Bad timing by a rookie traveler. Missing keukenhof by two days.

But if you had your choice of seeing your first Van Gogh or a tulip
that might be in full bloom what would you choose/

With your itinerary, neither of 'em.
I'd go to see Vermeer's "The Milkmaid" at the Rijksmuseum. Heck, I'd go to see the other three of his works there too. There are so few of them in this world! The Van Gogh museum was pretty great, though. Can't do both?

Amsterdam is a great city for just walking around. You might consider adding, and booking ahead for, the Rijksmuseum - a short walk from the Van Gogh.

Since you'll be in the museum quarter area, Vondelpark is a great place for strolling.

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en

https://www.hetvondelpark.net/Main/Bezoek

How many nights are you in Bruges? I assume you are taking the train there? You may see some flower fields on the way to Bruges and there are flowers in beds all around Bruges.

I'd probably pick the Van Gogh Museum but my visits are museum heavy. You must get tickets ahead of time as they don't sell tickets at the venue.

I have been to Keukenhof but it wasn't until the 5th or 6th time I visited that I made it there. It is beautiful but part of it is the artistry of the garden with colors, textures and designs.

Near the Van Gogh Museum is Vondelpark which is pretty big and an easy walk from the Van Gogh Museum. It's nice to get outside after you've been to an indoor venue.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/gunSdaMVEnFVavXX9

As you are discovering, you can't do everything there is to do in a single visit. Even more so when your time is already severely limited. Stay in Amsterdam and explore it as best you can. I didn't make it to the Keukenhof until my 3rd or 4th visit, even though I'm an avid gardener and love exploring public gardens.

And I agree with the other posters about getting a timed entry for the Rijksmuseum. One of the best art museums in Europe, IMO.

“ So are there any suggestions out there where we could see tulips in the Amsterdam area that is like the Keukenhof event.”

There’s a reason The Keukenhof doesn’t open until March 24 and that’s because tulips outside greenhouses don’t tend to bloom before April. The gardeners of the Keukenhof use all kinds of tricks and planting techniques to make sure there are flowers in bloom when The Keukenhof opens for the season, but it’s still way too early for the tulips in the flower bulb fields to bloom.
Throughout Amsterdam there will be lots of tulips in huge flower pots, so you at least see these in bloom.

I’m a big Van Gogh fan, so I would definitely endorse your idea of a visit to the Van Gogh Museum.
The Rijksmuseum is well worth a visit too. From February 16 until June 9 the Rijksmuseum will have a special Frans Hals exhibit featuring 50 of his key works. If you want to see this exhibit, I suggest to book your tickets now. More info at the website of the Rijksmuseum; https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/exhibitions/frans-hals

Tickets to the Anne Frank house sell out extremely fast. You should be ready to book your time slot as soon as tickets become available 6 weeks in advance. See their website for details https://www.annefrank.org/en/museum/tickets/

This is how we did 2 days in Amsterdam, not counting the arrival day. We are 91 and 67 so you can do this. DAY 1...Anne Frank house....got tickets as you must and hot the instructional one the first entry. From there went to the Van Gogh Museum. After the Van Gogh museum( 3 hrs), we went back to the hotel. In our younger days, we would have rides the trams or taken an evening canal trip. DAY 2... canal trip in am. Then went to Dam Square,had lunch at the department store Rick Steves mentions, took in a protest rally and then ubered to the Rijksmuseum. After the museum, we took the tram to the main station where we took the ferry to the tallest swing in Europe. I think it's called the eye building. Freaked out on the swing...me not dad. Came back rode a couple of more free ferries around the harbor. Took tram back to hotel stopping for dinner on way back to hotel. We did have timed tickets for all of this . Amsterdam is a lovely town and deserved more time but we did enjoy it.

I've been to Amsterdam three times and I've never been to Keukenhof. I also live in Oregon and see plenty-o-tulips, but I know the Dutch gardens are next level. Maybe my fourth trip - it's definitely on the list.

