Holland - Floriade Flower Show Extravaganza Once Again in 2012!
Dec 31st, 2011, 10:03 AM
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Holland - Floriade Flower Show Extravaganza Once Again in 2012!
http://www.floriade.com/
Floriade, the Dutch flower extravaganza held only every decade or so by the major growers.
This year the pulchritudinous affair takes root in Venlo, in southweast Netherlands smack up against the German border and will bloom there thru the summer.
IME avoid weekends when crowds swell.
Venlo is a town I know extremely well, having stayed there for days on end on business in the past (but not recent) years - it is a ho-hum but pleasant town on the Mass (?) river - forget if it is the Maas or Muese?)
Anyway Venlo is an easy day trip from Amsterdam by train or car - Arnhem and Nijmegen or two cities nearby that could make nice bases for the flower show as well.
Floriade, the Dutch flower extravaganza held only every decade or so by the major growers.
This year the pulchritudinous affair takes root in Venlo, in southweast Netherlands smack up against the German border and will bloom there thru the summer.
IME avoid weekends when crowds swell.
Venlo is a town I know extremely well, having stayed there for days on end on business in the past (but not recent) years - it is a ho-hum but pleasant town on the Mass (?) river - forget if it is the Maas or Muese?)
Anyway Venlo is an easy day trip from Amsterdam by train or car - Arnhem and Nijmegen or two cities nearby that could make nice bases for the flower show as well.
Jan 5th, 2012, 02:21 AM
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I read about it on a Netherlands website but now am wondering if we should consider this instead of our initial plan which was to go to Keukenhof in last week April?
Flying into Frankfurt we can take the train direct to Amsterdam for around 32E each.
I am hoping someone has done an independent trip to Keukenhof and has some advice of do's and don'ts.
Of course we will want to spend some time in Amsterdam but when I look at the bus schedules to Keukenhof and set tours I think it might be prudent to spend two nights in Lisse and be able to walk straight into the gardens when they open at 8am.
Not only that, we could then stay until closing at 6.30pm and get the very most out of a days visit by having our hotel down the road.
What do you think - Any tips/advice for a first-timer?
Thanks PalenQ.
Flying into Frankfurt we can take the train direct to Amsterdam for around 32E each.
I am hoping someone has done an independent trip to Keukenhof and has some advice of do's and don'ts.
Of course we will want to spend some time in Amsterdam but when I look at the bus schedules to Keukenhof and set tours I think it might be prudent to spend two nights in Lisse and be able to walk straight into the gardens when they open at 8am.
Not only that, we could then stay until closing at 6.30pm and get the very most out of a days visit by having our hotel down the road.
What do you think - Any tips/advice for a first-timer?
Thanks PalenQ.
Jan 5th, 2012, 02:34 AM
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tod - stick to Keukenhof. I think it will offer you more than Floriade will with regard to flowers.
Avoid the weekend if you can. I doubt you will need a full day there, but getting there for opening time is a good idea. If you stay in or near Lisse, then consider renting bikes for a ride through the bulb fields too,
Avoid the weekend if you can. I doubt you will need a full day there, but getting there for opening time is a good idea. If you stay in or near Lisse, then consider renting bikes for a ride through the bulb fields too,
Jan 5th, 2012, 04:13 AM
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Definitely,Keukenhof. It is lovely. Floriade 2002 was interesting, but Keukenhof was an unforgettable experience. We stayed at Haarlem and found it easy to take a bus to the gardens. We are going back this spring.
Jan 5th, 2012, 12:39 PM
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ditto to what hetismij, who lives in Holland and Saraho say - the Keukenhof Gardens are stupendous - you can take a train like I did from Haarlem (Amsterdam via change at Haarlem) to the Hillegom station and then do a lovely tiptoe thru the tulips and other flowers like Hyacinths, etc a few miles along side roads to the Keukenhof Gardens - then take a bus from there to Leiden's train station. If coming from Amsterdam the best route is to take a train to Leiden from where special buses go every few minutes it seems to Keuikenhof - or you can take bus #100 from Haarlem like Saraho did.
Jan 6th, 2012, 05:12 AM
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Thank you everyone for pointing me in the right direction!
Well, I spent some hours on the Net looking at hotels in Amsterdam & Lisse. Slept on it and then decided which was the best option for us.
With the least messing around we have decided to stay fairly near the rail station in Amsterdam in the
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Amsterdam Centraal Station ( 4 Stars) - a Club Double Room incl. breakfast 480.39Euros for three nights. The rate at the Ibis was more and not so convenient to the station!
With our move to Lisse - I read the reviews of the three hotels in the town and near the gate. Not too good, so have opted for the Hotel De Nachtegaal ( 4 stars) a short bus ride away. Bus stop right outside the hotel and every 10min, even at night. I went all out and booked the Executive Suite at 420euros for the three nights!
The hotel receptionist in Lisse was so helpful. We don't have to go back to Amsterdam to get our Thalys back to Paris, instead we take a bus to Schipol and go direct from there.
Now that we have the booking I can look forward to the feast of flowers awaiting our arrival! Yum
Well, I spent some hours on the Net looking at hotels in Amsterdam & Lisse. Slept on it and then decided which was the best option for us.
With the least messing around we have decided to stay fairly near the rail station in Amsterdam in the
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Amsterdam Centraal Station ( 4 Stars) - a Club Double Room incl. breakfast 480.39Euros for three nights. The rate at the Ibis was more and not so convenient to the station!
With our move to Lisse - I read the reviews of the three hotels in the town and near the gate. Not too good, so have opted for the Hotel De Nachtegaal ( 4 stars) a short bus ride away. Bus stop right outside the hotel and every 10min, even at night. I went all out and booked the Executive Suite at 420euros for the three nights!
