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FLOWES O Public Transport Map AMSTEDAM Amsterdam Area map day trips a Amsterdam e S Haarlem Amsterdam Sloterdijk City h Station t 50 340 Amsterdam Central Station r 80 357 o Zandvoort 80 N Bus station 80 80 Elandsgracht 80 397 Heemstede Haarlemmermeer- polder 50 340 The most beautiful 397 spring garden in the world 357 Schiphol Airport 21 03 397 858 Amstelveen 19 05 2019 Hoofddorp www.keukenhof.nl B Hillegom 397 wwwiamsterdamcomarea 57 858 50 Station 397 Keukenhof 340 397 854 858 Aalsmeer 57 Nieuw- 340 Bus Visit 357 Noordwijker- Vennep Centrum Bus stop hout Royal FloraHolland 858 Station FloraHolland Railway Aalsmeer Lisse 57 A Getsewoud Centrum 0 1 2 3 4 5 km 858 357 Uithoorn 8 397 Westeinder- 50 854 plassen Bus station 57 340 Visitor Centres & Highlights 357 Kudelstaart I amsterdam Visitor Centre Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket (ARTT) Central Station or Amsterdam Airport Schiphol iamsterdam.com/area Get out of Amsterdam with the ARTT, which grants you Kager unlimited travel on the city’s public transportation and Plassen A VVV Lisse (vvvlisse.nl) beyond. From flower auctions and windmills to beaches and medieval castles, ARTT is the easiest and most economical Royal FloraHolland, only a short distance 50 B VVV Hoofddorp (hlmrmeer.nl/en) 57 way to explore everything the greater Amsterdam Area has to from Schiphol Airport, is the world’s largest 854 Braassemer- offer! Pick yours up at an I amsterdam Visitor Centre, trade centre for flowers and plants. It offers meer Highlights participating public transport company ticket counter, or selected hotel or campsite. (Don’t forget to check in and out you a sight that cannot be seen anywhere Keukenhof whenever you get on or off a train, tram, metro or bus!) else in the world. 30 50 57 854 Rent-a-Bike van Dam ARTT tickets are valid on any bus, tram, metro and train services offered Station Aalsmeer (Flower Festival 15-16 June 2019) Lisse (Flower Festival 22 March-13 May 2019) by GVB, Connexxion, EBS and NS (including night buses) from 00:00 Open: Monday, Tuesday, Annemieke’s Pluktuin until 04:00 the following day. Tickets also accepted on Arriva bus 852 Wednesday and Friday from Keukenhof Hotel Express from Amsterdam RAI, Arriva bus 50 from Haarlem, bus 859 from 07.00-11.00 am and Thursday Leiden Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Hoofddorp station and Arriva bus 858 from Amsterdam Airport Historical Garden, Aalsmeer Schiphol to Keukenhof gardens 21 March-19 May 2019. 1-day tickets are from 07.00-09.00 am. Royal FloraHolland (flower auction & visitor centre) €19.50, 2-day tickets €28 and 3-day tickets €36.50. Olmenhorst Estate Cruquius Museum & Steam Pumping Station Find more information and a map of all included routes on: iamsterdam.com/area Rent a bike! The best way to experience the flower fields TRAVEL WITH THE around Keukenhof! AMSTERDAM & REGION TRAVEL TICKET by bus, tram, metro & train WWW.RENTABIKEVANDAM-KEUKENHOF.COM +31 6 12 08 98 58 Once you’ve seen it, you will love it. Boattrips, watersports and events, beautiful surroundings for cycling and walking around the Westeinder Lakes, largest flower auction in the world and only 20 minutes from Amsterdam. VVVLISSE.NL VISITAALSMEER.NL Empire of World of History of flowers flowers flowers The area southwest of Amsterdam – today a The Netherlands’ lush patchwork of colourful The country’s most carpets of bulb and flower fields and home to kaleidoscopic and iconic flower fields are not just the world’s largest flower landscape is just an a feast for the eyes, but auction – was a swamp hour from Amsterdam. the basis of a billion- before being drained in Visitors can bike through euro industry. Celebrate the 19th century. Come vibrant flower fields, this rich history at the learn about the history and the renowned local festivals and annual of flower growing, visit Keukenhof gardens flower parade, and visit a pumping station, and boast millions of blooms the Flower Auction in sail through the region’s each spring. Aalsmeer. horticultural past. The Netherlands produces a staggering 70% of the From Leiden to Haarlem, bold, beautiful stripes of colour Amsterdam’s surroundings are renowned for their world’s commercial flower output. For a colourful glimpse Keukenhof Castle flame across the landscape. After the crocuses, it’s the Royal FloraHolland Flower Auction colourful tulip beds and fertile fields devoted to bulb Amsterdam Airport Schiphol into contemporary Dutch flower power, you need go no turn of the tulips, daffodils and hyacinths – an impressive cultivation. But it didn’t always look like this: in the 19th further than the so-called ‘flower strip’ (known in Dutch display that continues into May and beyond. In late century, the watery land to the south and west of the city as the Bollenstreek), just an hour from Amsterdam. With summer