I must admit it openly: I’m a Flower bloom and flower fields addict! That’s it, I’ve said it. Throughout the years I’ve woned up too early to mention, drove hundreds of kilometers, took buses and trains to get to some of the most amazing ones out there.
From booking a tulip tour in Amsterdam and taking the bus all the way from my weekend in Brussels, to driving for a weekend to Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria, or wandering around by the Black Sea in the search for lavender fields, there’s no thing as too much or too far.
So this year, I just wanted some more inspiration and I’ve asked some fellow bloggers to help out with some of the most amazing flower blooms and flower fields they’ve seen around the world.
And this is what turned out. I’ve also included some of the places I’ve seen and you should plan to see as well!
Instagrammable flower blooms and fields around the world
Magnolias at Schloss Benrath, Düsseldorf by Paula at La Vie En Marine
Every year during springtime all the Insta girls go on a hunt for the prettiest flowers and blooming there could possibly be. As I am one of them, I like to look for them too and I am very happy that I found one of the best spots for blooming pictures, directly in the city where I live.
Düsseldorf is a small city in North Rhine Westfalia and right outside of the city there is Schloss Benrath, a cute pastel rosé castle. Each spring it turns into a flowery blooming picturesque paradise! Surrounded by magnolias it has the prettiest façade and once you walk around the building, you will find yourself in a magnificent garden that is covered in colorful flowers. Among them are countless tulips and other flowers that bloom in every color!
Once you finished your walk around the beautiful garden, make sure to have a piece of cake at the Schloss Café where you can enjoy the interior that will make you feel as if you stepped right into Sleeping Beauties Castle.
If you are still not done with being swept away by beautifully blooming trees, there are many cherry trees that you can check out and they are all within walking distance. All you need to do is walk down the “Benrath Schlossallee” all your way up to the Station “Kappeler Straße” und look to your right until you find the street with the prettiest cherry trees!
Cherry trees in Toronto, Canada by Stephanie from The World As I See It
One of the most amazing reasons to visit Toronto in the spring is all the beautiful cherry blossoms. If you’re looking for those delicate white and pale pink cherry blossoms there are plenty of places to find them in Toronto. One of the most popular places to find cherry blossoms in Toronto is High Park.
This sprawling city park covers 400 acres and is home to 2000 Sakura trees. While I loved being surrounded by so many beautiful trees it’s important to know that it can get very busy when blooms are at their peak. To try and avoid the bulk of the crowds go during the week and early in the morning.
Another great spot in Toronto is take in the lovely cherry blossoms is Trinity Bellwoods Park. It’s here that you can get an iconic shot of the tree-lined path leading to the CN Tower.
I loved wandering this park in the middle of the mornings as crowds are more casual and merely passing through. And my last favorite spot to see incredible trees in bloom is at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall.
Here, instead of the traditional Sakura trees, you’ll find crabapple trees. These trees have more blooms and have a richer pink color to them. No matter where you seek out cherry blossoms in Toronto it will be well worth it to breathe in their sweet fragrance and marvel at their stunning blooms.
Anza Borrego Desert by Agnes at Travelonthereg
There’s something special about walking through a desert, dry and barren, and coming across a blanket of colorful wildflowers.
California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, an easy drive from San Diego, is home to hundreds of flowering species, just waiting for the right time to bloom. As you approach peak flower season in the spring months of March and April, you can expect to see desert gold poppies, purple phacelia, and belly flowers growing close to the ground.
If you’re lucky enough to visit after some heavy rain, you can expect a super bloom, which is pretty much how it sounds: a phenomenon where numerous flower species all bloom at the same time, causing colorful blankets of flowers across the desert floor.
While it’s hard to predict, the second week of March has historically been peak wildflower season in the Anza-Borrego Desert, even if you’re not able to experience a super bloom.
We’ve been able to see a super bloom for ourselves, and it certainly lives up to the name. With each event, though, come the crowds. If you visit, stay on marked trails, don’t stomp on the flowers, or pick the flowers. It’s disconcerting how often people disregard common sense rules around enjoying nature.
If you’d like to escape the crowds, the best spots to flower peep involve some hiking. The trails into the Hellhole and Borrego Palm canyons are particularly beautiful, and not that strenuous. Hellhole Canyon is just a name, by the way; it’s quite lovely!
For up-to-date information on the status of the desert blooms, visit the California Department of Parks and Recreation’s website.
