is the Dutch cult of the tulip celebrated in more glorious fashion than at the ‘the most beautiful spring garden in the world’, located in the bulb region south of Amsterdam. Open for just eight weeks each year (in accordance with the tulip’s national flowering season), the Keukenhof boasts a staggering seven million blooms, planted across the 32-hectare park. With several indoor pavilions, the Keukenhof hosts more than 20 flower shows between 22 March and 13 May. Over 600 growers present their most beautiful blooms and leading florists create truly unique displays with them. The special theme for the Keukenhof in 2018 is Romance in Flowers. Visit the Keukenhof website to find out more about the different themed areas of this giant park, and also a schedule of the changing line-up of daily entertainment, cafés food stands and more. You can easily spend a full day in the gardens, but the rest of Lisse and surrounding bulb area is also worth exploring. www.keukenhof.nl
Biking the Bulb Fields
Getting to Keukenhof from your hotel has never been easier with the Keukenhof Hotel Express. This unique hotel shuttle service stops in front of your hotel and takes you to the park in 20 - 45 minutes. You can purchase a combined ticket for the shuttle and the entrance to Keukenhof at the reception of your hotel. This will also help you skip the queues once you arrive at the park. Shuttle seats need to be pre-booked for a specific date and time since capacity on the bus is limited.
www.museumdezwartetulp.nl
Flower Parade 21 April 2018
The world’s biggest flower auction (a whopping 400 football fields’ worth) is Royal FloraHolland in Aalsmeer, 15 km outside Amsterdam. It’s so large, in fact, that the workers traverse the site by bike. Royal FloraHolland handles more than 21 million cut flowers and two million potted plants each day, mostly for export. The unusual sales method used gave rise to the phrase ‘Dutch auction’. Dealers bid by pushing a button to stop a ‘clock’ that counts from 100 down to one; thus, the price is lowered – rather than raised – until a buyer is found. Bidders risk either paying too much for the goods or not getting them if another bids first. The best action is before 9:00 (opens at 7:00) so you’ll have to get up early to see it, but there are flowers stretching as far as the eye can see, the smell is divine and with an (optional) knowledgeable, multilingual guide you’ll witness the auction process first-hand.
Time left over after your visit to the Keukenhof? Combine your trip with a visit to Haarlem, which is paying its own tribute to Holland’s iconic bloom. During the Keukenhof’s open season, the special ‘Tulpomania’ package lets you experience the Keukenhof’s floral splendour, a flower exhibition at the Frans Hals Museum and a ‘Flower Beer’ tasting at the Jopenkerk brewery. For the duration of Tulpomania, four buses a day run from Haarlem to the Keukenhof. The package is available online at www.tulpomania.com
Every spring, visitors from around the world descend on the village of Lisse to visit the famous Keukenhof flower park and the blooming fields that surround it. But the village itself has more to offer than that! It’s a charming spot to stroll, (window) shop and grab a good bite to eat. Need more time to take in an event or the theatre, cinema and Black Tulip Museum? Coop up in a cosy hotel or B&B. When you’re ready, shed the trappings of town to set off on your own biking adventure through the breathtaking fields, lakes and dunes at your doorstep.
Thanks to its fertile sandy soil, Amsterdam’s flower strip has been the top producer of unique flowers, in particular tulips, for hundreds of years. Annemieke’s Pluktuin (picking garden), a nursery in Hillegom – 35 km from Amsterdam – specialises in cultivating tulips using organic horticultural techniques. The garden, which boasts more than 300 varieties of flowers, is open to public. Learn how the blooms are prepared for sale, wander through the tulip fields and pick your own vibrant bunch to take home. A great souvenir from the flower strip! March - 13 May: open daily 09.00-17.00. July - October: open Thursday - Saturday 09.00-16.30. www.annemiekespluktuin.nl
You’ll find the Olmenhorst estate in the heart of the Randstad. Located between Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden and the Hague, this countryside escape offers epic architecture to admire, lush orchards to wander and quiet flower gardens to hide. Come in September or October to help them harvest their renowned apples and pears, or any other time to browse their wares and enjoy some homemade apple pie. Note: This location is only accessible by bike!
