Visit flower fields in summer around tulip gardens
Less tourists, more interaction with locals. Visit flower fields in summer around the tulip gardens Netherlands and you'll feel that burst of happiness. The colorful explosion of dahlias and other bulb flowers will make your heart go b(l)oom like tulips do. And, when that's not enough there are still the highlights of the Flower Region. And the local festivals. All best to be explored by bike. A great way to taste the local culture in a relaxed way and live the Dutch life. Even if it's just for 1 day. Read more
Gouda celebration crafts & food - a family day trip
There is no better place to taste traditional Dutch food than the province South Holland. Dutch cheese and stroopwafels are in the top 3 of things to eat in Gouda. Before we literally get our hands on these artisanal products, let's start our mini Gouda celebration of crafts & food by diving into Gouda and her history of handmade products.
Heritage Days South Holland Open Monuments
Local festivals and public holidays in the Netherlands are based on ceremonies and traditions. Nature is linked to century old involvement by humans. Even seasonal Dutch food and artisanal products are not the same without looking at history. The European Heritage Days in South Holland make you live the Dutch life in present, past and future. Here are my 4 favorite places to visit on Open Monuments Day.
Keukenhof day trip: fruit blossom & plucking
This Keukenhof day trip is not what you expect. Yes, in spring you'll be surrounded by flowers, but it's not just the tulips. This is another off the beaten path travel tip in the countryside around the world famous flower garden. Less crowded, charming places which are great for a family activity or just to bring out the child in you in spring or fall.
Dutch food & festival in June
In Holland Dutch food & festivals go hand in hand. We take every opportunity to create a celebration around a seasonal product. In June intense flavors come straight from the herby green pastures and salty water.
Team building based on King's Day - 3 tips
Put on your orange dress, drink some Oranjebitter and get ready to sing the national anthem. The best way to bond is to celebrate a national holiday together. So, let's create that ultimate holiday feeling. Here are 3 tips team building based on King's Day in Holland.
National holiday to unite your team
Once upon a time there was a little princess called Wilhelmina. She lived in the Netherlands, a country that was extremely divided. People didn't want to do any activities together. Now, Wilhelmina celebrated her 5th birthday on August 31 1885. 'A great day for a national holiday', a newspaper thought. And so a new national holiday was born. It was called Princess Day and became a huge success. The Dutch people united, the nation was one.
I know it is a bit too much to ask you to create your own national holiday. It is a good idea to look at national holidays though. You can get inspiration on how to build & strengthen relationships . Let's have a look at King's Day!
Holiday feeling with old Dutch games: team building based on national celebration
The first tip for team building based on King's Day actually comes from Princess Day. In that time the holiday did not have the same dimension as nowadays. Focus was on strengthening relationships within your family & local community. That happened through games. Using these old Dutch games for teambuilding is perfect as rules are simple, you don't have to use your brain a lot. They're just a fun activity to do together and a way to release any tension. Best part is also that you feel like you're getting a taste of Dutch culture. Add some orange clothes and an orange drink (Oranjebitter) and you feel like you're on holiday.
Why the royal birthday & flower parades in the Netherlands are connected
As the years went by princess Wilhelmina got older. In September 1898 she became Queen of the Netherlands and so Princess Day became Queen's Day. Thanks to these two royal celebration; the birthday and the inauguration, the flower parades in the Netherlands became popular. Now, I let you think about it for a moment…Why is Wilhelmina’s birthday/ inauguration as Queen a good time for the flower parade? The answer is in the next blogpost.
Team building based on King's Day flower parade
Tip two on team building based on King's Day, is about these flower parades. Before WWII these flower processions were strongly connected to the royal family. Nowadays the processions are used to underline the local identity & the small community feeling. Now this team building tip decorate your bike, car or other vehicle. Set some rules before you start this activity. One of these rules should be about how you combine local, regional aspects with national cultural elements. What is typical of your city? What is unique about your family or friends? When you do this group activity with your colleagues, you can also include the corporate culture and team culture in these game rules. For complete instructions & customisation of this teambuilding activity based on King's Day, contact me or book the We are one on King's Day game activity.
Be like Dutch kids: sell what you love & they don't need
Another typical Dutch element of King's Day is the vrijmarkt, or garage sale/ flea market. This is one of the youngest traditions of the royal celebration. In the seventies, Beatrix was Queen. She is the mother of our present King Willem-Alexander and the granddaughter of Wilhelmina. She had married a German man and not everyone in the Netherlands liked that. Besides, you could again feel some tension building up in the Netherlands. The vrijmarkt already existed, but was not centrally organised. Here and there in the suburbs of Amsterdam and other Dutch cities these flea markets popped up. The idea was to bring these markets to the inner city centre, so the Dutch would get together in a central point. That worked!
