Keukenhof flooded with tourists over Easter weekend

De Keukenhof received so many visitors on Saturday and Sunday that the flower park in Lisse was inaccessible by car on both days. On Sunday morning, people even stopped on the emergency lane on the A44 to take photos of the flower fields, NOS reports.

The park's parking lots were overflowing with cars. And cars stopping on the A44 caused quite a traffic jam near Kaag. Public works department Rijkswaterstaat had to call on road users to not stop on the highway. The shuttle bus to Keukenhof was temporarily halted on Saturday, Arriva said.

Keukenhof advised people not to visit the flower park on Easter weekend. "The roads in the Bollenstreek are not made to handle this number of visitors and that makes it unwise to come this way now", Keukenhof director Bart Siemerink said to NOS on Saturday. "The peak around the Easter days is very high, so we advise you to visit our park on another day."

The crowds at Keukenhof were not a complete surprise. The Netherlands board of tourism and convention NBTC said that around a million tourists would visit the Netherlands over the Easter weekend, and that the flower fields in the Bollenstreek will be particularly busy.