Molly Hayward – University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
There’s lots to get up to during the spring months in Amsterdam but these are just some of my favourites.
Bloessempark
Blossom park is inside the Amsterdamse Bos, a massive park to the south of Amsterdam. This section of the park is populated with lots of cherry blossom trees which flower in March and April. It’s a really lovely, free, activity to do during the beginning of spring. Expect lots of people taking photos, and maybe live music if you’re lucky.
Tulip Fields
Tulips are a classic tourist experience in the Netherlands. They flower from the end of March until mid May. You have to head out of Amsterdam to see them. We went to Sloterdijk, a village in north holland, and followed a cycle route around the tulip fields towards the beach. There are also specific ‘tulip experiences’ you can go to, for a fee. It depends on what you like, but I think seeing them in the fields is just as good.
Flower Parade
Following on from the Tulip season is the Haarlem flower parade. This is a 12 hour long parade starting in Noordwijk and ending in Haarlem where the floats stay for another day on display. This was a really fun little activity, the floats are amazing and lots of people turn up to watch.
Carnival
Carnival in the Netherlands happens in February for a couple of days. It happens mainly in the southern towns so you will have to catch a train. We went to Tilburg carnival which was only a couple hours out of Amsterdam. The main recommendation I would give is: find out what the colours of the place you are going to are. We didn’t realise until we got there that green and orange are the Tilburg colours and we had to buy an expensive scarf in order to fit in. Carnival was amazing, everyone was having a great time and there’s lots of live music, parade floats, drinking on the streets and it goes into outdoor festival night events. Really recommend trying to get involved if you can.
Kings Day
Kings Day is a massive thing in Amsterdam. It happens on April the 27th and is a national holiday. The streets get taken over by people blasting music, the canals are full of ‘party boats’ and everyone is dressed in orange. We spent most of the day in Jordaan which was a great area to be in. It starts early and everyone walks around drinking all day. Definitely worth being in Amsterdam for that weekend.
