Keukenhof Garden Trip

Sondra,
It is very easy to travel to Keukenhof on your own. If you go to the Keukenhof Garden website, they have information on how to get to Keukenhof. There are buses from both Leiden and Schipol. Both of these are easily reached by train from Amsterdam Centraal Station. You can even by a "combiticket" that covers both bus and admission to Keukenhof.

I did this a few years ago. I took the train to Leiden and then connected to the bus to Keukenhof. It was quite simple.

Keukenhof is like an amusement park. It's enclosed and you pay to enter, but once inside, you walk around freely on your own.

As the other poster noted, most visitors without a car take the bus. The nearest rail station is about a 20-30 minute walk away, but the bus deposits you at the gate.

There is absolutely no need for a guide in the Keukenhof. The part is easily reachable and a pleasant place to walk around. As others pointed, the most practical way to get to Keukenhof is with an integrated ticket that includes bus from Schiphol + entrance.

I copied my response to this question from where you asked it in the Transportation section so all the answers will be together.

Go to Keukenhof for everything you need to know about visiting the garden. Click on the green tab, Your Visit, and then on Route Planner for information on public transportation and the bus and entrance fee combination tickets. The combi-ticket that includes transportation and Keukenhof entrance fee from Amsterdam is probably the best way to go. There's a link to buy it that shows the prices, both in the green tab and in the yellow box on the opening page.

We stayed in Leiden last April and had a car, so we drove. It took about 30 minutes. I can't imagine that it would take more than an hour from Amsterdam. I can't conceive of a reason to take a tour of any size.

Please be aware that if you go early in April, the garden may not be as lush as the pictures you see online. If it is a cold spring, like last year, many flowers won't even be up, much less blooming. When we were there on 22 April, there weren't many tulips in sight due to the very cold spring.

All is not lost if that is the case. Just dress warmly and see what there is to see. I had been to Keukenhof before, but I had never visited the greenhouses. We did that this time and they all were huge and wonderful.

Absolutely no need for a guide or a private tour. Any public transportation or group bus tour will work. The bus tours are just transportation. You don't stay with the group once at the park.

I agree with LaRae. In 2012 I took a 'bus tour' to the Gardens on the last week-end in May they were open. I hadn't yet recovered from jet lag and wanted to just show up and be taken there. The bus tour was perfect. Location in Amsterdam was easy to find and all the bus did was take you to the front door and tell you when to meet the bus for the return. It was perfect for me and because I was walking around in the fresh air for a couple hours, cured my jet lag also. BTW, even though it was late in the season for the garden, it was fabulous and I highly recommend it.

Regular shuttle buses between Amsterdam and the Keukenhof were cancelled as of 2013.

We also did Keukenhof on our own several years ago at the end of March. The tulips were not in bloom with the exception of green house displays. There were crocus and daffodils in full bloom. It is definitely worth a visit and plenty to see at that time. I think we took a train to Leiden and then a bus to the gardens.

Andre, I just booked bus transportation as part of my entrance ticket for a bus leaving from Amsterdam. Is this what you said was cancelled?

So they reinstated the bus from Amsterdam, as I can check from the website. It doesn't mention where the Amsterdam bus depart from.