I made this Q&A on Instagram, but I also think it's a good idea to put it here.

You are coming to Amsterdam and want pictures of our beautiful tulips. You have watched many reels mentioning different places, but you have no idea where to find those places. Let me provide an essential guide on what you need to take into account for a successful tulip season in the Netherlands. In this guide, I will cover only the Bollenstreek area in Lisse and surrounding cities. There are plenty of other areas, but they are harder to reach from Amsterdam. We will do another guide for those as well. As usual, we will cover what to see, when to go, where to find gardens and tulips, and picking gardens and their differences.

This picture was taken at Keukenhof in Lisse.

Question 1: When to go?

Tulips are a seasonal flower. You only start to see them in late March. The best option to see tulips is from the second week of April to the last week of the same month. As tulips need to be cut for the plant's strength to go to the bulb instead of producing seeds, the flowers are cut at the beginning of May. Gardens will have tulips in bloom until the second week of May. Ask your photographer for the best options according to your trip plans.

If you cannot go out of Amsterdam, the city hosts a festival called "One Tulip per Amsterdammer," where you will find plant pots around the city. It is precisely what their name says: One tulip per registered resident is put on the city streets. We can also take pictures with the plant pots or do a plat pot chase if you have a bike with you and a photo session of 2 hours "The Explorer."

This picture was taken at The Tulip Barn in Hillegom.

Question 2: How to get there?

The most famous region is the Bollenstreet in South Holland. A quick geography note: Amsterdam is located in the province of North Holland, so we need to travel to the province of South Holland to see the tulips. This trip is 40 minutes up to 1 hour, as distances are not too far here.

There are two main ways to go, but the easiest one is going to Keukenhof.

This picture was taken at Keukenhof for Flytographer.

Option 1

Keukenhof is a garden, the most extensive flower garden in Europe. Remember, it advertises itself as a flower garden, not a tulip garden. You will find millions of flowers in special arrangements on the soil. This means you will not see fields here. There is one, though, where you can take pictures across the water. You cannot step on fields if you are inside Keukenhof.

Plenty of businesses offer transport from Amsterdam to Keukenhof, including round trips by bus. Most require you to go to Amsterdam North, which is only across the water from Amsterdam Central Station, on a free ferry ride.

The usual way would be going on a train to Schiphol Airport, and from there, take the Arriva Bus that takes you directly to Keukenhof Gardens. The usual price for this ride is €4.90 each way for the train and €12 for the bus (round): €21.80. Keukenhof offers a combi ticket that includes transport and entry for €31.50, but remember you will need €10 more to make the round trip to Schiphol airport.

This means going there with an entry fee will cost €41.30

This picture was taken at The Tulip Barn in Hillegom.

Option 2

The second option is Hillegom station. This means you go from your closest station in Amsterdam to Haarlem, and then change train to Hillegom. This train ride is 30 minutes and costs €7.10 each way. Then, you rent a bike for €13-16 for the day. This option costs €30.20, but in this case, you can avoid Keukenhof and visit all the other regional gardens.

This picture was taken at The Tulip Barn in Hillegom.

Question 3: Which gardens are open in this region? What are my options?

Here are the names of the gardens and their entry prices. You can search them and find the locations. Then, you will know why you need a bike or rent a car if cycling is not for you.

• Annemieke's Pluktuin - Hillegom: You can pick tulips here. Entrance is Free, but you pay for the tulips you pick
• The Tulip Barn - Hillegom: Tulip garden, perfect for Instagram pictures €8.50
• Tulip Experience Amsterdam - Noordwijkerhout: Tulip garden, perfect for Instagram pictures €10
• Keukenhof - Lisse: Flower garden €19.5
• Tulip Showroom—Voorhout: This is a showroom for the varieties of tulips they sell as bulbs. For me, they are the most beautiful of them all. Entrance is free, and it's perfect for taking Instagram pictures.
• De Tulperij—Voorhout: This tulip garden is perfect for Instagram pictures. It's free, but they also have a picking garden, so you pay for the tulips you pick.

This can add a bit; if you want to visit them all, it will be €68.20 without counting what to eat and drink per person.

This picture was taken with my phone at the Tulip Showroom in Voorhout. See the unique tulips? Here, you will find the most exceptional varieties.

This picture was taken at Keukenhof for Flytographer.

For our Photo Sessions: Our travel fees cover all this for your photographer, so we charge €50 for Keukenhof and €70 for all the gardens. The travel fee is always invoiced after booking and is due on the date of your session, so if you change your mind about the location, we can always photograph you in Amsterdam.

This picture was taken at the fields of Tulip Amsterdam Experience at Noordwijkerhout.

There is another option, which is renting a 30-minute timeslot at a tulip field. The tulip field charges € 66.5 for two persons plus a photographer, so adding the transport €30.20 gives us €96.70, and this is why our travel fee is €100. This way, we can arrange all the bookings with the field for a smooth process for your photo session. On tulip fields, we can only offer 30-minute photo sessions; in the case of one hour, we can continue on a nearby garden for 30 additional minutes. We still don't have pictures for this field, and it will open only on April 18th.

Question 4: What is the difference between a garden and a field?

We all know tulip fields, but we might not know they are private property; you cannot go inside them without the explicit permit of the farmer. That is not about driving a car, seeing one, and jumping on it. We cannot do that.

Tulip fields must be protected as they are private property and part of a big bulb industry. Our shoes can carry diseases for the plant or with our steps. We can damage the flower, the stems, or the bulb, making it irreplaceable.

This picture was taken at the fields of Tulip Amsterdam Experience at Noordwijkerhout.

Some farmers open doors and mark the area they allow people in. Some others put fences and signs around that we frequently see broken while we cycle the region. Please be respectful. Don't jump fences or go down the chains.

A garden has been created to prevent all these issues from happening season by season. Some farmers created a particular area with tulips so we could all enjoy it, take pictures, and walk freely next to them. They are designed for this purpose, and we should encourage more people to "Choose gardens over fields".

A list of the most famous tulip gardens has been shared above.

I hope you like this Q&A, and if you have more, let me know so we can add them here.

See you soon from the fairytale city of Amsterdam,

Joanna, your Amsterdam photographer

(For now, only in English for a better understanding of all your wishes)

Joanna, your Amsterdam photographer

+31626567232

KvK: 76809935