West Coast National Park, Western Cape by Lauren at Wanderlustmovement
From late August to September, the Western Cape’s landscape erupts into a blanket of wildflowers.
The best place to see them? The West Coast National Park.
Located one-hour outside of Cape Town, the park opens up the famous Postberg Flower Reserve, only accessible to visitors for one month of the year.
With the park stretching across 6,259.8 hectares, you’ll want to arrive as early as possible. The park opens at 7 AM, but the Postberg section only opens at 9 AM.
During the flower season, you can see a variety of flowers including the White Rain Daisy, Suurvy, Gousblom, Magriet and more!
If you arrive after 10 AM, you’ll sit in hours of traffic before you get through the entrance. For those that would rather sleep in, swing by after 3 PM after most of the day-trippers have left. The park closes at 5 PM, and you’ll have a solid two hours to explore.
Sunflower Farm in New York by Danielle at Wanderlustonabudget
If you’ve ever traveled through the northeastern United States during late summer, you may have noticed fields of sunflowers. From western New York to southern Maryland, sunflower farms are attracting visitors by the thousands. Kids are eager to run through the fields and folks are excited to get some beautiful photos for the ‘gram. But there are a few things that you should know if you plan on visiting a sunflower farm.
Not all sunflower farms are open to the public! While many farms have become popular attractions for the public, many also remain private for their own harvesting. Also, those that are open to the public vary in opening times, dates, and costs.
Make sure to do your research before visiting! The last thing that is important to know is that the sunflower season is short-lived. Keep an eye on the social media and/or website for the farm that you want to visit to see when they expect peak blooms. It won’t be too long after that before the heavy blooms start drooping!
The best sunflower farm I’ve been to is Wickham Farms near Rochester, New York. The fields contain over 250,000 sunflowers of 19 different varieties. You need to pay a small fee to explore the fields, but you can take as many photos as you’d like and cut some sunflowers to take home with you. (Note that professional photoshoots require a fee and reservation.) They also have a bakery and gift shop worth browsing.
When you’re done gallivanting through the fields, let me know which variety of sunflowers is your favorite!
Tulips in Washington by Samantha at a Truthful Traveler
Spring is my favorite time of year because that is when the tulips bloom in the Pacific Northwest. Every April farm fields are filled with every color imaginable for as far as the eye can see. Tulips are usually cup-shaped, with a single flower per stem.
There are thousands of varieties and colors, which is part of the appeal of walking through a field. The bright red tulips are almost blinding in the sunlight and some look so tall on their fragile stems that you marvel at how they stay standing up straight through Spring’s sometimes volatile weather!
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival just North of Seattle draws a huge crowd each year. The festival runs from April 1st to 30th every year, unofficially.
Flowers don’t always follow the dates set out by us humans, so depending on the weather that year sometimes the bloom happens early or late. There are different locations to visit throughout a general area.
Each location has something for everyone. At one, there are huge kites you can watch fly through the sky. At another, there are surrounding flower gardens to complement the tulips. And some are quieter fields that require a bit more work to access.
A visit to the tulip fields always signals to me the start of Spring. I have visited on rainy days, where mud covered the fields and made access to the flowers extremely difficult.
I visited with my newborn baby on a picture-perfect sunny day and had beautiful photos taken to capture the memory. Each year is different, but always beautiful! If you happen to find yourself in the Seattle area during Spring, a visit to the tulip fields should be at the top of your list!
Tulips in Belgium
When we went last spring to see the tulip fields in the Netherlands, we planned our stay over the weekend in Brussels.
While frenetically looking for tulips in Belgium, I’ve stumbled upon the double perfect destination: a castle with hundreds of tulips.
And I’m talking here about the Groot Bijgaarden Castle tulip festival only 7 km outside of Brussels, taking place every year from early April to early May.
Of course, there aren’t only tulips around, and if you’re lucky to visit during the right weekends, you’ll also get to see the Venetian Costume Parade. This was for sure a great experience I really loved and a very Instagrammable one.
Lavender fields in Bulgaria
Many people might not know this about Bulgaria, but the Eastern European country is the largest lavender producer in the world, surpassing France.
Thus, I figured there should be plenty of lavender fields around. I only had to find them and the right period.
And so we went to Veliko Tarnovo and drove around the town and actually found some lavender fields. The best time to visit is during June when the lavender is in bloom and before it gets harvested.
However, there are also plenty of beautiful lavender fields by the Black Sea.
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