Image if Yellowstone National Park was only open for eight weeks a year. No one in America would buy that.But at Keukenhof, one of Holland's biggest tourist attractions, that is exactly what they do.
The 79-acre park opened to the public on 25 March 2004 and closed again on 20 May 2004. In the intervening period many hundreds of thousands of visitors gazed in delight at the fantastic colorful displays of flowering tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. There are more than 7 million bulbs planted here in total! And when they have finished flowering at the end of the spring, the gates shut again, until next spring. That's what they've been doing for over 50 years.
Presidents and kings
The enormous park is located less than an hour's travel from Amsterdam. Alongside sights such as the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum and the diamond workshops it is one of the most important attractions for foreign visitors. US Presidents Eisenhower and Clinton have both visited. The British Queen Elizabeth has also been a visitor, and a few years ago the Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander used the magnificent display of flowering bulb fields as a backdrop against which to introduce his fiancée Máxima to the world's press.
Vegetable garden
And to think that in the 15thcentury this was still a herb and vegetable garden, which was part of a large estate. The Countess of Holland at the time used to have fresh ingredients picked there every day for her meals. This was also the source of its name: 'Keuken' is the Dutch word for 'kitchen' and 'hof' means 'garden' in the sense of a vegetable garden. In 1840 a park was created on the site, and in 1949 the town council and a number of bulb growers decided to organize an annual open-air flower display here. It was such a success that the event has continued to this day.
2005 diary
Holland welcomes over 9.5 million foreign guests a year, and over 10% come from North America. Quite a few of them have Keukenhof high on their wish list. If you are planning to travel to Europe in 2005, it may be worth noting in your diary now that Keukenhof will be open from 24 March to 16 May in 2005.
More information
Naturally Keukenhof has its own website, which includes a section in English. See www.keukenhof.nl
The Netherlands Board of Tourism has an office in New York and can provide information about (group) travel to Holland: Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, 355 Lexington Avenue 19th floor, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. Tel: (+1) (212) 370 7360, Consumer/Trade Info: (+1) (212) 557 3500, E-mail: info@goholland.com