www.westeinderrondvaart.nl www.aalsmeerrondvaart.nl
Aalsmeer Flower Festival 16-17 June
The Historic Garden
The highlight of Lisse’s Flower Festival – and one of the most anticipated events of the Dutch calendar – is the annual Flower Parade. Back for its 70th edition with the theme ‘Dutch Design’, lavishly decorated floats and cars will travel 40 km along the main roads from Noordwijk to Haarlem, where they’ll conclude with an illuminated procession. Visitors flock to the roadsides and the atmosphere is deliciously convivial – and best of all, it’s free. If you miss the parade itself, head to Haarlem the next day, where the floats will be displayed on the city’s main square. 21 April 2018, departs at 09.30 (Wilhelminaboulevard, Noordwijk), arrives at 21.30 (Haarlem) www.bloemencorso-bollenstreek.nl
If you’re interested in learning more about the unique Dutch auction and cultivation process, you should visit The Historic Garden (De Historische Tuin) in Aalsmeer, where they’ve literally turned back time with a replica of an auction hall, complete with a large clock dating from the 1930s. www.historischetuinaalsmeer.nl
The Cruquius Steam Engine
Flower Festival Lisse 22 March-13 May
photo: Just Justa
De Olmenhorst
The combination of horticulture, recreation and nature make Aalsmeer unique. To make sure you don't miss anything, take an open or covered boat tour through a maze of islands, and knowledgeable skippers fill you in on the region’s horticultural history.
Open Monday - Friday only (closed on public holidays) www.royalfloraholland.com
Flower Village Lisse
www.vvvlisse.nl
Rent-a-Bike Van Dam (entrance Keukenhof) www.rentabikevandam-keukenhof.com
This museum tells the history of Holland’s bulb region and tulip-growing ‘bulbiculture’. A visitor’s guide to the permanent exhibition is available in six languages. The museum is located on the Dorpsplein ‘t Vierkant square in the centre of Lisse.
2018 Keukenhof dates: 22 March-13 May. Shuttle departs from multiple Amsterdam Schiphol Airport hotels twice a day and leaves Keukenhof at 13:30 and 17:00. Combi-tickets €24,50 (€12.50 ages 4-12). More information at www.haarlemmermeer.nl/keukenhof
Pick your own at Annemieke’s Tulip Garden
To explore at your own pace, a bike is by far the best option. You can rent bikes – from Rent-a-Bike van Dam – at the main entrance of the Keukenhof for €10 a day, including a map of a cycle route. In total there are four signposted and marked routes, ranging from 5 to 25 km long. For the real green-fingered fanatics, there is also a longer ‘Bulb Route’, a bum-numbing 40 km. Or combine your flower tour with a trip to the beach.
Boat Cruises
In springtime, a visit to the bulb area and especially Lisse is a must do. It is the perfect place to experience spring to the fullest! Visit Keukenhof, the beautiful flower fields and discover the unique floral activities of flower village Lisse and its surrounding villages. www.flowerfestivallisse.nl
Haarlemmermeer harbours a historic pumping station with the world’s largest Cornish steam engine. This site of a former lake that was drained around 1850 to reclaim the land lies about four metres below sea level. The Cruquius Museum walks you through the story of the Dutch struggle against the water, with interactive maps of land-reclamation projects and large-scale steam engine technology in action. www.haarlemmermeermuseum.nl
Enjoy a colourful weekend full of flowers, art, music and food during Aalsmeer Flower Festival. The fourth edition of this event takes place on 16 and 17 June 2018. The festival is spread out over several locations, where you will find the most beautiful flowers and plants this city has to offer. Locations include the horticultural museum, a rose nursery, a floral design school and a spectacular waterfront location. Visitors can travel around by bus and boat and there is also a bike tour available. www.aalsmeerflowerfestival.nl (website in Dutch only)
While you’re there… Ready for more blooming beauty? Why not check out Holland’s garden district, taking in a castle or two along the way, the Ronde Hoep nature reserve in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, or the botanical gardens of Amstelveen. On the other hand, for an alternative urban adventure, hop to Haarlem for museums, shopping and more.
Plan your trip Find up-to-date schedules and fares for trams, trains and more at www.9292.nl/en. Note that many schedules will change 22 July 2018 due to the opening of the North-South metro line. Get there the Dutch way – by bike! – with the help of bike routes based on the fietsknooppuntennetwerk (‘bike connection network’). Route maps at en.routeplanner.fietsersbond.nl
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