Massage Amsterdam after a spring day among the tulips at Keukenhof
Written for visitorsFor a few weeks each spring the bulb gardens at Lisse draw visitors from every continent, and many of them sleep in Amsterdam. A day among the tulips is longer and more tiring than it looks, and for some it ends with a massage in Amsterdam once the bus is back.
Keukenhof opens only in spring, roughly from late March to the middle of May, and the gardens are large enough to fill a whole day. Paths wind for kilometres between beds of tulips, hyacinths and daffodils, pavilions hold displays of cut flowers, and beyond the fence the bulb fields stretch away in coloured stripes. An evening booking after a Keukenhof day is a frequent request in those weeks, because the gardens lie a long way from the room and the journey is part of the effort.
Why a garden day wears you out
Much of the day is spent walking slowly or standing still, which tires the legs and back more than a brisk walk would. Photographs add to it: people crouch beside the beds, lean over the ponds, and hold the phone up for a long time. The coach or bus from the city takes the better part of an hour each way, and the queues to board at the end of the afternoon can be long. Those who hire a bicycle to ride among the fields add a few more kilometres, often into the wind on the way back.
Planning a massage Amsterdam evening around the return
The return is the part to plan around. Buses leave the gardens in a steady stream from late afternoon, and the trip into the city can take longer than the morning one did. Write once you are seated rather than while you are still in the queue, and give an hour that allows for the traffic and a shower. If the day was warm, mention it; skin that has spent hours in the spring sun is worth a word in the thread.
Spring evenings fill up
The flower season brings more visitors to the city, and the diaries fill faster than they do in winter. If you know which day you will go, there is a case for booking that evening a day or two early; that is a booking made more than twenty-four hours ahead, so half the fee goes ahead once the hour is agreed. If you would rather wait and see how tired you are, a request on the day still works, and the reply simply names whoever is free. King's Day, at the end of April, is a peak date with rules of its own, touched on in the journal post on King's Day on foot.
Whichever way you book, the session takes place in your room in Amsterdam. The house does not travel to Lisse or to the bulb towns around it, and the outcall entry sets out where it does go.