Sintra’s Travel Diary: Pet-friendly Keukenhof Park in Lisse, the Netherlands

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After posted Sintra’s Travel Diary: Pet-friendly hotels and parks in Dresden, Human and I were actually planning to post about our travel journey in Cologne, Germany today. But, due to the fact that the park Keukenhof is about to open on March 21 (until May 19, 2019), Human decided to post about our last spring visit to the Keukenhof Park instead.

At first, Human was not sure whether the park Keukenhof was pet-friendly, and luckily their website informed us that:

Dogs are allowed in Keukenhof as long as they are leashed. Dogs are not allowed in the pavilions or restaurants with the exception of guide/helper dogs. Dog feces bags are free from the ticket collectors.

Just a little reminder though that their rules, about allowing dogs into the park, also apply to cats as it turned out. So, let’s start our visit to the park Keukenhof in Lisse, the Netherlands.

Human and I took an early train from Tilburg to Schiphol to meet our cousin, Bryan who was also joining us from Utrecht. Humam said that I should just sit in my backpack, instead of my stroller because it would be easier to get in and out the train.

Well fine by me, as long as I did not have to walk between those unfamiliar people on the train and in between the train stations. We arrived at Schiphol right on time. Unfortunately, Bryan’s train did not, so we had to wait for him before continuing our journey to Lisse by a special, colorful Keukenhof bus.

Human took a snap of the Keukenhof bus’s timetable and could see that their schedules, both outward and return, were very frequent. Bryan finally arrived and we then continued our journey from Schiphol to Lisse by a Keukenhof bus.

As we arrived at the park Keukenhof, the temperature was high, too high for my taste so Human put an orange cold compress on me, gave me some water to drink, let me sit in my PetGear Ultra Lite Travel Stroller, and we were all ready to browse the park.

There was a lot to see and discover. We went on to “climb” a kind of small valley and to see some breathtaking views over those beautiful, colorful tulip gardens. Be careful though, the park was, as expected, quite crowded and that particular sandy valley was not made for a cat in his lightweight stroller. The wheels of my stroller got stuck in sand a few times.

Thankfully, there was no reason to panic whatsoever because the park Keukenhof was/is HUGE and there’s a lot more to see with a cat in a stroller, like the followings:

Those beautiful orange tulips certainly brought out my orange cold compress really well 😻

Our cousin Bryan and I were striking a pose under and through the rose-colored glasses, which’s one of Human’s favorite photos.

At noon, we took a toilet break, had some lunch together somewhere in the park, while continued enjoying the neverending sea of flowers. Of course, I also took the opportunity to take a nap under the warm sun next to Bryan, our cousin.

After the break we continued on browsing the park for hours, Human and Bryan took some more pictures and at around 17.00 o’ clock we decided to go home to Tilburg and Bryan to Utrecht. The park Keukenhof was and really is an amazing park to visit with family including your kids and your pets.

These are some pointers and tips on visiting the park Keukenhof with your cat:

Go and visit the park really early in the morning to beat the crowd, unless your cat is absolutely fine with a lot of unfamiliar people, kids and dogs.
Using a lightweight stroller for your cat is recommended, which serves as protection for both your cat and the crowd.
Try to get used to the idea that people are interested in your cat even when your cat wants nothing to do with them.

After saying goodbye to Bryan, Human and I were on the train back to Tilburg. So obviously we didn’t need to book a pet-friendly accommodation in Lisse because we live in Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Human has, however, found some pet-friendly hotels and apartments in and around Lisse, the Netherlands for those of us who live outside the Netherlands. Recommended pet-friendly and family-friendly hotels and apartments: