Best Tulip Fields in the Netherlands Top Tips for Planning your Trip

Every April the countryside in the Netherlands transforms into a sea of colour as tulips bloom in the fields. People travel from all around the world to see this spectacle for themselves and this year it was my turn to tick it off my bucket list. In this video I'll take you through five of the very best tulip farms to visit in the Netherlands along with some helpful tips to make your trip run a bit smoother. I have just arrived in the Netherlands and I'm going to be spending the weekend doing something that has been on my bucket list for the longest time which is going to see the tulips and the tulip fields. I'm so excited and I'm going to be spending the next two days going to different tulip farms and fields and experiences. So if this is a trip that you've been thinking about doing or you just wanted to know how you go about buying the tulips or what experiences there are available in this area then hopefully this video will be helpful. I have just checked into our Airbnb which is about a half an hour drive from Amsterdam airport. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields and the countryside and I'm just sitting listening to the sound of birds. I'm right on the water it's very beautiful and peaceful the sky is blue and the sun is shining and so hopefully it's going to be a good weekend full of lots of tulips and lots of incredible experiences. Before we get into this video I want to quickly talk to you about the tulip fields you'll see on the side of the road in the Netherlands. Everywhere I visited on my trip to the Netherlands was a tulip farm that is open to the public and you're allowed to walk through the tulips on designated pathways but the fields you see on the side of the road are farmers fields and growing tulips is their livelihood. I saw so many people carelessly walk through these fields despite the signs and doing this can destroy the flowers and hugely impact the farmer's ability to make a living. Admire the view from the side of the road of course but please don't walk through them. In this video I'll cover five amazing tulip farms that you can visit walk through and you can even pick your own tulips in some of them so there's definitely no need to wander through random fields. We have just arrived in Lisse which is a region in the Netherlands which is really famous for tulip farms and our first stop is Fam Flower Farm and it is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen there are tulips everywhere. It's a family-run farm and they grow the tulips and then open the farm for usually only two days during the tulip season and it's completely dependent on when the tulips bloom so we got very lucky that it was open during our trip but there's no way to fully know when it's going to be open and when the tulips are going to bloom. It's usually mid to end of April but it can completely change depending on good old mother nature. So yeah I'm going to spend the next hour here and just wander around look at the tulips. I honestly cannot get over this it is absolutely amazing. Fam Flower Farm is run by the lovely Marlies and Linda. They're lifelong friends who both married growers and their flower fields have been in their families for generations. They only open their fields to the public for a couple of days during tulip season and only allow 20 visitors in each time slot which means you can enjoy a much more relaxed experience. This was by far the least crowded tulip farm I visited on my trip and easily my favourite one. It is also the most expensive place you'll see in this video. A ticket costs 45 euros and that includes a one and a half hour visit, tea, coffee, street waffles and a bunch of tulips to take with you. But for me it was more than worth the money to experience somewhere as beautiful as this with hardly anyone else around. Make sure you sign up to their newsletter to be the first to know when the tickets are released because they go very quickly. We have arrived at our second stop of the day which is Keukenhof. It was only around a 10 minute drive from Fam Flower Farm so I definitely recommend doing the both of them together. It's one of the world's largest flower gardens so it's absolutely massive and it is one of the most popular places in the Netherlands to see the tulips so it's very very busy. We are one of the last slots of the day we arrived at 5 30 and it shuts at 7 but even so it's still full of people but it's big enough that you can kind of walk around and find quiet areas but I would definitely recommend getting your tickets for this one in advance. Keukenhof is open for just eight weeks a year usually from late March to mid-May. It spans almost 80 acres with around 7 million tulips hand-planted each year. Truthfully I wasn't expecting to enjoy Keukenhof as much as I did. I expected it to be overwhelmingly busy and not as beautiful as the smaller tulip farms but I was so wrong. It's definitely busy but because it's so big it's easy to find more secluded spots where you can step away from the crowds. There's a huge variety of tulips here as well as lots of other flowers, themed gardens, art installations, boat tours, a maze, a petting zoo and a playground and so my biggest piece of advice would be to actually allow a few hours to explore it all properly. I only had an hour and a half and it definitely was not enough. The park is open from 8 a.m until 7 p.m with the last entrance at 6 15. A ticket costs 20 euros per person and you'll need to pay an extra 9 euros 50 to park your car. We have just arrived at our final stop of the day which is the tulip barn which is only around a 10 minute drive from Keukenhof or apparently you can walk between the two but I think that would take a lot longer and we wanted to get here for sunset so we arrived at about 7 30 and the sun is just setting so it's really beautiful lighting. It is as the name suggests a barn with a bar and a restaurant inside and a shop where you can buy different like tulip vases and yeah just some really nice souvenirs and then outside is a massive tulip field with just loads of different tulips all different colours all different shapes and sizes and yeah we're just going to stick around here and watch the sunset. Unlike traditional tulip farms the tulip barn is specifically designed for visitors. There's over 1.5 million tulips here with 200 different varieties. It's great if you're into photography as there's lots of props scattered across the field where you can get the perfect shot. Inside the barn is a greenhouse restaurant and a shop where you can purchase beautiful souvenirs. The tulip barn is open from 9 30 to 7 pm and tickets plus 10 euros. It is day two in the Netherlands and this morning we have come to Tulip Experience which is a family-run farm. There's over 4 million tulips here, absolutely stunning. The tickets are £12 and we actually didn't book this one in advance but we just turned up and they had tickets available on the door so it's a Saturday as well so I was expecting them not to so that was actually pretty good. It's also one of the only places where you can pick your own tulips, not from the farm outside but they have a dedicated area inside where you can pick five tulips and that's included in the ticket price. There's also quite a lot to see inside here so there's a museum with some information about the farm and tulips and how to grow them and there's also a restaurant and little boutiques that sell various tulip related things and so it's a really really beautiful spot and again the weather is amazing so we're off to a good start. Tulip Experience opened in 2019 partly in response to growing tourism in the area and the increasing pressure on the production fields. It offers a space for visitors to come and experience the tulips without damaging the farmer's fields. Even though it was busy during my visit I found the fields here so peaceful and it was really insightful to learn more about the growing process at their museum. It's open from 9am until 6pm and tickets are 12 euros. Just a seven minute drive from Tulip Experience is Como & Co, a lakeside restaurant with a seasonal menu that makes the perfect lunch spot. The last stop on my tulip tour was to De Tolparay and I'm very sorry if I've completely butchered the pronunciation of that. It's run by married couple Dan and Anya and entry is free but you can pay for extras like a guided tour or to pick your own tulips which is something I chose to do. It's a really unique experience as it's not offered at many tulip farms and it costs €7.50 for 10 flowers. There's also a restaurant here and enjoying a slice of cheesecake and a cocktail overlooking the tulips was the perfect way to end my trip.