Tulip festival kicks off in Noordoostpolder with walking & driving routes, events

The Tulip Festival in Noordoostpolder kicks off on Friday. The two-week-long event offers walking, cycling, and driving routes along the tulip fields in the Flevoland city, as well as numerous activities.

“The basis of the Tulip Festival is the (free) car and bicycle route. By following the signposted route, you will pass the many tulip fields in the Noordoospolder,” the organization explained. The accompanying app provides audio fragments and information about the area, tulip cultivation, and the history of the Noordoostpolder.

The festival also includes various activities during the two weeks, including markets, helicopter flights, hot air balloon flights, and a pop-up cafe. Though the helicopter flights are already sold out. There is also an adventure with Bollie the Bear, the Tulip Festival’s children’s mascot, for the little ones.

The Tulip Festival completely understands the urge to take pictures with the beautiful flowers. To protect the plants and allow photographs, the festival set up selfie fields. “We created show gardens with selfie fields where people can actually walk through the flowers,” the organizers said. They called it a “public friendly” solution to danger tape and fences keeping people out of the fields.

The Tulip Festival, first organized in 2000, is happening from April 21 to May 7 this year. It aims to introduce visitors from the Netherlands and abroad to this unique part of the country and the beautiful products it produces.