Keukenhof or not

My son lives in Amsterdam so I am there frequently. I love Keukenhof but you will likely get better weather in May. Unfortunately, by May I think Keukenhof may be closed for the season. If you have time, spend a few days in Delft and/or Leiden. And in Belgium, spend a day wandering around Antwerp. The train station in Antwerp is gorgeous! Have fun! 😎

Keukenof always closes on the 2nd Sunday in May.

Sorry to hear about your situation. We took the tour last April and visited Keukenhof on April 29 as part of the tour. It was a warm, sunny day. Absolutely gorgeous! We were lucky! Everyone on the tour felt like it was a highlight or at least the reason they chose to take the tour in April. But, if you've already been, then why not go in May? On the tour, the bus just drops you off and you explore Keukenhof on your own; it wouldn't be any different than your independent visit in that regard.

Throughout the tour we encountered warm days, cool days, one very cold rainy day, and a lot of temperate days.

We just returned from the April 5-15 Belgium/Holland tour. Not a drop of rain other than a brief shower on our last evening in Amsterdam. Weather was sunny most of the time and the gardens were at their magnificent peak. My wife was leaving it to me to take all the pictures during the trip until we got to Keukenhof, then she probably took a couple hundred of her own. It was truly gorgeous.

The hotel clerk in Amsterdam told us it hadn't rained in 100 days until the evening shower that lasted an hour or two. Our RS guide said the first five Belgium/Holland tours this year hadn't encountered any rain. Next year? Who knows?

Some posters here really prioritize visiting a professional bulb or bloom farm, but we where perfectly happy with the distant views from the fenceline of Keukenhof. A farm would require careful choice of date, since a bulb farm cuts all the blooms at once.

Because I live on the East Coast, I'm happy to go to Longwood Gardens every year or three. And we like to visit public gardens when we are in Los Angeles. But your question suggests that you should consider, "How much do I love public gardens?" A few people have asked me why I want to see the same paintings again and again in museums? It seems to me that crowding in Amsterdam would factor into your date choice, but maybe there are no more low-crowd times of year!

Alternatively, you could prioritize things you didn't do on the last visit, like maybe the Allsmeer Flower Auction, or the greenhouse in Amsterdam, or Het Nationale Park De Hoge Veluwe to the east, as well as other attractions. BTW, while Hoge Veluwe doesn't have as many blooms as Keukenhof, it has vast, pretty acreages to see, and free white bicycles to cover distances.

While I was standing in the bus line waiting for the bus to Keukenhof (my first time), I ran into a couple from the West Coast who said they go there almost every year. The husband lived in Amsterdam for a few years so it's a sentimental journey of sorts for him to return there almost every year. But they don't stay there for days. They only stay one night and use Amsterdam as a stopover to other locations. In this case they were on their way to Greece.

Amsterdam is a wonderful place to stop over for one night because many attractions are very accessible to the airport. In my case, I timed my Keukenhof trip to my last day and stayed at the airport hotel on the night before my flight. The Keukenhof bus leaves right from the airport! How convenient can you get?

I loved Keukenhof and would definitely go back again if I'm in Amsterdam in that time frame. I was there in late March/early April. It was very cold on the day I was there but everything was in bloom. Many varieties of tulips, crocuses, daffodils, and other bulbs were all in bloom. I had thought I might be too early to see much but it was wonderful. I walked around Keukenhof for 4 hours and then walked out of the gardens towards the local flower fields and took a bunch of pictures of the yellow and purple and white blooms then walked to Lisse, a quaint village nearby.