Has anyone been to the flower parade in Holland? It is on April 23rd this year. It doesn't go through Amsterdam but there are buses that will take you to the route. I am debating about catching one of those, or doing the Friday night pre-parade parade! You catch a bus from Amsterdam in the afternoon, go to Keukenhof garden for 4 hours then bus to a small town nearby where you see the floats that will be in the parade only lit up! Curious if anyone has any experience with this! Thanks!
Posted by
Irving
2943 posts
No but I learned about the floats on this website. The woman who went posted her photos and it looked like something that was worth seeing. It was a very artistic work of display meaning these artists are creative beyond what most of us can imagine.
Posted by
The Netherlands
1280 posts
I’m probably not the one to ask, because I have been to the flower parade in the tulip bulb region and I was seriously underwhelmed. I should add that I live in the south of the Netherlands, near the town of Zundert. Zundert is the birthplace of Vincent van Gogh, but it’s also the home of the biggest flower parade in the BeNeLux area, and maybe even the world. With floats up to 10 meters high and 25 meter long, completely made up of flowers (dahlias) and pushed thru the streets by man-power, this parade is a very impressive sight. Compared to the flower parade in Zundert, which is held on the first Sunday of September, every other flower parade pales in comparison and so indeed did the flower parade in the bulb region when I went to see it in 2018.
But if you’ve never seen a flower parade before, I guess the flower parade in the bulb region can be nice to see.
I personally wouldn’t spend an entire day sitting on a stand to watch the parade go by. I would go to Haarlem in the evening of the Saturday or on the Sunday after the parade. The parade ends in Haarlem and the floats will be parked there to be on display on Saturday evening and all day Sunday. In Haarlem you can walk past the parade in your own pace, instead of having to sit waiting for the floats to pass the stands.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32700 posts
I have been to the Bloemencorso flower parade several times and enjoyed it. We stayed in Haarlem and drove down to different towns each time. One of the joys of my life was taking my parents one time - my mother with moderate dementia who really enjoyed it.
The Rose Parade it isn't... It is local, and low key, and fun. I enjoyed going to the parking area after the parade and getting closer looks at some floats.
The laid back atmosphere is one of the things I like the Netherlands and Haarlem most for, and we we always travel into Amsterdam for walks but don't stay there.
Posted by
Columbus, OH, USA
2026 posts
We enjoyed viewing floats in Haarlem as described above. As I recall they were in a lovely, large city park area. The logistics and time required for attending the parade didn’t work for us. Leisurely walking around and getting close to “stop and smell the flowers” was a pleasant and fun couple of hours. Safe travels.
Posted by
California USA
3948 posts
I can also recommend going on your own by train to Haarlem in the evening to catch the parade as it comes into the middle of Haarlem, a street or two south of the main square. The night we went down to watch it was just becoming dark when they rolled into town. They were parked in the street on Sunday, the following day so people could come see them close up. There were street performers and food stalls on that Sunday and friends from Leiden came up to see the stationary floats with us. Like Dutch_traveler, we too were a bit underwhelmed at the size and composition of the floats as there was no rule about all surfaces must be vegetation. Our only other flower parade was the Rose Bowl Parade which we had seen several times in person. We did appreciate the creativity and skill and were glad we saw the Lisse to Haarlem parade. If I had it to do over though, I think I’d go to see the parked floats on Sunday and skip arrival into Haarlem on Saturday night. I would go to Haarlem by train on my own time.
Posted by
IJzendijke, The Netherlands
1966 posts
Most corso's are held in August and September except the one in the bulb-flower region "Bollenstreek" south of Haarlem that is held in April. But as Dutch_traveler remarks the one in Zundert is absolutely spectacular, but other corso's are worth seeing too.
https://www.bloemencorso.eu/en/corso-zundert/
https://bloemencorso-bollenstreek.nl/en/