Head to Lisse for tulips without the crowds

Lisse in the heart of the Dutch flower region has endless fields of tulips in bloom, stretching as far as the eye can see

- Anita Rao Kashi

Several years ago, during a visit to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, I chanced upon Claude Monet's work Champs de tulipes en Hollande (tulip fields in Holland), a stunning impressionist oil painting with a windmill foregrounded by rows of tulips in vibrant colours. It was a bit messy, a bit whimsical, a bit wild and entirely captivating. Last April, outside the town of Lisse in western Holland, I walked into this painting of Monet's. And to think that it was all down to serendipity.

On what was predicted to be a bright and warm Saturday morning, grey clouds hung low and a mild drizzle fell in intermittent waves as a friend and I headed towards the famous Keukenhof garden in west Holland for a day amidst tulips. An hour later, the weather wasn't any better and we were caught in gridlocked traffic. And it just kept getting worse.

Located at the edge of Lisse (about an hour south-west of Amsterdam), a town in Duin-en Bollenstreek (bulb region), Keukenhof is a manicured park with trees and waterways spread over 32 hectares with a theme-park feel. It has an estimated seven million flower bulbs and is the ultimate destination during the tulip season (late March to mid May) in Holland. And from the looks of it, masses of people had the same idea as us. Crowds thronged outside the garden and lines to buy tickets and for entry stretched out interminably. Not only had we not bought tickets online but had managed to pick the day of the Bollenstreek Flower Parade, when thousands of people from all over Holland and outside, arrive to be part of the spectacle.