Ten ways to see Holland’s once-in-adecade flower extravaganza

Running throughout the summer, Floriade’s explosion of life and colour is guaranteed to give your trip an injection of joy, says Anna Selby

Spring has sprung and it’s tulipsfrom-Amsterdam time again. Millions of people visit the tulip fields annually – though with Covid, of course, it has been a while. Now the Netherlands has lifted restrictions (no test needed, just a vaccination certificate), we will all be flocking back. But this year, there is rather more to see.

Once every 10 years, the Floriade International Horticultural Exhibition throws open its gates for a vast floral festival. This decade it is in Almere, a new city in the province of Flevoland. Until recently this wasn’t a province at all – it was the expansive, shallow bay of Zuiderzee, and this is all reclaimed land. We know the Dutch are good at this sort of thing, but the world’s largest artificial island is a pretty mindboggling concept – especially when you consider it is more than 13ft below sea level.

There are exhibitors here from all over the world, plus flower gardens, an arboretum, restaurants, food trucks, exhibitions, symphony orchestras and jazz bands. There is even a new art museum comprising three circles which seems to float on a lake, and a particularly magnificent exhibit – formed from 20 recycled sea buoys carrying Dutch elms – known as the Bobbing Forest. It is, you might say, the Chelsea Flower Show on steroids.

The site itself is vast – some 66 hectares with five separate zones. This decade’s theme is “Growing Green Cities”, so there are green innovations and solutions, from state-of-the-art solar roof tiles to vertical facade gardens, and urban agriculture to providing clean air.

The best way to explore is on foot, but you can get a rather breathtaking bird’s-eye view of it all from the (sustainably powered) cable car that floats 114ft above it all.

Not just tulips from Amsterdam, then.

The Floriade runs from April 14 to October 9 2022, tickets from £24/£16 adult/child ( floriade.com)

Covid rules All travellers aged 12 and over must show proof of being fully vaccinated and complete a health declaration form (government.nl). The unvaccinated are not permitted to enter, unless they are below the age of 18 and accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent or guardian

The best way to explore is on foot, but you can get a breathtaking, bird’s-eye view from the cable car

‘The Chelsea Flower Show on steroids’: the Floriade site at Almere covers 66 hectares, so there is plenty to see and do