The hotel receptionist in Lisse was so helpful. We don't have to go back to Amsterdam to get our Thalys back to Paris, instead we take a bus to Schipol and go direct from there.
Now that we have the booking I can look forward to the feast of flowers awaiting our arrival! Yum
Jan 6th, 2012, 12:58 PM
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Well the IBIS hotel is right in Centraal Station so could not be more convenient - actually abuts platform 1 - but trundling train noise could be a negative but it is definitely not more inconvenient to the station, being an extenstion of it practically!
Jan 6th, 2012, 01:34 PM
#8
Hi Tod,
we visited Keukenhof a few years ago when we were staying in amsterdam, and there's no need to go and stay at lisse - you can easily get there from amsterdam. in any event, do take the opportunity to go to see Haarlem while you are in the area - it's a nice place to spend a few hours and then have dinner.
this year we are doing both Keukenhof and the floriade as a belated 80th birthday present for my mum, spending 3 nights in Delft, and 2 in Maastricht. mum, unlike his, has never seen the tulip fields, but she did visit the Floriade [where ever it was] with my Dad in 1982, so it'll be interesting for her to see how it's changed.
so as to make sure we get the best shot at seeing the tulips, we are going in late april, so I will report here about the Floriade when we get back.
we visited Keukenhof a few years ago when we were staying in amsterdam, and there's no need to go and stay at lisse - you can easily get there from amsterdam. in any event, do take the opportunity to go to see Haarlem while you are in the area - it's a nice place to spend a few hours and then have dinner.
this year we are doing both Keukenhof and the floriade as a belated 80th birthday present for my mum, spending 3 nights in Delft, and 2 in Maastricht. mum, unlike his, has never seen the tulip fields, but she did visit the Floriade [where ever it was] with my Dad in 1982, so it'll be interesting for her to see how it's changed.
so as to make sure we get the best shot at seeing the tulips, we are going in late april, so I will report here about the Floriade when we get back.
Apr 24th, 2012, 01:26 AM
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We have just returned from Holland and Keukenhof was marvellous, the flowers as good as ever and a full day there is ample and rewarding. Floriade was quite another matter. The site still has an unfinished air and the horticultural displays were few and disappointing. The site is very large and has a cable car which will take you one way for 6 euros. It is worth asking for a free map at the desk on arrival and planning your route around the park. The set gardens are mainly rock, stone and water features. Things may improve in the summer when the roses come out but at the moment the mainly empty flower beds are in need of weeding.
The 'World Stage' buildings are mainly shops selling a mixture of hand made goods from various countries and the usual mix of local trinkets found in foreign bazaars. All are small and easily become crowded.
My advice if you are thinking of going to Floriade and haven't booked yet is to wait and see if there is any improvement noted on later reviews.
The 'World Stage' buildings are mainly shops selling a mixture of hand made goods from various countries and the usual mix of local trinkets found in foreign bazaars. All are small and easily become crowded.
My advice if you are thinking of going to Floriade and haven't booked yet is to wait and see if there is any improvement noted on later reviews.
Apr 29th, 2012, 02:26 PM
#10
i have to agree with Glenda that the Floriade isn't a patch on Keukenhof, but then, they haven't had as much practice.
first impressions don't help - you are directed into massive car parks, and are bussed [for an extra €10 per car on top of the €30 entrance fee which I felt was a bit steep] to one side of the motorway, whereupon you then have to cross a walkway over the self-same motorway, end ing up back on the same side as the car parks, albeit a long way away from them as the site is HUGE. This did not strike us as terribly green.
another annoyance was that even though we'd downloaded our entrance tickets on the internet, we still had to queue up for the car park ticket, which made a nonsense of pre-booking.
When you get in there, there is an immediate disappointment as there is no eye-catching display to greet you, just a long "street" with the odd display/"garden" along the way. Things get more interesting in the education and innovation section, and the villa flora, but most of the world stage pavilions have little to do with flowers or gardening. honourable exceptions were "nordrhein-westfallen" [the next-ddor state from neighbouring Germany] Spain, and China.
the site is massive, and we were glad that we had pre-booked tickets that included the cable car [at a small discount]. we'd wished that we'd gone to the education section and then they villa flora first, and the "healing" section beyond that, and then got the cable car to the world section last, as that was the worst bit.
there were some nice massed plantings, mainly of bulbs and spring flowers, and unlike Glenda, I didn't see many weeds, but I agree that waiting until later in the season may be a good idea.
first impressions don't help - you are directed into massive car parks, and are bussed [for an extra €10 per car on top of the €30 entrance fee which I felt was a bit steep] to one side of the motorway, whereupon you then have to cross a walkway over the self-same motorway, end ing up back on the same side as the car parks, albeit a long way away from them as the site is HUGE. This did not strike us as terribly green.
another annoyance was that even though we'd downloaded our entrance tickets on the internet, we still had to queue up for the car park ticket, which made a nonsense of pre-booking.
When you get in there, there is an immediate disappointment as there is no eye-catching display to greet you, just a long "street" with the odd display/"garden" along the way. Things get more interesting in the education and innovation section, and the villa flora, but most of the world stage pavilions have little to do with flowers or gardening. honourable exceptions were "nordrhein-westfallen" [the next-ddor state from neighbouring Germany] Spain, and China.
the site is massive, and we were glad that we had pre-booked tickets that included the cable car [at a small discount]. we'd wished that we'd gone to the education section and then they villa flora first, and the "healing" section beyond that, and then got the cable car to the world section last, as that was the worst bit.
there were some nice massed plantings, mainly of bulbs and spring flowers, and unlike Glenda, I didn't see many weeds, but I agree that waiting until later in the season may be a good idea.
