Keukenhof Day Trip with Kids 2017

When you’re living in the Netherlands you can’t miss a flower season, even if a trip to Keukenhof is considered “touristy.” This year my mom and her friend came into town to see the blooms and I was more than happy to show them around. With my Big Little in school for the day, I headed out with the middle and little littles.

Keukenhof Gardens is only open for two months each year and the exact dates shift depending on the blooms. I ordered our tickets and parking pass online so we wouldn’t have to wait in line once we arrived.

We arrived right at 8am when the park opened. It is full even in the morning but not as crowded as if you arrive later in the day.

I brought the big City Select double stroller, which was perfect since I had one snoozing little and one little that didn’t want to get out of the stroller.

With the kids happily riding it was nice to spend some time enjoying the flowers. The gardens are relatively stroller friendly, although I found a few paths that ended in stairs so I had to turn back.

There were also these fun stone paths that crossed the lake. I obviously couldn’t take the stroller on those either. My middle little loved watching people hop from one to the other, but I could not convince him to come try it with me.

Even though we went last year the flowers were still completely amazing! The garden is planted differently each year and even a week or two can make a difference in what is blooming.

The Orchid House was impressive again this year.

I Googled a bunch of info about Orchids because I was so amazed by these blue orchids. This article from Orchid Plant Care.Info says that blue orchids are actually white orchids dyed blue.

I’m not sure what to think after seeing these blue orchids all over the greenhouse. The color was stunning either way.

The Orchid House is a good place to demonstrate how empty the gardens are in the morning. In the afternoon this place will be absolutely packed.

We skipped the 45 min boat ride that takes you around the fields, but we will have to do it next year since we skipped it last year too. Instead we peered onto the fields from the path through the woods.

Keukenhof has lots of touristy elements but it’s nice to be able to take those quintessential tulip photos. Plus, many of our guests only have a short time visiting us so it is nice to be able to tick off things like wooden shoes and windmills while seeing the flowers.

We had to visit the Miffy area again. Another year here means the kids are now fully immersed in the Dutch love for Miffy. We also stopped in one of the cafes for some cake and coffee. I packed plenty of snacks to keep my Middle Little happy.

The main building had a whole display on flower arranging. They had so many cool vases and beautifully displayed flowers.

We missed Dad and our Big Little but I had a lovely outing with the two littles in the garden. They were much more content just seeing the flowers so we hardly spent any time in the maze, petting zoo or playground.

We left the gardens around noon and headed directly to our bike rental. Last year we rented right at the flower fields but this year I wanted to make a reservation so we rented from Rent A Bike Van Dam’s city location.

There is plenty of free parking available in Noordwijkerhout. We picked up our bikes without incident. If you are renting with kids call ahead. They have plenty of options. They even have a Bakfiets you can rent.

I went the non-traditional route and rented a dog trailer to put my Little Little and his car seat in and a regular toddler seat for my Middle Little.  The dog trailer has a flat bottom that the car seat easily sits on. I used some bungee cords I brought along to make sure the car seat didn’t move much from side to side.

We parked the bikes a block away from the rental location and popped into Hudson Bar & Kitchen for a quick snack. I convinced everyone to try some Dutch fried favorites.

With full tummies we headed out on the bikes through the flower fields. Van Dam rentals was happy to help us plan our route so that we could see the blooming fields.

We had a 3:30 reservation for high tea at Het Tussen Station. This old railroad station turned cafe is so cute and serves delicious food. We happened upon it last year dodging a rain storm and so it has been a favorite ever since.

The kids high tea platter could not have been any cuter or more fun. Our Middle Little got a slice of pizza, a croquet, muffins and then a pancake and an entire platter of things to put on top of his pancake – most of which involved sugar.

The adult tea was delicious. The bread was warm and fresh and everything was tasty.

There was so much food we asked for a box to take some dessert treats home to Jeff and the Big Little.

The bike ride back was on a little different route so we were able to see some more of the fields in bloom. The rental office closes at 6pm and we were back at the office at 10 till 6.

It was a perfect, full-day flower adventure. We enjoyed a nice glass of wine at home before we all went to bed exhausted, dreaming of the flowers!

We had lots of flower fun in 2016 as well. You can read about our adventures visiting Keukenhof, biking the flower fields and seeing the flower floats.

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