Great Stays in Alphen aan den Rijn in South Holland, Netherlands

The family-friendly Van Der Valk Hotel Avifauna in Alphen aan den Rijn offers great deals on accommodation, free access to the bird park play area and easy access to sightseeing spots.

Van der Valk Hotel Avifauna in Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands is a comfortable hotel with great offers and attraction to especially families with small children. The hotel also seems popular with business travelers. Rooms are large with spacious bathrooms and often great views of the adjacent Vogelpark Avifauna bird park and the Rhine River.

The Avifauna Hotel is typical of Dutch hotels of the latter half of the twentieth century. The Avifauna Hotel is a large four story building with a huge, sloping roof so it does not in any way resemble an office block or inner city high-rise building. Free parking is available right next to the building in an almost motel-like style.

Rather oddly, the reception is not in the same building as the hotel rooms. The reception is in a small building in between the hotel, the Vogelpark Avifauna bird park, and the large restaurant building.

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Day Tripping to the World’s Largest Bulbs Park in Lisse, the Netherlands

Keukenhof near Lisse is the world’s largest flower garden park. It is an easy daytrip from Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, and other cities in Holland to see the tulips and other flowers.

photo credit: JackVersloot

Keukenhof in the Netherlands claims to be the world’s largest flower park. Each year, Keukenhof is open only two months in spring each year to show off the best of Dutch tulips, crocuses, narcissus (daffodils), and other bulb flowers. The park is an easy day-trip destination from Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, and most cities in Holland. It is popular with visitors of all age groups – from families with small children to tour groups of pensioners that tend to recall that the park was better on a most memorable visit x years ago.

50 Years of Keukenhof near Lisse in 2009

In 2009, Keukenhof will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary with a special theme year: USA, New Amsterdam/New York. It is four centuries since Henry Hudson founded New Amsterdam, the city that we now know as New York. Top Dutch horticulturists will use 25,000 flower bulbs to create a Statue of Liberty at Keukenhof 2009.

• In 2009, Keukenhof will be open from March 19 to May 21.

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