“Little Keukenhof”

May 20th, 2025

   The crown jewel of the Dutch bulb industry is the world-famous Keukenhof garden, a 79-acre, bulb-studded color show that wows 1.4 million flower-gawkers each spring.

This might look like Keukenhof, but it’s really Poldertuin.

   The place is only open for seven weeks from late March until mid-May, but if you’ve ever seen it, you know why it’s so popular. Keukenhof is certainly one of the world’s most glorious flower displays.

   What’s not nearly so well known is another Dutch bulb garden that I think is as gorgeous as Keukenhof, except smaller in scale. I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago.

   It’s called Poldertuin (“polder-town”), and it’s located about an hour north of Amsterdam in the small North Holland town of Anna Paulownia. (Keukenhof is about a 30-minute drive southwest of Amsterdam.)

   Although Poldertuin is only about five acres, it’s loaded with the same kinds of packed tulip and spring-bulb beds as Keukenhof in a mostly wooded setting. It’s similar enough to Keukenhof that the Dutch call it “little Keukenhof.”

   One advantage of Poldertuin, though, is that it’s not nearly as well known as Keukenhof and so is far less crowded. Keukenhof averages 26,000 visitors a day, making it the Netherlands’ top attraction in per-day visitation.

   Even better, Poldertuin is free. You’ll pay 20 euros (almost $23) to get into Keukenhof (if it’s not sold out), but you can just walk through Poldertuin’s bulb gardens daily from sunrise to sunset at no charge.

   The look of the bulb beds is very similar at both gardens, the exception being that Keukenhof has more of them over a much bigger area.

There’s no charge to visit Poldertuin.

   Keukenhof also has indoor greenhouse displays, statuary, ponds, a gift shop, several food options, a windmill that you can go into, a maze, a play area for kids, and even a boat ride through a bulb-field canal. You could easily spend a day there.

   At Poldertuin, it’s more of a stroll through a park, albeit one filled with tens of thousands of tulips, daffodils, and other spring bulbs.

   The bulbs are laid out mostly in blocks and long, wide rows – just as at Keukenhof. Visit during the peak month of April, and you’ll see oceans of color everywhere you look.

   The bulbs are labeled, too, so you can order your favorites from a U.S. bulb catalog and plant them in your own yard.

Like Keukenhof, Poldertuin’s bulb displays are laid out in blocks and wide rows.

   Poldertuin’s gardens are mostly in the shade, which might fake you out since tulips and most bulbs need full sun to thrive.

   The secret is that also like at Keukenhof, each year’s bulbs are yanked and replaced each fall with fresh bulbs that were fully “charged” by growing in open-sun fields.

   If you try to grow bulbs in too much shade year after year, they quickly fade and stop blooming. It’s the same reason why you shouldn’t cut or twisty-tie bulb foliage before it at least turns yellow, signaling that the leaves are shutting off the chlorophyll production that pairs up with sunlight to nourish the bulbs for next year’s flowers.

   Poldertuin has a few small canals and bridges and a small grassy area with a few picnic tables but no food stands, no gift shop, and only a portable restroom unit.

Most of Poldertuin is in a wooded setting.

   It’s definitely more garden than tourist attraction. That’s a big plus if you’re primarily a flower fan who wants to see a stunning garden without the crowds.

   The Dutch want to keep it that way, too, because so many of the local reviews point out how nice it is that the masses of tourists who clog Keukenhof haven’t discovered Poldertuin. In other words, it’s a hidden gem. (Don’t tell them I told you about it!)

   A bonus of Poldertuin is the drive to get there. The road from Amsterdam to Anna Paulownia takes you through the heart of North Holland’s “Bollenstreek,” which is a region filled with bulb farms.

   The Dutch grow bulbs in fields like we grow corn and soybeans, except the crop blooms in glorious color. The bulbs mature into wide ribbons of bloom that look like earth-bound rainbows.

The Dutch grow bulbs on farms like we grow corn and soybeans.

   It’s impressive enough from the ground, but the fields must make an even more incredible sight from overhead.

   Mid-April is the best time to see the bulb fields because bulb farmers cut the blooms off of their field-grown tulips around late April in order to maximize energy going into the bulbs instead of into seed production.

   Many Dutch towns used to have tulip parades in which they used the cut flowers on floats, much like Pasadena’s Rose Parade. Anna Paulownia is a town that still has such as annual flower day, usually during the third week of April.

   The name Poldertuin comes from the Dutch word “polder,” which is sea land that’s been drained into usable dry land, and “tuin” is a Dutch word for “garden.”

   The town of Anna Paulownia was drained in 1846 and named after the Russian wife of 1840s Dutch king Willem II, Queen Anna Paulownia.

Time your visit for mid to late April if you want to see tulips in full bloom.

   The gardens of Poldertuin were designed about 1855 by Dutch landscape architect Jan David Zocher Jr., who also designed Vondelpark, Amsterdam’s large city park.

   A private house is still on the property, making it feel as if you’re visiting someone’s large private estate gardens. The house is not open to public tours.

   Figure on maybe a couple of hours to stroll Poldertuin’s gardens, take lots of pictures, and if it’s a nice day, sit on the grass and marvel.

   You can grab a bite to eat at one of a few restaurants in the nearby town (where you can also park for free). If you need to do something else to make it a day, there’s a zoo called Dierenpark Hoenderdaell about a mile away on the town’s outskirts.

   And if you’re going to the Netherlands between late March and early May and have never seen Keukenhof, by all means, get there.

   It covers 79 acres and is filled with seven million flower bulbs.