For a first time short visit I'd definitely go to Anne Frank house. Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Tuesday morning (AMS time) for the next six weeks out and they sell very fast. For your visit that means about February 7 (but check the week before just in case my math is wrong). If you get up early on that Tuesday or stay up late on Monday you should be good - I bought my preferred tickets for a June visit at about 6 a.m. Pacific time and got what I wanted. We went pretty early (9-ish) and it wasn't terribly crowded yet. I recommend getting the ticket for entrance + introductory program as they give you a good overview before you head into the museum.

With your two days, you could see Van Gogh museum one morning/afternoon and the Rijksmuseum the other morning/afternoon - IMHO both on one day would be overload. In the good timing department, March 22 is the first Friday night late opening for Van Gogh museum, so you could do a late evening there and spend your day out and about. Buy those tickets asap as I'm not sure how popular that might be.

Thanks,
The blooming time line makes sense. So the flowers are out. Maybe the cherry blossom will be out in Paris, but that is for another thread.
I have this planned out so far.
Arrive on the late morning on the 20th. I have never been anywhere that includes jet lag. So we're hoping to drop the backpack off at the hotel and stretch our legs until we can check in. We are staying in a canal house on Keizersgracht. It looks like it is right next to the tram that connects to the train station.
So after dropping off the bags we figure it will be early afternoon. Plane is supposed to land 10:50 AM.
Thinking of stopping by a Cafe and take a That Dam Boat Guys canal tour , grab a bite to eat , check in and pass out on the bed. Check off the canal ride!
Next morning take the 10:30 free walking tour, find a spot for lunch, afternoon at Anne Frank home, dinner, end it with a walk through the red light district. End of day one.
Day 2, museum day. Rijksmuseum in the morning Van Gogh in the afternoon. Find a nice dinner spot and take an evening walk through the nightlife area and see what a Friday night in Amsterdam looks like.
So it looks like a pretty tight schedule.
We are then going to Bruges for two days so I'll have to keep an eye out on the train rides.
I also have a question on the tram I see that goes between Central Station and Leidseplein. Anyone know how long that trip makes and is it my best option to use to get around?

Tulips and great gardens are wonderful and more easily seen around the world than a big collection of VanGogh works.
I'm planning a trip and he tops the tulips for me - though I do hope to see both!

Enjoy your trip.

“I have never been anywhere that includes jet lag”

I know I sound like a shill for this app but take a look at Timeshifter. Their algorithms are based off NASA research and the first RT is free. You put on your flight times, your usual sleep times and whether you’re a lark or night owl and that formulate a plan for when you should get light and when you should avoid it, caffeine intake if you use caffeine and melatonin if you use that. You get a ping from the app about 30 minutes before you are supposed to do something.

Back story: Last spring I did Amsterdam, Paris, London and N England over 5 weeks in April/May. I had a dreadful time with jet lag. Thought I was doing things right because I stayed out in the sun all afternoon on arrival but messed myself up good. It took a week to right myself. Coming back home I had a bad time as well. There was a thread here in July or so and I decided to try Timeshifter for a 2- week trip to Orkney and Shetland in August. It worked SO well! I was shocked. I could not do it perfectly but wore a sleep mask on the plane, wore sunglasses and a ball cap in the airports when I needed to shield my eyes.

So, take a look and see if this is something you think might help you!

PS - Depending on the weather you may see some blooming trees in Paris. It will be beautiful!

PPS - Ive got no connection to the Timeshifter folks. I will pay for it next time!!

What I see online indicates that Keukenhof opens to the public on March 21 as does something called the Amsterdam Tulip experience. If tulips are are your highest priority, it seems you could still do that. I have not been there in tulip season, but maybe the flower markets in Amsterdam will have some tulips while you are there -- someone else can probably speak to this? You can easily walk by the flower market as part of your planned touring and museum visits in Amsterdam.

Looks like global warming helped me out this time. Keukenhor opened yesterday so I am out here today as I post this.
If you ever have a chance to see this it is worth it.

Yay! Glad you were able to see it after all.

I was glad to see their announcement on my phone earlier in the week

How was it? I arrive next Saturday.

Was just there and saw it on 3/21, the opening day.

