From almond blossom on the French Riviera, to bougainvillea blooms in Andalucia and daffodils in Wales, this is a guide to the best places to see spring flowers in Europe.
Spring is a wonderful time to travel in Europe, and one of my favourite times of year to do so. It helps you banish the winter doldrums, warm up and face the new year afresh. And there’s the bonus that the Mediterranean is warm rather than hot, so that you get more time to walk around and explore out of the summer heat.
As well as the warmth, the spring flowers of Europe are one of the best reasons to travel at this time of year. The blossom on the trees and carpets of flowers show these places at their very best. And in this article I show you where to find them, with a trade secret or two thrown in along the way. Enjoy.
Where To See The Best Spring Flowers In Europe
St David’s, Wales
Daffodils then coastal wildflowers abound in the far west of Wales
We begin in the far west of Wales, where spring comes in distinct stages. The best place to head is the tiny cathedral city of St David’s (Tyddewi), home to the greatest of all churches in Wales. It was built on the site of a monastery founded by the patron saint of Wales, St David (Dewi Sant). Around his feast day, March 1st, parts of the grounds of the Cathedral are carpeted with the national flower of Wales, the gorgeous, bright yellow daffodil.
St David’s is one of the outstanding places to see daffodils in Wales, and you can usually catch them towards the end of February into early March. Although this can vary year on year. Generally with global warming there’s a good chance the flowers may appear earlier than I suggest, although a particularly harsh and cold winter may delay them by a week or two. They tend to bloom for around three weeks.
After the daffodils have disappeared, it’s the turn of the coastal spring wildflowers, which are abundant on the Coast path around St David’s. The displays of flowers tend to vary a little each year, but you’re normally likely to see plenty of sea pinks (also known as thrift) and bright yellow gorse bushes. The best places to see these are to the south of St David’s, particularly along the short stretch of Coast Path between Caerfai Bay and St Non’s Bay, half a mile or so to the west. These flowers bloom as early as April, although a cold winter might push this back until May.
Late spring – the latter part if May and early June – is the time to see bluebells in Pembrokeshire. The best place by far to see them is on Skomer Island, almost an hour’s drive south of St David’s. There, bluebells and red campion bloom around the same time, usually for around three weeks between mid-May and early June. This is also peak season for puffin watching, so you’d need to rise early to get your place on one of the sailings from Martin’s Haven to Skomer.
Where To Stay: Twr y Felin Hotel – great option midway between the Cathedral and beaches, 10 minutes ‘ walk to each
See Also: Things To Do In St David’s, Wales
Prague, Czech Republic
Cherry blossom, magnolia and more in the stunning Czech capital
We had the incredible good fortune to live in Prague for four years, which meant getting to see every corner of the magical city in the springtime. Most visitors to Prague tend to stick to a fairly small area of the city, concentrating on the Old Town, Charles Bridge and Prague Castle , but even in this limited area you get glimpses of the best of Prague in springtime.
The best place to begin your own Prague spring discovery is at the Ujezd tram stop, at the bottom of Petřin Hill. The garden just above street level is lined with stunning magnolia trees, and it’s a wonderful place to grab a bench for yourself and savour the scene, though you will seldom be alone!
The steep hillside tends to thin out the crowds, who tend to flock to the funicular railway to the summit. Just beyond the magnolia trees, on your left, look out for the statue of Bohemian romantic poet Karel Hynek Macha, much loved by Czechs for his poem Maj. He inspired a tradition of couples sharing a kiss under the white blossom trees on the hill on the 1st of May.
The lower part of the Hill, the Seminary Gardens, is full of white blossom trees in spring, a stunning foreground to the City of a Hundred Spires, including St Vitus Cathedral, at the heart of Prague Castle. They’re also very close to the Baroque St Nicholas Church in Mala Strana and the Church of Our Lady Victorious, two of the most beautiful churches in Prague.
Several formal Prague gardens can be found around the Malá Strana district, including the terraced Baroque Vrtba Garden and the superb Wallenstein Garden below Prague Castle. Both of these are at their best in springtime, with daffodils and tulips bringing a welcome dash of colour. I also recommend exploring some of the outlying Prague parks if you’re visiting in springtime – particularly World Heritage-listed Průhonice Park, on the southeastern edge of the city.