How can you use this in a team building activity? The King's Day vrijmarkt is the ultimate way for kids to practise their entrepreneurship. So tip three in the team building based on King's Day is about negotiation skills. Try to find some traditions or habits in your family, group of friends or team that you like, but others dislike. Imagine these habits are one of the items you sell on the vrijmarkt. You are attached to them, they see no value. How would you sell these, the Dutch way?
Liked these 3 ideas? Then contact me for the full We are one on King's Day teambuilding game.
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Half day team event Hague area
Pack your bags! You’re going on a trip to the Netherlands. The grand finale: a half day team event Hague area with your work team. After a couple of days of trainings and workshops in the company’s Dutch headquarter you and your international colleagues head out for adventure!
Relaxing or active half day team event around The Hague
The global organisation you work for has given you carte blanche for a half day team event The Hague. It’s up to you and your team to decide if you want to do an active event or something relaxing. It could be a workshop Delft blue painting or a boat race on the Leiden lakes.
Connecting with your global team
Due to time differences it’s not easy to get your team members from US, UK, Europe and South Africa together in a meeting to discuss the subject of the trainings in the Dutch headquarter or the content of the company outing on the last day. So, emails go back and forth and you manage to set up a call with some of the colleagues who have been in the team for a while now.
Dutch culture activities in cities around the Hague
These hardcore team-building event participants have quite some suggestions. One of them reminds you: “We’ve done a canal cruise in Leiden a few years ago and a cooking workshop in The Hague”. “The activity should definitely something fun. I don’t mind traveling outside of The Hague, see a different city” another colleague writes in a email. After a while yet another colleague adds:
“Indeed! See a bit of the area, would love it if we could incorporate some Dutch culture. Food would be great too.”
Fun group activity on Dutch food
Food does give an extra dimension to a group activity, you think. After having gathered all suggestions, you have an idea of what kind of half day team event Hague area could look like. After the trainings and workshops you don’t want to have to think too much. So, it should be a fun and relaxing outing. It should not take too long either. Some kind of tour in a historical city not far from The Hague to absorb the Dutch culture and maybe add something food-related. Could you combine it with a local festival or typical Dutch event that already takes place?
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Spice up love life in holiday - nuts with Sinterklaas
November. The time to spice up love in holiday season. The time to find out the difference between Sinterklaas pepper and spiced nuts, get off that dating app and find your date offline!
Strange events in the Netherlands
Where can you find some strange events in the Netherlands? These are my top 3 traditional Dutch festivals involving orange hats, herring for breakfast and single men holding hands.
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Flower Parade Netherlands 2023 - When & Where
In spring it's time for the Flower Parade Netherlands 2023. The name in Dutch is Bloemencorso Bollenstreek. The flower decorated floats follow a route around Keukenhof. In this post you read when the Bulb Flower Parade takes place and where you can watch it.
When does the spring flower parade Netherlands 2023 take place?
The Dutch love to celebrate flowers and color. There are many Dutch flower parades and fortunately they all take place at a different time. Every season has its own flower. The Zundert Flower Parade Netherlands 2023 takes place at the end of summer. Dahlias bloom from August till far into the autumn season. These make the perfect flowers for the Corso in Zundert.
Mid-April the tulips and hyacinths bloom. Tulips are quite fragile and you won't see them that often in the Bloemencorso Bollenstreek. The hyacinths are much firmer. Besides, they can be used in different ways. You can use a full flower with stem or just a single petal as you can see in this post.
In 2023 you can view the famous street parade of the Flower Parade Bulb Region on Saturday 22 April 2022. Over 20 floats decorated with spring flowers will be participating in the flower procession this year.
We go behind the scenes of the flower parade from Wednesday 19 April till Friday 21 April 2022. On Friday afternoon there's a special bike tour to the evening flower parade. Want to join her on a tour, celebration or just for a visit behind the scenes? Contact Verita's Visit Holland for more information.
Where can I see the Bulb Flower Parade Netherlands 2023?
My tip of the day: go see this evening flower parade on Friday 21 April. It's amazing and not so crowded. The nicely scented and colorfully decorated floats leave the huge hall around 2 PM. They head for Noordwijkerhout. In this cosy town they start the party at noon.
On Saturday morning 22 April around 9:30 AM the bulb flower parade starts in Noordwijk. It follows a route through the flower villages Voorhout, Sassenheim, Lisse, Hillegom, Bennebroek, Heemstede. At 21:30 the spring flower parade Netherlands 2023 ends in Haarlem.
On Sunday 23 April you can see the floats displayed on the market square of Haarlem.
Want to know where to go exactly? Or looking for more info on the full route & timings?
In 2024 the Bulb Flower Parade will take place in the week of 18 April.
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https://veritasvisit.nl/en/uitje/leiden-tulip-bike-tour-personal-vip/
Buy your bus transfer Amsterdam - tulip gardens March - May 2023 here
Are you looking for information on how to get to Keukenhof park from Amsterdam, Leiden or Schiphol. Check this article.
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