In West Michigan, springtime is synonymous with the Holland Tulip Festival, sometimes referred to as Tulip Time. The Holland Tulip Time Festival’s dates for this year are May 7–May 15, 2022.
This entails eight full days of a carnival, festivities, and events in and around Holland, Michigan, all set amidst tulip blossoms.
Holland Michigan Tulip Time Interactive Map
An interactive map of the Holland Tulip Festival activities and events is available at the bottom of the page. Along with restaurants, lodging options, and more, you’ll discover the best tulip viewing locations.
Celebrate Spring
There is no better way to mark the arrival of spring in Michigan than to witness more than 6 million tulips in full bloom. Tulips can be viewed for free in public parks and along downtown streets, and events and activities take place in various areas.
You won’t want to miss the Holland Michigan Tulip Festival, one of the most popular tourist attractions in North America. This enjoyable spring event has everything for everyone, including kid-friendly outdoor activities, Dutch dancing performances, endless tulip fields, and even a real Dutch windmill.
For the travel idea you were looking for, continue reading to learn more about organizing a trip, day trip, or road trip to see the more than 6 million tulips that decorate Holland, Michigan, during the Holland Michigan Tulip Festival.
What month is ideal for viewing tulips in Holland?
To view the tulips at their best, visit The Netherlands in the middle of April. The tulip growing season lasts from the end of March to the middle of May, but the blossoms are often at their peak in the middle of April. At the Keukenhof near Lisse, more than 7 million flower bulbs emerge in the spring. It is among the best locations to find a wide variety of tulips. To see the tulips in all their splendor in rural fields, though, you really just need to board a train or grab a bicycle at this time of year.
When are tulips in Holland, Michigan, blooming?
The park opens at 9 am and is open until 7 pm during Tulip Time, with tickets being sold until 6 pm. Only visitors who have purchased admission by 6pm will be permitted in, so please plan ahead. Due to the high volume of visitors on the weekends, there may be lineups to park in our lot and pay for entrance. Entry inside the park is not guaranteed without paying for admission. The remainder of our season, from April 18 to October 2, is from 9:30 am to 6 pm, with tickets being offered until 5 pm.
Our park is highly busy during Tulip Time, so to ensure access, we recommend going during the week or outside of Tulip Time. Tulips typically blossom both before and after the festival. Tulip Time weekends are particularly crowded, and our parking lot will be full. Weekdays are typically a little less hectic.
Our tulips typically start blooming in late April and continue until mid-May, however it is too early to determine when they will reach their peak. Instead of all blossoming at once, our tulips flow into color because to their variety.
To track the development of tulips throughout the city, go to the City of Holland’s Tulip Tracker HERE!
Adult admission costs $12, while children aged three to fifteen pay $6. To avoid dealing with actual cash, we advise visitors to use a credit card to make their payment.
Yes, we have a parking lot for 250 cars. Our causeway blocks incoming traffic when it is full until space becomes available. There is additional free parking in Downtown Holland, including a building on 7th Street between Columbia and College Avenues (just past our entrance on the right). It is a short distance from there to our ticket booth.
We are collaborating with Zeeland Public Schools to offer a FREE shuttle service on our causeway from 10 am to 7 pm on the Saturdays and Sundays of Tulip Time (May 7/8 & 14/15). Visitors won’t have to walk the entire two and a half miles to our entry location because a bus will pick them up at the top of our causeway (behind Freedom Village and the bus/train terminal). After their tour, it will take visitors back to the causeway’s top. In order to prevent congestion and harmful conditions on our causeway, we advise walkers to use this bus. Please be aware that only guests parked in the downtown area are eligible for this service (NOT our parking lot.)
Although we don’t presently sell advance tickets, visitors can buy a membership online HERE, which grants free access to our website as well as free or discounted access to dozens of other American Horticultural Society reciprocal gardens across the US and Canada. Please give your membership card two weeks to arrive. Keep in mind that there can still be queues to enter the park and the parking lot. We are unable to promise entry to the park during peak hours due to visitor quantity restrictions.
All of our structures and attractions are currently open, including:
tours of “De Zwaan” windmills. Visitors are welcome to have a socially disengaged, self-guided tour of the mill. To prevent crowding, a certain number of visitors are only permitted at once, and some locations have restrictions.
Tulips and a variety of other flowers and plants can be found in our lovely gardens and grounds.
