# Holland & tulip season **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146 "2015-11-09T23:14:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/1 "2015-11-09T23:14:51Z")
Planning a trip to Holland for next spring. Last time we were there was way back in the 80’s, and it was on a tour so everything was planned for us. Anyway, my wife is concerned about seeing the tulips. Places like Keukenhof open March 24th. We were looking to fly out of Chicago on the 25th. Has there ever been a late season due to a harsh winter or something? Would hate to be there too early and not have a good experience. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/2 "2015-11-09T23:21:26Z")
I assume you’re talking the Netherlands and not Holland, MI? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/3 "2015-11-09T23:45:52Z")
Yeah. And as with the Netherlands, been there, done that. It would be weird to fly out of Chicago to go to Holland, Michigan. I’d just drive there or take the ferry we have here in Milwaukee over. But my sister once booked a flight from Milwaukee to Chicag:smack: for some dumb reason, so stranger things have happened. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/4 "2015-11-10T00:08:51Z")
I’m planning a trip to the Netherlands next spring, too. We’ll be there from about April 13, so we should not be too early, however I found this quote from [Tulips in Holland](http://tulipsinholland.com/faq-tulips-and-keukenhof/best-time-to-visit-keukenhof/) > [@](#): > > Best times > Due all this change in weather it is hardly possible to give good advice what the best time is to travel in 2016 to the Keukenhof. Based on the past couple of years the best chance to see the blooming at the Keukenhof is the last 2 weeks of April and the first week of May. But we don’t know exactly when the best time will be for next spring. > > On a regular spring time a lot of tulip flower fields outside the Keukenhof are headed (taking the flower off) on the 30th of April or within a couple of days after it. If you want to see the flower fields as well make sure that you visit before this date! > > Around mid March we can tell if the winter was cold, average or warm. That is the moment when the weekly flower updates starts to give you accurate information about the flower status in Keukenhof and around it. So, you pays your money and takes your chances. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/5 "2015-11-10T01:06:39Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#): > > I’m planning a trip to the Netherlands next spring, too. What are you all planning? We haven’t purchased any flights/hotels yet. Looking at about 7-8 days leaving on a Friday coming back on a Saturday. It’s non-stop out of Chicago so that’s nice. But we lose a day because of the time difference. And as I get older jet lag slaps me around more than it used to. We probably will just do Amsterdam, Keukenhof, and take the train into Antwerp and stay a day or 2. Not sure if I’ll get a car once we leave the canal circle. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/6 "2015-11-10T01:34:50Z")
Or you can ask an insurance broker to arrange cover for you ? If they charge 20% of the costs as insurance, but the risk is only 10%, they probably make money from you, and definitely make money from such insurance polices. Don’t expect to find a retail product, you talk to an insurance broker, who is basically a gambling man. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/7 "2015-11-10T01:46:18Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > What are you all planning? We haven’t purchased any flights/hotels yet. Looking at about 7-8 days leaving on a Friday coming back on a Saturday. It’s non-stop out of Chicago so that’s nice. But we lose a day because of the time difference. And as I get older jet lag slaps me around more than it used to. > > We probably will just do Amsterdam, Keukenhof, and take the train into Antwerp and stay a day or 2. Not sure if I’ll get a car once we leave the canal circle. My husband has family and friends in Holland, so we’re going to be there about 4 weeks, in Amsterdam, Narden, Rotterdam, Tilburg and somewhere near Alkmaar. Basically, all around the southern Netherlands. His paternal grandparents lived in Heemskirk, his mother came from Dinterloord. Our trip takes nearly 24 hours to fly to London, a week there, a few days in Paris, then to Amsterdam. Ther’s also four days in Copenhagen and four days in Singapore on the way home from Amsterdam. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/8 "2015-11-10T02:57:15Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#): > > My husband has family and friends in Holland, so we’re going to be there about 4 weeks Oh, that’s a different situation than us. I have family/friends in Germany, and my wifes family is in Sicily and southern Italy, but we have nobody anywhere else out side the U.S… So we’re basically just tourists. I’m semi-retired and could take that much time if I’d want, but we rarely stay anywhere in Europe longer than 8 days. We had done a 21 day tour back in the 80’s. Covered several countries. I noticed where you were coming from after my last post. That is a long haul and one of the reasons I’m hesitant to go back to Oceania. Just too long of a flight. > [@Isilder](#): > > Or you can ask an insurance broker to arrange cover for you ? > If they charge 20% of the costs as insurance, but the risk is only 10%, they probably make money from you, and definitely make money from such insurance polices. > Don’t expect to find a retail product, you talk to an insurance broker, who is basically a gambling man. Um, WTF??? 😕😕😕😕😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holland-tulip-season/737146/9 "2015-11-10T16:05:27Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#): > > My husband has family and friends in Holland, so we’re going to be there about 4 weeks, in Amsterdam, Narden, Rotterdam, Tilburg and somewhere near Alkmaar. Basically, all around the southern Netherlands. As a true Dutch southerner - you’re not exactly what any Dutch person would consider southern Netherlands 😃 Anything above the river ‘Maas’ is considered north…you’d get weird looks calling anyone in those place a southerner - there’s only one true ‘south’ which is Limburg…folks in Brabant would rather be considered north than south