The main event of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, starting annually at the end of April, is the Bloemencorso Bollenstreek flower festival. This colorful and vibrant holiday of tulips in Holland has no equal in the world, and hundreds of thousands of tourists become its visitors.
Spring extravaganza
The end of April and the beginning of May are the time of blooming of the tulip, the symbol of Holland and the favorite flower of the inhabitants of the kingdom. At this time, exhibitions and flower shows are held throughout the country, and Blumencorso is the most colorful and significant among them. The scenario and idea change every year and each subsequent tulip festival in Holland turns out to be much more spectacular than the previous one.
The parade starts on the third Saturday in April in the town of Noordwijk and follows the eighty-kilometer route of the kingdom's main roads. One of the most significant points is the Keukenhof Park, and the luxurious and colorful event ends in the city of Haarlem.
In the rhythm of the carnival
The passions that boil during the flower parade in Holland are comparable in magnitude to the intensity only with the carnival procession in Brazil. Hundreds of thousands of spectators along the route greet the parade participants. They cheer for their favorites, sing and dance, and the procession itself makes noise, sparkles, surprises and delights in an unprecedented scale. Several dozen mobile platforms and cars are decorated with compositions of millions of flowers, brass bands create a musical background, and living floral paintings and sculptures are amazing. Every year the parade changes the main theme, introducing famous painters, musicians to the world and opening the most interesting pages of the history of Holland.
In Haarlem, the holiday turns into a grandiose flower exhibition, which is available to the audience the next day. It is there that the selection and rewarding of the winner among the mobile platforms-participants takes place and the sale of bulbs of tulip varieties loved by the inhabitants of the Netherlands is arranged.
Useful little things
- The most striking action of the tulip festival in Holland takes place in the Keukenhof park. It opens its gates on the 20th of March and has been working for about two months. In the park you can admire flowers not only during the parade, but also on any other spring day. For visitors, Keukenhof opens daily at 8 am.
- During the Tulip Festival in Holland there are many more tourists than on normal days. It is better to book hotels and air tickets for this time in advance, and you should refrain from renting a car - you will not be able to find parking in the area of the festive procession.
