It may not be a bad idea to rent a car to drive there if you are in a group. There are also many tulips field around Keukenhof, in the Lisse area. So if you have a car, you can drive around and see one of those most colorful and beautiful farms in the world. However, even if you can’t drive there, it is still accessible by public transportation. If you are going there on a weekend or during public holiday, be prepared that there will be traffic jam when you are close by the garden or it takes some time to queue up for the tickets or express bus to go the garden from Amsterdam.

Somewhere inside Keukenhof

When I went there, it was one of the holidays, and I couldn’t arrange to drive there. So I took public transportation to go there for a day trip. I took a bus from Germany to Amsterdam (Sloterdijk Station) arriving at around 11 in the morning. From Amsterdam Sloterdijk Station, I bought the ticket (4.4euro one way) and took the Intercity train to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. At the airport, there is a ‘Holland Tourist Information Center’ at the Terminal (right next to the Airport Information center). From there, you can buy a combined ticket (23.5euro per person, as of 2015) which include the returned trip of express bus from the airport to Keukenhof and the entrance tickets. There are also combined tickets from Amsterdam Central and Leiden Station. Either you could buy the tickets at the Tourist Information Center, or you could purchase it online in advance. When I went there, I was a bit worried if the weather will be good or not, so I don’t want to buy the tickets until I am sure it’s a sunny day. If you are going by public transportation, I would highly recommend you to buy a combined ticket. The only downside is you have to take the bus back to the same place you get on. For example, you can’t take the bus from Schiphol Airport and want to go back to Amsterdam Central.

I was told at the Tourist Information Center that the queue for the express bus to go to Keukenhof will take 45mins to 1 hour. Since it was a sunny day, and I came all the way to the Netherlands for the garden, I decided to wait. Before queuing, I also bought a sandwich from ‘La Place Express’ as lunch. They only have a few combinations for the sandwiches, but the staff was really friendly, and the few combinations are quite nice actually.

After all the waiting and traffic jam, I arrived at Keukenhof at 2pm. I took a free map after I entered the garden. There was not a very big sign indicating where the maps are, it was around some small food stands. (If you couldn’t find it, just ask the staff, they are really friendly and speak good English.) The garden was divided into a few parts: Innovation garden, Amsterdam garden, Herb garden…etc. Every year there was also a special theme. Since 2015 is the 125^th anniversary of Vincent van Gogh’s death, this year is dedicated to him. Although the garden was a bit crowded due to the fact that it was a holiday, it is still very beautiful.

One of Keukenhof’s canals

In the garden, you can take a cruise to view the garden from the canal. There are also many attractions and interesting decorations. If you are interested to grow your own tulips, some bulbs are also available to purchase. For 10euro, you can also rent a bike outside the garden and visit tulips fields around. There are proper restaurants that visitors can have lunch or there are stands for snacks. Like many other tourist attractions, the foods are slightly more expensive than usual. Almost every weekend or holidays, there will be some events. One of the biggest events there is the Flower Parade, which is held on 25^th April for 2015.

Keukenhof’s flowers

I spent around 3 hours just to walk around the park, take pictures and enjoy the nature a bit. Leaving at around 5pm, the sky was still bright, but many tourists were also leaving happily. Even though the line for the express bus to go back was a bit long, buses came every other minute, it didn’t take a long time to leave. In April, the sun started to set at around 8.30pm near Amsterdam. So visitors will have plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful garden.

Keukenhof is indeed a beautiful place for flowers lovers. Even if you don’t love flower that much usually, the colorful flowers and the smiles you see from other visitors will just make your day!

The post Around Amsterdam – Keukenhof Tulips Park appeared first on Travel Fun Club.

Oktoberfest panoramic view

The purpose of the trip is to see Oktoberfest and explore a bit of Munich. Since I didn’t know any friend in Munich and the price for hostel and hotel are just crazy (a bed in a dormitory in a hostel can cost up to 100euro!), I don’t really want to spend a night there. So I took a bus that arrived Munich at around the noon, and I booked a return ticket to leave at around 6pm. I believe I would have enough time to see what Oktoberfest is like, and if I enjoyed myself too much there, I will just leave the Munich exploration tour for next time. There are plenty of bus companies that commute around Germany, like Flixbus, Postbus, ADAC..e.tc. Personally I like to go with Meinfernbus, so far I had a couple of journeys with them, and they are very reliable. The bus is clean, the driver usually speaks English, most of the time the bus come on time (if not, I was notified through SMS beforehand), and most importantly, the fare is pretty cheap (especially compared to the DeustcheBahn)!

