If you thought the Rose Bowl was something, California has nothing on the Netherlands when it comes to Bloemencorso, the fragrant 42-kilometer festival route from Noordwijk to Haarlem. Twenty floats and 30 lavishly decorated cars (colorfully decked in tulips, of course, but also hyacinths and daffodils) parade annually for this colorful spectacle that also passes Keukenhof, one of the world’s most beautiful spring gardens. Open for just about two months out of the year, with mid-April being the peak, the grounds feature more than 7 million bulb flowers planted over 79 acres. It’s easily accessible from the bus and train stations of Schiphol, where the airport is located, or try renting a car to admire the coast of The Hague and Alkmaar in the north, where roadside flower fields are common. Hertz Europe’s NeverLostGPS includes travel guides, a language translator, and a portable mode to navigate where you’ve driven to on foot easier.
English gardens are in full bloom in spring, and in Great Britain, gardening is more an obsession than a hobby. The rural Cotswolds in south central England is filled with daffodils, in addition to violets and early purple orchids. Wildflowers fill the Cotswolds Walking Trail in early spring.
© Mark Purches | Dreamstime.com
Tuscany is good for more than wine — like the full-bodied red varietals that abound here, roses of the same hue spring up in the season, a sign the grapes growing there are healthy as well. There’s a riot of color throughout the Italian hillsides, adding just a bit more to the dolce vita
road trip.
Can’t make a springtime jaunt? No matter — Provence’s lavender fields are filled with ripples of regal purple and blue waving in the wind each June through August. The fields are fragrant, and ripe for the picking on a road trip including attractions like the Lavender Museum, Aroma’Plantes Distillery
(specializing in medicinal plants) and Catherine Liardet’s lavender farm, where a nursery and garden yield more than 200 varieties.
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