I also recommend a short bus ride across the Vltava River from Holešovice to Troja. The avenues of gorgeous cherry blossom trees of Baroque Troja Castle are briefly in bloom towards the end of March, sometimes lasting until early April. And just across the street from there, the gardens of Prague Zoo are a wonder to behold too.
Where To Stay: Hotel Nerudova 211 – gorgeous centuries-old hotel between Petřin Hill and Prague Castle
Andalucia
Orange trees and bougainvillea in all their glory
Spring is one of the best times to visit inland Andalucia because it gets baking hot there between June and September – particularly with global warming nudging up the heat. It’s also such a good time to visit the region because there are so many spring flowers to see across the region.
Orange trees are a common sight across Andalucia, and there’s nowhere better to see them than in Seville. The famous Seville oranges used in marmalade are harvested in January and February, when temperatures are around 15°C. Other varieties are also grown in the area, so you’re likely to see oranges on the trees as late as May.
You’ll also encounter plenty of purple bougainvillea flowers draped over walls if you’re visiting Andalucia in the spring. The actual flowers are white, and the purple leaves (though you’ll sometimes see pink too) are called bracts. They grow across southern Europe, and you’ll see them in sunny areas including the Greek islands and Sicily too.
I also recommend the Fiesta de los Patios de Cordoba, which is held annually during the first two weeks of May. Many of the city’s houses open their flower-decked courtyards to the public, as part of a contest to create the most beautiful patio in the city. It’s paradise for flower lovers, and one of the best things to in Cordoba, the highlight of the year.
It’s also one of the best times of year to visit the Generalife Gardens, part of the Alhambra Palace complex in Granada.
Where To Stay: Hospes Palacio del Bailio, 5-star luxury in 16th-century palace
Netherlands
April is time for tulips…
No guide to Europe in the spring would be complete without a description of tulips in the Netherlands. The bulbs – which come in many colours – bloom between mid-April and early May, and they’re a huge money-spinner for the country, both for the sale of the flowers themselves, and the visitors they attract in the weeks before they are harvested.
The obvious place to see tulips in the Netherlands is the Keukenhof Flower Garden, 25 km (15 miles) south of Amsterdam. The Garden has up to 7 million bulbs in tulip season, and it is packed with visitors for this short period. And with such a short time window it would be pretty difficult to avoid the crowds.
If you have a day or two to explore the Dutch countryside it’s very much worth your while seeking out some of the tulip fields instead. There are many fields in the Bollenstreek area around Keukenhof, and the area id also very popular. I’d be inclined to head towards North Holland – north of Amsterdam, and around the small city of Alkmaar.
When I first started out as a stock photographer in the late 1990s one of the most closely guarded secrets of the fraternity was the location of somewhere in the Netherlands where you could photograph fields of tulips and windmills together. Ask anyone and you’d be met with a stony silence, a photographer’s omertà.
However, without ever having visited the country at the right time of year, I can reveal some secrets. There is a single windmill at Keukenhof Gardens, which, as you can imagine, is one of the most photographed windmills in the Netherlands.
Another tulip-windmill location is the village of Schermerhorn, a few miles east of Alkmaar on the N243 road. This is quite off the beaten track, and there are more tulip fields to the north, especially around Anna Paulowna.
If you have time I also suggest a visit to Kinderdijk, a village on the edge of the eastern suburbs of Rotterdam. A total of nineteen 18th-century windmills – built to pump floodwater from the surrounding low-lying land – survive, and these have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. And tulip fields are planted very close to some of the windmills, so if you’re looking for that perfect picture Kinderdijk is well worth a visit.
Where To Stay: Luttik, Alkmaar – wonderful one-off boutique hotel in Alkmaar old town
The Cotswolds, England
Daffodils, wisteria, bluebells and that gorgeous golden stone
The Cotswold Hills are only around twenty miles from the border with Wales, so you get all of the spring flowers you get there (except for the coastal ones, of course). And the added attraction of the beautiful setting in the rich honey-stone villages and towns of the area.
