For a lot of travellers, spring is the reason to visit the Netherlands at all. As temperatures rise, millions of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths bloom across the countryside, and Keukenhof - open only from mid-March to mid-May - draws visitors from around the world.
It's also the only season with a fixed, unmissable event: April hosts the biggest party in the country, King's Day, the national celebration of the King's birthday, when cities across the Netherlands turn orange from morning until night. Amsterdam's canals fill with boats stacked deep, market stalls spring up on every street corner, and the sea of orange stretches as far as the eye can see.
Spring also brings the Bloemencorso, an annual flower parade through the Bollenstreek region, where elaborately decorated floats covered in fresh flowers travel between towns - a festive counterpart to the tulip fields themselves. Weather can swing between sunshine and rain in the same afternoon, so layers are essential. Because this is the busiest planning window of the year, tickets and tours around peak bloom sell out weeks in advance.
If tulips are the whole point of your trip, this is the one season where booking early genuinely matters.
→ Continue planning: Tulip Season Guide, The Ultimate Amsterdam to Keukenhof Guide
