Keukenhof Gardens Tulip Season: A 5-Step Guide for 2027

Five steps take you from the season dates to a booked day. The table shows the whole plan, and each step below gives the detail.

Step 1: Check the Keukenhof gardens tulip season dates and book a slot

The Keukenhof gardens tulip season in 2027 runs from Thursday 18 March to Sunday 9 May. Daily hours are 8:00 to 19:00, including Sundays and public holidays, and entry closes at 18:15, according to its plan your visit page. That is eight weeks, and the park is closed the rest of the year.

Keukenhof is a spring flower park at Stationsweg 166a in Lisse. It calls itself the international showcase of the Dutch flower industry, and it shows about 7 million spring-flowering bulbs, according to its about page. About 1.4 million people visit each year, so book early for a weekend.

Every ticket is for one date and one arrival time slot. According to the frequently asked questions, an online ticket does not let you enter earlier or later. Arrive late when the park is full, and you may have to wait.

A ticket can't be cancelled, but you can give it to someone else. An online ticket can move to another slot up to 24 hours before your visit if the slot is free. A ticket bought from another seller has to be changed with that seller.

On the ticket page, an adult ticket costs €21 online and €27 at the ticket office. A child ticket costs €11 online and €15 at the office, and a child up to age 3 enters free. Keukenhof's pages give the child age band as 0 to 18 on one page and 4 to 17 on another, so check it in the ticket shop. The page does not say if the 2027 price is final, so check the ticket shop when you book. Bus tickets that include the entry, called combi tickets, have no 2027 prices yet. Keukenhof says they come in mid-January.

For the full list of tickets, see our page on keukenhof garden tickets.

Pro Tip Book the first slot of the day, because Keukenhof says the park is less crowded before 10:30 a.m. or after 4:00 p.m.

Step 2: Pick your weeks by what is in bloom

Tulips are the main show, but they are not the first flowers to open. At the start of the season the early bloomers are crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths and early tulips, and Keukenhof says the larger tulips come later. That is how the park describes it in its frequently asked questions.

The exact day of the peak is not promised. Keukenhof says the bloom follows the rhythm of nature and depends on the weather. Keukenhof offers a bloom report on its site, so look at it a few days before you go.

For big tulips, pick a date in the later weeks of the season. Late March still gives you bulb flowers, and the pavilions have shows all season. The shows below are the 2027 dates on the park's see and do page, and they may change.

Key Takeaway Keukenhof is open 18 March to 9 May 2027, the larger tulips come later in that stretch, and the park will not name a peak day.

Step 3: Find the tulip fields outside the park

The tulip fields outside Keukenhof belong to flower bulb growers, and you may not walk into them. The park's FAQ says walking through the bulb fields damages the bulbs. You can take photos from the road.

No Keukenhof page says in which months the fields outside the park bloom. Holland.com says the tulip season runs from late March to mid-May and is usually best in mid-April. Bollenstreek.nl, a regional site, says crocuses bloom first in March, then daffodils and hyacinths until mid-April, and tulip fields in April. Treat these as typical, not promised, and check the bloom report before you set out.

There are two ways to see the fields on your own. Cycling is allowed around the park, though not inside it, and bikes are rented at parking lot P1 with no booking needed. The Whisper Boat is a 45-minute electric boat ride through the polder with an audio guide in four languages. Its boarding point is in the park, next to the windmill, and you need a Keukenhof ticket to book it. Keukenhof's Whisper Boat page gives no price.

A tour makes sense if you want the fields without planning transport. The Best Travel Destinations' count of GetYourGuide listings for the Amsterdam area in October 2026 found 23 Keukenhof and tulip trips and tickets, and the per-person prices run from €12.50 to €315.00. Three of them suit different readers.

A half-day tulip fields tour with flexible return costs from €39.49 per person and is rated 4.3 from 408 reviews on GetYourGuide and is run by HopOn HopOff Holland. It takes about 4 hours, runs in English with up to 50 people, and has free cancellation. The bus leaves Amsterdam at Overhoeksplein 51 at 11:30, 12:30, 13:30 or 14:30. It goes to the Tulip Experience Amsterdam, a separate attraction with tulip fields, a museum and an indoor picking garden, and not to Keukenhof itself. Any bus back to Amsterdam is allowed. Meals and personal costs are not included, and wheelchair users are named as not suited.