The bus arrived at the Bus terminal in Munich, and I seriously had no idea where it was. But then I saw a lot of people wearing dirndl and lederhosen (the typical traditional Bavariacostume that people wear in Oktoberfest), and they are walking to the same direction, I decided to follow these people and see where they would lead me to. After walking for 5-10minutes, I started hearing music and seeing a big carnival place. I knew, ‘Bingo! Oktoberfest, here I am!’

Tent in Oktoberfest

I entered the Oktoberfest, and the next goal came into my mind: I want to get into one of the beer tents. My friends who been to Oktoberfest before told me if you didn’t book a table there, they won’t serve you beer and sometimes they won’t even let you enter the tent! I was not planning to drink beer there as I am alone and I only want to see how it is like, not to say I need to get back on the bus on time. It may sound a bit stupid not to drink beer in Oktoberfest, but I was really curious to see Oktoberfest by myself and try to understand why everyone says Oktoberfest is cool and fun and why they want to go to Oktoberfest so badly.

I wandered around, took pictures here and there. There are a lot of tents and kiosks in Oktoberfest: some are selling sausages like Bratwurst, Currywurst; some are having some games for people to play; some are selling some Ginger biscuits; and of course, there are many beer tents too! Whenever I stopped in front of a beer tent and took pictures, I will try to observe how people get inside: were there any securities? Did they check their bags? Did they talk with the people and ask them questions? So finally, I found one that people just went in straight away, without stopping for anything. I didn’t remember which beer tent it is, but I just went inside.

Having a Bratwurst at Oktoberfest

It was around 12 in the afternoon, and all the beer tables are full. Bavarian music was played at the background and people are all chatting, drinking beer and eating. Perhaps it is still early, people still behave quite decently. Only for one or two tables that people are standing on the table and dancing. Feeling a bit shy, I decided just to take a few pictures. But imagine, if people start drinking at 12 or even earlier, how people would behave after a couple of hours? Probably in the afternoon, everyone will be standing on the table, and strangers will talk to strangers…and Germans will start talking to me in German! (as if they don’t do it usually…!)

I stayed in the Oktoberfest for 2 hours and started looking for directions for U-Bahn (underground train or metro). I left the venue totally opposite to where I arrived, and follow the sign and crowd to the U-Bahn station. To make my life easier, I decided to get a day ticket (which cost 6euro, and a single trip ticket cost 2.6euro), so I didn’t have to worry about how much I am paying for transportation and I can hop on hop off anytime I want. I also stood in the station, trying to see if they have any kind of map on the board. I was looking at the map and saw something called ‘EnglischerGarten’, I assume it means a garden and it looks like a big garden from the map. So I took the U-bahn (line U3 or U6) to the stop ‘Universitat’. After I got off from the station, I tried to look for directions to the garden. Without much difficulty, I found a very big and beautiful park. It was a bit pity that the weather was already a bit chilled and that day it was mostly cloudy, if not, I am sure it will be a great place to relax and enjoy the nature.

I walked around the EnglischerGarten a bit and then I got back to the main road. Following my instinct, eventually I arrived the Marienplatz, the central square of Munich with many shops and restaurants. Marienplatz was surrounded by a lot of important architecture, for example, the New Town Hall, the Old Town Hall, the Glockenspiel and the Mariensaeule.

Englischer Garten

After walking for the whole day, I was getting tired. Since I got the day ticket with me, I went to the U-bahn station. I wanted to hop on a train, ‘sat’ for awhile and saw if there’s any difference among U-Bahn stations. I hopped on, hopped off, and checked a bit here and there (which I didn’t remember them anymore…) and headed back to the bus terminal and waited to get on the bus to leave.

All in all, it’s hard to judge a city when a person only spent half a day there. But it was fun and adventurous to follow your instinct to see a city. I still saw a bit of the most popular attractions even though I never got a map in my hand. With the U-Bahn day ticket, I would never worry about getting lost because as long as I am in the U-Bahn station, I know I could go back to the bus terminal. Oktoberfest looked like an enormous carnival to me with an aim of drinking as beer as you can. If you like to drink beer, party a bit, have fun with your friends and strangers, I reckon you should bring yourself there at least once in your life time!

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