the gladioli, dahlias, carnations and asters stage a was drained using windmills and pumps, and waterways the Netherlands’ famous bulb fields in full bloom, you’ll second show. You’ll catch an eyeful on many of the trains were dug to shape the landscape into an orderly patch- be surrounded on all sides by a rainbow of flowers: heading southwest from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – work of agricultural land. Today you can walk in the purple hyacinths, pink crocuses, bright yellow daffodils and even from your airplane when you’re coming in to land footsteps of Dutch drainage pioneers and visit picturesque and, of course, countless varieties of tulips. Visit our – but the bulb fields truly deserve a closer look. icons from the past amidst this vividly-painted landscape. website iamsterdam.com/area for excursion tips and more suggestions. Flower Parade 13 April 2019 Cruquius Steam Pumping Station photo: Marie Charlotte Keukenhof 21 March-19 May 2019 photo: Keukenhof As your plane lands at Schiphol, you may catch a bird’s-eye It may be perpetually outshone by its showy neighbour, but this view of the area’s striking chequered flower and bulb fields. It’s castle (located straight across from the world-famous Keukenhof hard to imagine that the airport’s runways, as well as the gardens) boasts an impressive history with Golden Age roots. surrounding tulip fields, were once under water. Today, the Inside, you’ll find portraits, artefacts and period furniture. The land around Haarlemmermeer, reclaimed in the early 20th estate now measures some 240 hectares and is home to 15 century, hosts one of Europe’s busiest aviation hubs. listed buildings, an art museum, café, petting farm and walking schiphol.nl paths. Royal FloraHolland in Aalsmeer – just 15 kilometres outside of For details of upcoming events and exhibitions, please see Amsterdam – is the world’s biggest flower auction (a whopping kasteelkeukenhof.nl 400 football fields’ worth in size). It’s so large, in fact, that the workers traverse the site by bike. Royal FloraHolland handles Historical Garden more than 21 million cut flowers and 2 million potted plants Keukenhof Hotel Express each day, mostly for export. The unusual sales method used Four metres below sea level, the municipality of Haarlemmer- gave rise to the phrase ‘Dutch auction’. Dealers bid by pushing meer harbours a historic pumping station with the world’s photo: Keukenhof photo: Haarlem Marketing a button to stop a ‘clock’ that counts from 100 down to 1; thus, largest steam engine. In the middle of the 19th century, the the price is lowered – rather than raised – until a buyer is found. Cruquius steam engine was used to drain a lake in order to Nowhere is the Dutch cult of the tulip celebrated in more The highlight of Lisse’s Flower Festival – and one of the most Bidders risk either paying too much for the goods or not getting create new land. The only pumping station saved from glorious fashion than at the ‘the most beautiful spring garden in anticipated events of the Dutch calendar – is the annual Flower them if someone else bids first. The best action is before 9:00 demolition, Cruquius is now part of a fascinating museum. the world’, located in the bulb region south of Amsterdam. Parade. Lavishly decorated floats and cars will travel 40 (opens at 7:00) so you’ll have to get up early to see it, but there Learn about the Dutch struggle against water, marvel at a Open for just eight weeks each year (in accordance with the kilometres along the main roads from Noordwijk to Haarlem, are flowers stretching as far as the eye can see, the smell is model of how the Netherlands would look without dykes, and tulip’s national flowering season), Keukenhof boasts a where they’ll conclude with an illuminated procession. Visitors divine and with an (optional) knowledgeable, multilingual experience a live steam engine demonstration. staggering seven million blooms, planted across a 32-hectare flock to the roadsides and the atmosphere is deliciously guide you’ll witness the auction process first-hand. haarlemmermeermuseum.nl park. With several indoor pavilions, Keukenhof hosts more than convivial – and best of all, it’s free. If you miss the parade itself, If you’re interested in learning more about the unique Dutch 20 flower shows between 21 March and 19 May 2019. Over 500 head to Haarlem the next day, where the floats will be Open weekdays 07:00-11:00; Thu until 09:00 (closed public holidays) auction and cultivation process, you should visit the Historical growers present their most beautiful blooms and leading displayed on the city’s main square. royalfloraholland.com Garden (De Historische Tuin) in Aalsmeer, where they’ve florists create truly unique displays with them. The special Steampunk Pump literally turned back time with a replica of an auction hall, theme for Keukenhof in 2019 is Flower Power.