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Keukenhof bike rental timing

Hello!

We are visiting Keukenhof in April and our bus leaves around 8am. We want to bike after we explore the park and I read to pick up your bike when you arrive (and then lock it up for later) to avoid the line in the afternoon (at the Rent-A-Bike Van Dam that's in the parking lot there). The first pickup time is 9am.

  1. I've read conflicting things about how long the shuttle busses take to get there, would anyone share their experience of how long it took?

  2. Will I regret getting off the bus and having to wait until 9am to get the bikes, instead of going straight into the park? Aka will that make us wait in a much longer line to enter Keukenhof? I hate wasting time. :) Thank you!

Posted by
4750 posts

I just bought a combo ticket for mid-April that includes the bus from Leiden and entrance. I then added bike rentals to that ticket. Bike rental are for three hours, and you chose a pick up time. I was surprised that bike rental availability was going down quickly.
I haven't been there yet, but the website is very informative and has extensive info. Let's hope for a clear day for all of us!

Posted by
437 posts

I read on someone's thread that the least crowded time to see the gardens is first thing in the morning (seems true for just about anything anywhere), so we bought our tickets so that we arrive at the gardens on the first shuttle, then pick up our bikes around mid-day to escape the crush at the gardens. We will be there in the second half of April, so I won't be able to tell you how it works out. The other thing I did was make sure I am there on a week day and not a weekend.

Posted by
4750 posts

One tip I read here was upon arrival, go to the furthest point, and work your way back towards the front. Hmmmm....to whom do I credit?

Posted by
4750 posts

Oh, when I reserved our bikes on our combo ticket, the bike rental was only good for three hours. Perhaps you are using a different company? Have fun!

Posted by
149 posts

Last year - in the final week of gardens - we had a combo bus/garden ticket for 1pm on a weekday. The line to board the bus was at least 30 mins, and the bus was packed (but several came immediately after and would have been less full), and took well over 30 mins to get from downtown (Europaplein) to the gardens. Our ticket (for the bus) was for 1pm and the first photo I took at Keukenhof was at 2:15pm, so that indicates about 45 min for the bus and short walk through the turnstiles into the gardens.
Once at the gardens, though, there were NO LINES to get in and almost none for any of the food vendors etc. The gardens were busy but not crowded. Since it was past "peak", your experience will be different, but for us, the only real headache was the wait for the bus and the ride to the gardens.