A small-group tulip fields day with an expert guide costs from €128 per person and is rated 4.9 (4.87 before rounding) from 128 reviews. The day takes about 6 hours with up to 30 people, and it leaves from Market 27 Termini 27 in Amsterdam, two metro stops from Central Station. The listing includes lunch, a walk through at least three tulip fields and entry to a windmill, and it has free cancellation. Flagship Tours runs it. Sodas and alcohol are not included with lunch, and the tour does not include Keukenhof.

A Tulip Experience ticket costs from €13 per person and is rated 4.5 from 854 reviews and is run by Tulip Experience Amsterdam. It has free cancellation and covers the indoor garden, the museum and a bunch of tulips you pick yourself. Parking for up to two hours is included. The attraction sits in Noordwijkerhout, about 2.5 km from Keukenhof, and the listing gives a walk of about 30 minutes or a bike ride of 5 to 10 minutes. No set duration is shown, so you plan your own time there.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide.

Step 4: Plan the day at Keukenhof

Plan about three hours in the park, because Keukenhof says visitors spend three hours on average. Add the trip from Amsterdam, and the day fills six to eight hours. Start with the first slot or arrive after 16:00 for the calmest hours.

To get there from Amsterdam, you have three options. By car, follow the A4 and N207 to parking lot P1, where parking costs €10 online or €15 at the ticket window. By public transport, 9292 lists KeukenhofBuzz bus lines run by Qbuzz. In 2026 line 852 left from Amsterdam RAI, bus stop Europaplein, and took about 35 minutes, and line 850 left from Haarlem station in about 40 minutes. The 2027 timetable is not published yet, so check 9292's Keukenhof page in the new year.

Pay with a card, because the restaurants and shops are cash-free. Only the ticket window takes cash. Dogs must stay on a leash and can't enter the pavilions or restaurants. A wheelchair can be reserved online, and lockers and a free large-luggage drop-off at Entrance P1 are available.

For the park ticket and the ride in one booking, a Keukenhof and tulip fields day trip costs from €59 per person and is rated 4.5 from 361 reviews. The day takes 6.5 to 7.5 hours and is run by Tour Company, with free cancellation. Included are the Keukenhof entry ticket, entry to the Tulip Experience, coffee or tea there, and pick-up and drop-off in Amsterdam. The page gives De Ruijterkade 99 as the location and does not say it picks up at hotels. Food, drinks, tips and the audioguide at the Tulip Experience are not included. Wheelchair users and people with mobility impairments are listed as not suited.

Its page also says no one can guarantee how many flowers you see or which fields the tour visits. That fits the park's own words about the bloom. Doing it on your own means you plan the bus and the time slot, as set out above. A tour trades that planning for a fixed schedule, and you pay its price instead of the €21 entry plus fares. Going alone is cheaper and more flexible, but you handle the slot, the bus and the return yourself. Choose a tour only if a fixed schedule is worth the extra cost to you.

Flowers follow the weather, so no park can name the exact day the tulips peak.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide.

Step 5: Budget the trip and pick a bed

A spring trip costs more than a winter one, mostly because of the hotel. Entry for one adult is €21 online, parking is €10, and a tour starts from €39.49 per person. The hotel is the part that moves most with the month.

In April 2027, in the middle of Keukenhof's season, a 3-star hotel night in Amsterdam cost a median €178 per room for two, against €93 in January 2027, in the 2026 Amsterdam Travel Cost Study of prices read in October 2026.

Haarlem sits between Amsterdam and the bulb region, so some visitors sleep there to save on that gap. Hotel Lion d'Or stands on Kruisweg right by Haarlem station, within a 10-minute walk of the Corrie ten Boom House and St. Bavo Church. Brasss Hotel Suites is just around the corner from Haarlem's Grote Markt and serves breakfast in your suite. For other areas, see where to stay on our where to stay in Amsterdam page.

Haarlem is only a fit if you take the bus or drive to Keukenhof. This guide could not find a published Keukenhof bus timetable for 2027 yet, so keep your plan flexible until the lines are out.

The honest limit: this guide can't tell you which week will be best. The park and the fields follow the weather, and no official page gives a bloom date. If your dates are fixed, book the slot, accept the risk, and use the bloom report a few days before.