It is a beautifully curated garden! It is very aromatic and the air is clean. The grounds are vast. The variety and display is impressive. It is nice to be outdoors. However, as Dutch Traveler stated, not all flowers are in bloom yet. We knew not everything would be in bloom but we went when it fit our schedule. Also, there are a lot of people climbing all over each other. Bring your own food if you want to eat something decent and don’t want to pay exorbitant prices for subpar food and drink.

I thought it was impressive but I liked my days in Amsterdam much more. I would probably not go again in a future visit. I saw picturesque canals lined with flowers right in the city and there were so many worthwhile things to see and do within the city limits.

Probably an unpopular take, but it’s my opinion. And I would choose the Van Gogh, Rijksmuseum, or Anne Frank House over it if I had limited time. All 3 of those experiences are magnificent. Vondelpark is also a nice outdoor option in the city for a nice reprieve from the bustling city and excellent people watching.

@mbosteder... we paralleled your voyage, flying into Heathrow overnight 3/15, spending 5 fabulous days at the well recommended Vancouver Studios (thank you everyone, what a peaceful gem in a fabulous location) taking Eurostar to Brussels Midi +1 city to Bruges (again, thanks everyone here for the tips, it was seamless including knowing to take the faster train to Bruges with the OO !!
2 nights in Bruges was perfect at the Hotel Het Gheestelic Hof & I felt that we could have enjoyed another 1/2 day because by the time we discovered so many fun things to do, we hated to rush away (Blues at Zwart Huis, this extremely cool beer store that had room after room, floor after floor of beer & memorabilia, enjoying the main square, just stopping & relaxing !!)
From Bruges, we took the IC Direct via Brussels Midi again, to our friends in Breda nl, a really vibrant, fun city with so many restaurants & shops, absolutely worth a 2 night visit (we stayed at a great Airbnb steps from the train station Cornelius Garden) and then off to Amsterdam for 4 nights (Airbnb at the Skinny Bridge, another perfect location) before returning to our final 3 nights in Breda with friends.
We did get to visit the Keukenhof & it was beyond fabulous. We were there on March 27th and navigated the Tram to RAI Station to catch their Express Bus..just do the package(37 or so Euro) on their web page leaving from either Haarlem, Schiphol, Amsterdam RAI or Leiden) because it is the same price roughly as a tour (the red TOURS company does have their own bus from A'dam Central Station which saves the ride to RAI, but we were closer to the Tram to RAI anyway)..While the outdoor gardens were coming alive, they were in no way disappointing but the real show was inside this enormous supermarket sized glass building with an absolute stunning symphony of tulips..It was as if our eye could not absorb one more tulip by the time we walked out. And it was a fluke that we even wandered in there to begin with. What a treat ! We took the little boat ride around the completely barren fields, but learned a great deal. Also, there was a gigantic Orchid house, more than you could expect to see anywhere.
So book your trip to Keukenhof without worry, it is a perfect time if you are only visiting & have little choice to wait another few weeks.
As long as I am writing, we used Nomad for our data plan. They had a special 20GB for 26 dollars, after 16 full days I still have 9 GB left. We tried to connect to Wifi when possible, but even with frequent Nomad support, we had ample GB remaining.
As for credit cards, 99.9% of the time in London, Amex was accepted including taping on public transportation.
The only 2 instances where they did not accept Amex in London but accepted our Visa was
1-the Old London Operating Theater, a fabulous wooden space where the first surgeries were performed and
2- one Shawarma stand at Borough Market (Shuk).
In Belgium/Bruges & Amsterdam/Haarlem, Amex was almost never accepted, not on any public transport or shops/bars/restaurants/museums. I think only once at a JD whisky bar who said "sure, we accept anything". Don't rely on Amex at all for those countries.
In London, do not miss both Camden or especially Borough Market...just amazing !!
If you are a health care professional, the Operating Theater is fascinating (steep spiral steps no lift)

All of the input here was much appreciated, we felt so confused about everything prior to leaving, but all of your suggestions, tips & recommendations came to life once we lived the trip day to day.

@Emmanuelle; thank you for your report. May I suggest you to write it in a new seperate post? Otherwise it may go unnoticed in this thread about the Keukenhof. And that would be a shame since it contains a lot of useful information.

Btw; I’m very glad you enjoyed my hometown Breda!!