All day long, ‘The Four Columns’ Amsterdam Street Organ will be played.
To ensure sufficient social distance, the Welkom Movie and Virtual Windmill Tour was relocated to Celebration Pavilion.
We will keep an eye on state health regulations to see if any adjustments are required.
There are only a few food alternatives available to us, including weekday food wagons and snacks from our gift shop. Boxed lunches will be offered in our pavilion every day on the weekends. Check out the many eateries and specialty festival vendors in the downtown area for delicious culinary selections.
We will abide by all regional, national, and local regulations that tell us how to operate and maintain our attractions.
Shared surfaces will be cleaned during the day by staff, with a complete cleaning done every evening and as needed. The park will have hand sanitizer available for both visitors and employees to use.
We kindly request that anyone who has COVID-19, has had contact with someone who has COVID-19 within the last two weeks, or is displaying any COVID-19 symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or loss of sense of taste or smell) avoid going to our park at this time.
Yes, our gift shops have a variety of regional and Dutch mementos. Please be aware that at this time, mill products like flour and grits are not accessible.
Please consider becoming a member HERE to support our work. They provide free or discounted entrance to several gardens participating in the reciprocal arrangement with the American Horticultural Society, in addition to the Windmill Island Gardens. Donations are gratefully accepted HERE to support our future activities.
Here are some tips to plan your visit.
Make your travel arrangements now to Nelis’ Dutch Village and the charming city of Holland, Michigan in time for Tulip Time. Tulip Time 2022 will take place from May 7 through May 15, 2022. Many of the well-known events from previous years are expected to return this year.
The Holland, Michigan, Tulip Time celebration, which celebrates flowers and enjoyment, has drawn visitors from all over the world since 1929. Since the commencement of the festival, Nelis’ Dutch Village and the Nelis family farm before it have been honored to participate.
Holland, Michigan received tulips along with Dutch settlers. At a meeting of the Woman’s Literary Club in 1927, a biology teacher from Holland High School suggested holding a day festival. The concept gained popularity, and the city began selling bulbs to locals for one penny in 1928. This led to the first Tulip Time celebration in 1929. The Detroit News of 1933 reports that Nelis Tulip Farm was used to buy the tulip bulbs during these early years.
The beautiful tulip
Tulips are a spring-blooming flower that only blooms for about 3 to 4 weeks before being replaced by annuals. Many visitors to Nelis’ Dutch Village expect to see tulips there all year round.
Tulips historically came from the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey) and were brought to the Netherlands by Dutch traders in the 16th century.
The blossoms grew so well-liked that garden break-ins and bulb thefts became frequent occurrences. A financial bubble known as “Tulip Mania” that occurred in the middle of the sixteenth century resembled the recent crashes of the tech and real estate markets.
Tulips at Nelis’ Dutch Village
Each year, we plant more than 30,000 bulbs in more than 100 different tulip types for Tulip Time. The park is covered in beds with tulips.
While you can see a few lovely tulips from the outside of the park, for a truly unforgettable experience, you need enter the park.
Nelis’ Dutch Village stays open later during Tulip Time to accommodate visitors. During this wonderful week, come early or stay late.
When to Visit
May 7–15, 2022, are Festival days. It starts on May 7 and lasts until May 15 on Sunday.
With the reintroduction of parades, klompen dancers, shows, and performances, Tulip Time 2022 plans to recreate the thrilling event of previous years.
The two busiest days of the festival are always the Saturdays. We strongly advise visiting during the week if you can because you will escape the vast majority of crowds. You will have the best opportunity to see and appreciate the festival’s beauty queen, The Tulip, during the week.
Best Tulip Locations
Right here in Dutch Village, you can find one of the best places to watch tulips. However, we are aware that you’ll want to check out the other stunning tulip displays in the area.
Tulip Time, in contrast to other festivals, takes place all across Holland, Michigan, not simply in a fair park in the city center. Holland’s roadways are lined with Tulip lanes for six kilometres. There are numerous locations where you can see the amazing blooms.
During Tulip Time, Windmill Island Gardens, Riverview Park, and Kollen Park all feature breathtaking tulip displays. These bigger parks feature impressive displays and are less crowded than Centennial Park or Tulip Lane downtown.
Another notable tulip attraction is Veldheer’s Tulip Farm, which is on US-31 north of Nelis’ Dutch Village.
Holland Michigan Tulip Festival lasts how long?
