Visiting the Keukenhof Gardens
| Recommended days | 2 |
| Budget | £ |
| Difficulty | Easy |
Amsterdam is a classic city break vacation with a compact centre that is easily walkable and plenty of sights, both indoors and outdoors to allow for European weather. It’s an easy location to get to as well with train and plane options available.
We came here for Deb’s birthday as she is in to flowers and green stuff. The idea was that it would be a bargain break but it didn’t start well, with a power cut at Schipol Airport so no trains were running. We had to get a taxi (which cost more than our flight!) to our hotel and dump our cases before a very easy train and bus trip from the hotel to Keukenhof Gardens.
Keukenhof Gardens
The displays, both indoors and out, were quite incredible. I think a month later in the year would have been better as some areas weren’t planted yet and some plants were not in bloom, also the weather was hardly conducive to wandering around!
It should have been planned better with a birthday in early May to allow for these things! The orchid and freesia houses were both quite delightful riots of colour and being indoors helped too. The cafe was a welcome respite as walking through gardens and displays quite takes it out of you!
Even I was content to spend the better part of the day in the gardens and we eventually headed back to the hotel as night fell. The weather was by now as you’d expect it to be in March – cold and wet, so we ate near the hotel.
Amsterdam at Night
The rain had stopped after we’d finished eating so we went for a quick walk around the canals that make the centre so picturesque. There were few people around so it was quite lovely to walk around and enjoy the spectacle.
Amsterdam in the Rain
The next day was spent avoiding the rain! We joined the queue for the Anne Frank museum – an excellent museum and incredibly moving and we couldn’t really complain about an hour’s waiting in the rain when you think what she went through. Inconceivable for us in the pampered 21st century.
We managed more photos of the centre before heading back to the hotel to grab our stuff and get an evening flight home. A short visit but we had already seen the highlights so this was a gentle and chilled weekend.
2015