Attending 2016 Flower Parade

These parades are not the Macy's Parade.

I have been to several, and been in different towns.

Usually there are no troubles getting right roadside, maybe in the centres of towns maybe people are 2 or 3 people deep.

I have never sat in a grandstand, in fact I have never sat. It has been easy to park my car and stroll to a decent view point.

Several of the towns have bus and train service, in fact I could say that many have train service and most decent bus service.

At the end of the day you can wander up to Haarlem and look at the floats up close.

I've never done that, despite staying in Haarlem, because it is too much of a zoo for me and after a couple of hours watching them go by, that's enough.

Don't think Macy's or the Rose Bowl in the floats. Most are cars with some decorations on them. Very nice but not world stopping.

Go to bloemencorso-bollenstreek.nl/en/ for the dates for 2016, as well as links to the route and a flyer for 2015. The latter will give you an idea of all the towns the parade goes through and when.

Then you will need to check on bus or train schedules from Delft to wherever you choose to watch it go by so that you can get there before the road is closed and the buses stop running. In fact there may be special buses from Delft.

As the time gets closer to the opening of Keukenhof Gardens, more information will be available on their website as well on the Bloemencorso one.

As the previous response said, there are no stands to sit in anywhere. You just find a place to stand and watch. The parade includes bands, baton twirlers and floats small enough to go through narrow streets and around corners.

I've been twice and the most amazing part to me is the scent of the floats covered in flowers, especially hyacinths. Those floats and the entire parade passes within 10-20 feet of where you are standing, and people step out into the road to take pictures -- just like a small town parade anywhere.

Many people go on to the gardens after the parade, and that day is usually the most crowded day of the short Keukenhof season.

A few years ago we went to Haarlem to see the floats parked (no parade) and enjoyed it. I don't remember big crowds on our visit, certainly nothing that impacted us anyway. We walked right up alongside the floats, saw them up close and yes, smelled the intoxicating hyacinths. We chose that option because without our own transportation, I couldn't (didn't want to) figure out the logistics of how to get to some roadside along the route. Enjoy tour trip. Indulge me if I recite one of the few poems I know, from a Persian poet centuries past: If of thy worldly goods thou art bereft/And unto you two loaves alone are left/ Sell one, and with the dole/Buy hyacinths to feed the soul.