Spring is one of the best times of year to visit the Cotswolds, and one of the most popular. The flower season lasts the best part of three months, with snowdrops appearing by the beginning of February, followed by crocuses, daffodils, magnolia, wisteria and eventually bluebells.
It’s hard to avoid daffodils in the Cotswolds, as they grow on roadsides and anywhere there is space within the villages – and Lower Swell and Lower Slaughter are two of the best places to see them.
Wisteria flowers across southern England (and Wales) from late April through most of May, generally a similar time to bluebells. You often see wisteria draped over doorways and walls in Cotswold villages and towns, and if your time is limited I suggest heading straight to Broadway, on the northern edge of the Cotswolds, with an empty memory card and full battery charge.
At the other end of the Cotswolds, Westonbirt Arboretum is breathtaking in springtime, with bluebells, camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas and more. It’s just south of Tetbury and north of the M4 motorway, and one of the best places to visit near Bath and Bristol.
Where To Stay: The Lygon Arms – 600-year-old hotel, with some half-timbered rooms, a typical Cotswold stone front and wisteria above the doorway
London
Daffodils, tulips and more in some of the UK’s most beautiful parks
London is a brilliant city to visit at any time of year, but you can’t beat a beautiful, fresh spring day in its many Parks.
Many of the best places to enjoy London in springtime are right in the centre. There’s an annual carpet of daffodils in the corner of Green Park closest to Buckingham Palace, and more at the end of St James’s Park around HM Treasury, and some are within sight of Big Ben.
St James’s Park is a delight in spring, with beds of gorgeous tulips and other spring flowers around the Horseguards Parade end of the Park. You’ll also find plenty of tulips in the gardens in Parliament Square.
For cherry blossom and magnolia, I’ve always found north London to be a happy hunting ground. The west side of Regent’s Park has some magnificent blossom in April – and the eastern side has fantastic daffodil displays a month or so earlier. Further north, the gardens around Kenwood House, on the edge of Hampstead Heath, and Alexandra Palace in Muswell Hill, are both glorious for a few weeks around late March to early May.
Where To Stay: The Londoner – new 5-star on Leicester Square, great central location for exploring London
Algarve, Portugal
When the coastal clifftops and dunes are at their most beautiful
We have visited the Algarve region of Portugal twice in spring, both times with the intention of avoiding the summer crowds, prices and heat. It’s a strategy that worked beautifully both times, and came with an unexpected bonus – the stunning wildflowers that carpet the coastline in springtime.
I’ve mainly stayed in. the western half of the Algarve, using Lagos as a base to explore the fairytale beaches of the southern coast and the wider, windswept surfing beaches of the Costa Vicentina.
By mid-April the Algarve’s clifftops and pathways are covered with the distinctive white flowers of the ice plant, which also goes by a few other names, including the Hottentot fig (Carpobrotus edulis). I later learned that it’s an invasive species, native to South Africa. I only realised this while on a coastal walk near my home in Australia and recognised it there.
Native flowers along the Algarve coast include the lovely pink-purple shore campion and the delightful yellow sea daisy, which I encountered more on the Costa Vicentina.
The best flower displays that we found are around the Ponta da Piedade, just to the south of Lagos, and around the Atlantic beaches of Praia do Amado and Praia da Amoreira to the west.
Where To Stay: Casa Margo – excellent apartment hotel in the historic heart of Lagos
See Also: 15 Best Things To Do In Lagos Portugal
Tuscany
Carpets of red poppies await
If you’re visiting Tuscany in springtime you could easily become diverted in search of fields carpeted with red poppies. The pleasure is something that still awaits me, as I’ve visited both before and after poppy season – but not during it. However, due to my excellent sources I can tell you exactly where to go to find them.
Red poppies tend to flower from late April through to the end of May. An old stock photographer friend of mine came back from a trip to Tuscany around 20 years ago, beaming from ear to ear because of his new stack of poppy images.
Most of them were shot in the World Heritage-listed Val d’Orcia, around 47 km (230 miles southeast of Siena. As mentioned elsewhere, photographers can be very protective of their information, but he owed me a favour or two. And he revealed that the countryside either side of the SS2 between Buonconvento and San Quirico d’Orcia, and either side of the SS146 to Pienza yielded the best results.
