Take a virtual tour of Insta-perfect tulip gardens in the Netherlands
It’s such a shame that this majestic tulips showcase will not be seen by tourists in person again this year. But with its free virtual tours, you can immerse in the gardens’ vivid colors, which are inviting enough to make you want to bookmark it as your next destination when travel for leisure gets in full swing.
A visit to the Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse, Netherlands is a feast for the senses with its over seven million tulips all abloom in their full glory during its two-month season.
But for the second time since its opening in 1950, the Keukenhof was forced to miss another spring season, which attracts over 1.5 million visitors from over 100 countries every year pre-pandemic. And with the threats of the COVID-19 pandemic still upon us, the gardens announced that it will not open its doors until further notice.
Despite the pandemic, over 40 gardeners at Keukenhof work year-round to prepare for the gardens’ spring showcase that usually begins in late March until the early days of May.
The gardeners plant over seven million bulbs by hand in over 80 acres of land. A landscape artist craft a special design for each exhibitor, which showcases what the Dutch floral industry has to offer through its living catalog. This year, over 800 variety of tulips were chosen to be in the showcase.
As the world has the wait before visitors could once again troop to the Dutch icon to get their Insta-perfect shot in the gardens as they tip-toe along the tulip fields, Keukenhof released a virtual tour that you can enjoy at home.
The free virtual tours, titled “Keukenhoff Spring Series,” show a dazzling display of the park’s beautifully blooming bulbs. The virtual tours also give visitors a look at how the showcase of the blooms come together—which is an arduous process that the gardeners and exhibitors are proud to share to the public.
As seen in the virtual tours, Keukenhof—which is about 30 minutes away from Amsterdam—is also a heaven not just for anthophiles but also for those who fancy visual art as the spring-flowering bulbs are a great backdrop for pieces of sculpture and other works of art that give the park an added dimension.
Keukenhof collaborated with 25 artists who laid out art pieces that dot the gardens. This year, the gardens feature a giant hyacinth mosaic of famous children’s character Miffy, which was planted in the fall of 2020. It is now still in full bloom.
Aside from tulips, the gardens are also home to other specialty flowers like the fritillaria, roses, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips and daffodils.
What happens to over seven million bulbs after their two-month season? They are cut to the ground and composted, to be used as fertilizer.
If the colors of Keukenhof tickled you and they have ignited that pent-up desire to travel over there, the gardens announced that it will open again as soon as it is possible to do so safely.
So, as we wait for the next springtime (hopefully a more ideal time to travel), Keukenhof brings its wonderful blooming spring park to the comforts of our own home. Check out some of the gardens’ virtual tours below.