The community of Holland, Michigan, as well as Dutch ancestry are all honored during Tulip Time.
Millions of tourists have flocked to Holland, Michigan during Tulip Time for the past 92 years. With more than six million tulips flowering throughout the city and nearby attractions throughout the eight-day festival, it is an experience unlike any other. America’s Best Small Town Festival, America’s Best Flower Festival, and even the 2017–2018 Tulip Festival of the Year awards have all been given to Tulip Time! Please join us as we celebrate our multicultural community, commemorate our heritage, and ogle one of nature’s most exquisite and different flowers: the beloved tulip.
Where in Holland can you see tulips the best?
Keukenhof. Keukenhof is the best location in Holland to view tulips. A 7 million flower bulb park called Keukenhof is encircled by tulip fields.
The Holland Tulip Festival: Is it worthwhile?
This event is exceptionally well-organized in Holland, and it is well worthwhile to attend each year. This region of Lisse is unique in the world. Tulips of all different colors are all you can see.
Where is the biggest tulip festival in the world?
- The Canadian Tulip Festival, which bills itself as the biggest tulip festival in the world, is a significant occasion celebrated in May in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Dutch Royal Family sought sanctuary in Canada during World War II. The Canadian government proclaimed the area extraterritorial after Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was born there in 1943. To guarantee that the princess would only have Dutch citizenship, this was done. Since her death, Queen Juliana and the royal family have given tulip bulbs every year during the celebration.
Is a trip to Holland, Michigan worthwhile?
Holland, Michigan, is a year-round community. Holland is a charming and extremely cultural town that is well worth a visit. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan (across the lake and a little to the north of Chicago).
Let me give you seven reasons why you HAVE TO go during Tulip Time before you book your vacation to the Holland Tulip Festival, also known as Holland Tulip Time. But first, some background information about the city I call home.
After the festival, what happens to the tulips?
For the past 30 years in April, thousands of visitors have flocked to the picturesquely dormant Skagit Valley to take in the endless, meticulously planted rows of vibrantly colorful tulips. Despite making the journey, I was unaware of the reasons why these blooms are valued so highly in our area. So I made my way up to the Roozen family’s Washington Bulb Company in Mount Vernon, which is the largest tulip and daffodil grower in North America.
“According to Brent Roozen, the heir to the tulip crown, we plant tens of millions of bulbs for the Tulip Festival. ” 350 acres of tulips are grown in our fields, and more than 300,000 hand-planted bulbs are being planted in our display garden at RoozenGaarde. Tulips come in over 100 different types.
“Tulips have been cultivated in Holland since the early 1700s. The Skagit Valley is where my grandfather and grandmother settled after boarding a boat and traveling to the United States. He launched Washington Bulb Company after putting aside money for nearly five years, buying around five acres of property.
That was 60 years ago, and the business is being maintained by five of the Roozens’ ten children with the assistance of a committed workforce.
“One of our employees started off working for Washington Bulb Company. He was one of the first people my grandfather hired. He has survived longer than most everyone here.
According to Brent, the Skagit Valley’s top soil and climate are remarkably comparable to those in Holland. Tulip cultivation wasn’t as successful when farmers tried it in Whatcom County, 30 minutes to the north. And to ensure their success, the Roozen family grows tulips in their greenhouses every day of the year. These flowers are available for purchase online and delivered from grocery stores all around North America.
The field tulips, which only grow in April and are more colorful and varied than the greenhouse types, are in high demand from flower feigns all year long.
“The tulips’ growing time in the greenhouse is most likely three weeks or such. Thus, they develop quite quickly. In contrast, the flowers’ growing season in the field lasts months. They are developing quite slowly, which enables the blooms to have enormous buds and beautiful hues.
You can observe the tulips growing in all phases in the greenhouses. When they first emerge from the ground, they resemble smooth, lime-colored asparagus stalks or, depending on whether you enjoy horror films or not, fingers. Speaking of terror, when the Tulip Festival is over, they all get their heads chopped off, including the field flowers.
“According to Brent, we must do it in order to prevent disease and to encourage the growth of the bulbs.
When the bulbs reach a suitable size, they are dug up from the ground and sold to clients.
The Roozens believe the tulips will be at their greatest bloom in the middle of April. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival runs from April 1 to April 30. Daffodils are currently in full bloom, and some tulips are beginning to open up and display color. Visit the webpage to see any modifications.