San Quirico d’Orcia is one of the best places to stay in Tuscany, with so many sights on its doorstep. One of the most famous views in Tuscany – the autumn sunrise with a farmhouse surrounded by cypress trees – is from the town. And the almost too picturesque for words Cappella di Madonna di Vitaleta, a tiny chapel among cypress trees – is a short drive away.
Where To Stay – Villa Liberty Boutique Hotel – Borgo Capitano Collection – outstanding option in the historic centre of San Quirico d’Orcia
Provence
Warm up early after winter with some of Europe’s earliest spring blooms
The Riviera city of Nice was recently inscribed as a World Heritage Site due to its development as a winter resort for those from colder climes. It was most famously a winter getaway for Brits thawing out (in my case drying off) after months of grim cold and meagre rations of daylight. Christmas had come and gone, the January blues were setting in, so we headed south to the much warmer French Riviera.
The British tourists are commemorated in the street name, la Promenade des Anglais, which runs along Nice’s seafront. But apart from the Mediterranean winter warmth, what else did these winter travellers get to see?
The sight that heralds spring in southern France is the almond blossom, which flowers in February, sometimes into early March. You’ll see it along the Côte d’Azur and further west into Provence. The best I’ve seen in the region is to the northeast of Avignon, around Mont Ventoux, and around St-Rémy-de-Provence. Vincent van Gogh lived near the town (at the Monastery of St Paul de Mausole) and painted part of a series of studies – called Almond Blossoms – there and in nearby Arles, where he also lived.
Where To Stay – Les Logis de Cocagne – superb apartment hotel near the van Gogh sites and the Roman monuments at Glanum
Cardiff, Wales
Springtime brings a blaze of colour to the capital of Wales
I haven’t included Cardiff, capital of Wales and my home city, in this article because of hometown bias. As far as seeing spring flowers in Europe, it may just be the best city of all. Cardiff has several outstanding parks, and once the short days of winter begin to stretch out a little, the spring sun warms the whole place up a few degrees and the riot of colour brings great cheer after the grotty grimness of winter.
The spring blooms in Cardiff last well over two months. The snowdrops and crocuses appear in early February, and the daffodils are in full bloom towards the end of the latter month. The best places to see them are around Cardiff castle and Bute Park, and you’ll also see them in other parks around the city. The Gardens of the Museum of National History in St Fagans, on the outskirts of the city, are another great place to see them.
The cherry blossoms and magnolias put on a stunning display by early April, particularly in Alexandra Gardens, just behind the National Museum and Cardiff City Hall. But the best spot of all is on Coopers Field, in Bute Park, with the 19th-century turrets of Cardiff Castle as a backdrop.
Cardiff is one of the greenest cities in Europe (in terms of amount of parkland per person), and there are several other great parks in the city. We lived close to Waterloo Gardens and Roath Park, which are off the beaten track for visitors but a joy to discover if you ever have the chance.
And if you’re visiting Cardiff during daffodil season, I also recommend the superb displays of daffodils in the park across the moat from Caerphilly Castle, a 20-minute train ride away from the capital and one of the easiest day trips from Cardiff.
Where To Stay In Cardiff: Parkgate Hotel – one of the best Cardiff city centre hotels, close to Cardiff Castle and the Principality Stadium
See Also: Famous Landmarks In Cardiff and One Day In Cardiff – 24 hours in the capital of Cymru
Best Places To See Spring Flowers In Europe
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Seeing these flowers every year – especially after a grim winter – can give you such a tonic. And hopefully this feature will spur you on to enjoy some of these blooms for yourself – even if it just means taking a walk to your local park.
This article is part of an ongoing series of themed Inspiration pieces on Europe. Check out some of these for more travel ideas:
15 Off The Beaten Path World Heritage Sites In Europe
Most Beautiful Villages In Europe
Most Beautiful Art Nouveau Cities In Europe
Most Beautiful Streets In Europe
Most Beautiful Landscapes In Europe
24 Best Roman Monuments In Europe
Best Border Towns In Europe To Visit
Most Beautiful Beaches In Europe
Most Beautiful Castles In Europe
Most Beautiful Islands In Europe
Most Underrated Cities In Europe
Most Beautiful Squares In Europe
Most Beautiful Churches In Europe