Weather at Keukenhof Gardens in early April & Easter in Amsterdam

They are geniuses at Keukenhof as they make sure there are tons of tulips, hyacinths, etc. for the entire eight weeks that they are open. They time various flowerbeds so you will not be let down whatsoever.

What’s the weather? It will vary. It might rain for a couple hours, it could be cloudy, it could be sunny, it could be in the 50s, etc.

It is so worth going at the time you will be there and you will love it! It will be jampacked so I recommend you get there when it opens. Some people say go toward the end of the day but you might want to stay longer and if you go at the end of the day, they might close before you have walked around and seen everything.

Thank you Continental! I'll be with the tour group when they visit the gardens, so don't know how long they will spend there. But I will definitely go ahead and sign up. I'm a huge art lover and many great museums in Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum on my bucket list. Plan to spend time in Amsterdam after the tour is over, and maybe take a couple day trips.

Even on the day you go with the tour if it is pouring outside, they have an enormous greenhouse with more varieties of tulips and other flowers that your head will spin. I have never loved a place as much as I loved Keukenhof. It sounds like you have a great trip planned & I definitely recommend staying after your tour and taking your time to see the museums that you want to see. Also, you can always return to Keukenhof after your tour is over if the tour doesn’t spend as much time there as you would like.

Nobody, including the climate and weather websites knows whether 2023 in the Netherlands will be a warm Spring season or a cold one. Keukenhof is an engineered product, not a natural park. They plant multiple layers of bulbs, and rotate big pans of bulbs.

However, the park also has lovely perennials and evergreens, that are less predictable this far in advance.

I noted that you are interested in visiting the Rijksmuseum! How nice that you may be there for the Vermeer exhibition. I posted a recent thread on this: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/netherlands/what-makes-vermeer-so-unique

Thanks Janis for the info about the Vermeer exhibit. I'll definitely have to check this out. I'm planning to stay in Amsterdam a few days after my tour is over so will add this to my itinerary!

I've been on that tour about that time of year...I think mine started April 1 or so. It can be chilly and the day we did Keukenhof it snowed a little. Well, the guide called it "snow" but as someone who lives in snow country it looked more like graupel to me, lol!

I'd say you'd need a waterproof jacket with hood, a puffy vest (puffy jacket if you are really cold natured) and some lightweight gloves in case it's chilly.

I'd want to get to Ghent at least the day before if not 2 days before. The Hotel Harmony where the tour usually stays is really nice and has one of the best hotel breakfasts I've ever seen in case you want extra nights there.

When I started reading I was going to tell you about that Vermeer exhibit but I see Janis has alerted you to it! Do go to the Rijksmuseum website and sign up for emails from them for when tickets go on sale. You'll also want to book Van Gogh tickets ahead. The tour goes to Rijksmuseum but honestly, it cries out for 2 visits, hahaha! Download the Rijksmuseum app as well as the Mauritshuis app (which you may go to from Delft - many in my group did and we all traveled together on the tram.). VanGogh Museum does not have an app that is an official one, I don't think.

I'm actually traveling to AMS the day after Easter, lol, so will be there that week. I'm thinking that King's Day later in April has more of an impact than Easter but if any of the Netherlands based forum members say different, go with their take on it!

I'm with Continental...go! This tour is a lot of fun. You'll probably have the whole morning at Keukenhof which is great. You can't see everything but for myself I was just overwhelmed with the gorgeousness of it and my brain needed a break after 4 hours!

“1) Will the tulips and flowers be blooming at Keukenhof Gardens in early April, around April 5? (is it worth it to go at this time, or should I wait for a space on the tour later in the month?)”

Early April normally is too early for tulips. The gardeners of the Keukenhof use special planting techniques, greenhouses etc to make sure there are tulips in bloom in the park, but it won’t be the same as 2 weeks later. Early April is definitely too early for the tulips in the fields that surround the Keukenhof to bloom. There will be probably be flowers like daffodils and hyacinth blooming in these fields, but you won’t be able to see the endless rows of tulips.

2) How's the weather in early April?

Ask in May :-)
We have a saying in the Netherlands about the weather in April that says “April doet wat hij wil” which literally translates as April does whatever it wants. The weather in April can be anything from cold and rainy to sunny and warm and everything in between and all in 1 day. To give you some idea: in 2022 the average temperature on April 1 was only 2 degrees Celsius, with a maximum temperature of 4 degrees Celsius during the day. On that same day in 2019, the maximum temperature during the day was 15 degrees Celsius. And that same day in 2014 the temperature even rose to 21 degrees Celsius.
There is no telling what the weather will be like in early April 2023. It can be just above freezing temperature like this year or warm like in 2019 and 2014.

3) Do a lot of shops and restaurants shut down on Easter Sunday? I expect museums to be closed but wondering about other activities open on Easter.

We are a Christian nation and do celebrate Christian holidays like Easter, but most and foremost the Dutch are merchants. When our country is flooded with tourists we don’t shut things down, we open things up! Everything and anything you might need as a tourist or want to do will be open. Not just restaurants, tourist shops and supermarkets, but also museums and sights like Keukenhof.