Private Tulips, Trains and Hoorn Tour

Tulips and windmills at the peak of tulip season. Astonishing! Laszlo was wonderful. His experience and explanations, and his endless patience with my difficulty walking, absolutely made both the Keukenhof Gardens and Zaanse Schans windmills complete delights. He was well prepared, with umbrellas at the ready, and advice at just the right moments. The tulip fields, and the Keukenhof, were just stunning! And the village at Zaanse Schans was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

Our private tour of Zaanse Schans and Keukenhof with Parkinson's Disease This was our first visit to Amsterdam and my first trip abroad since my PD diagnosis, so I wanted to get some local help to ensure both I and my partner got the most out of our short tripI chose Bespoke Amsterdam Experiences as they offered all the activities we were interested in - food, tulips, windmills and boatsIt was very easy to make contact with them to ask questions - especially about my mobility issues and how this could be accommodated in the activities we were interested in. After the first contact, we had a dedicated person who handled all follow-up questions and bookings before and throughout our trip, which was very comforting and at no time was there any confusion or problem with language nuancesWe decided to do both the Private Tulips (Keukenhof) and Windmills (Zaanse Schans) tour together, as this was the main reason we chose to visit Amsterdam at this time and I did not want any problems with my mobility distracting my partner's enjoymentNote: If you have a UK blue badge, it is worth taking it with you along with the Dutch supplement notice you can print out, as it can help with parking at KeukenhofWe were met at our hotel by our guide for the day - Jeroen, promptly at the agreed time and taken by car first to Keukenhof. The day was wet and overcast and our guide Jeroen did his best to make sure we made the most of any breaks in the rain by driving us around some of the tulip fields until the rain eased up a little. After we arrived at the park, Jeroen explained the layout of the park, the best bits you must see and those that you can avoid, along with where to purchase tulip bulbs if we wanted to. After this, we were very kindly left to experience the colour, smell and sights of this wonderful park after agreeing on a time to meet back at the entranceThere was a lot to see this time of the year despite the rain and I had deliberately chosen not to use a wheelchair whilst I could still walk, albeit very slowly. This meant we initially did not have enough time to see everything, but Jeroen was very accommodating after a quick phone call, in adjusting our schedule to allow us more time at Keukenhof to see it all and most importantly time to purchase some tulip bulbs which are being delivered to our home later in the year. However, I am sure we still did not see everything as there were so many weaving paths and it was hard following our progress using the map in the rainWe then continued our journey onto Zaanse Schans, with our guide providing a very interesting history of the Netherlands as we travelledUpon arriving at the windmills, lunch was pre-booked at the local restaurant which served local food/drink as well as more international options - we can recommend the mustard soup and local beerZaanse Schans is made up of some working windmills, and several authentic houses that have been preserved/restored and moved to this park - some of which are privately owned, along with a clog museum, workshop and shop as well as a cheese museum. The windmills that are working do different tasks like saw wood, grindstone or crush cocoa into chocolate - we can recommend the make-your-own hot chocolate windmill along with the wood sawing windmill which has an accessibility lift allowing you to visit the different levels whilst it is in action (assuming it is windy enough)Again I chose not to use a wheelchair as it is all flat land, which worked OK as the park is smaller than Keukenhof, but be aware that steps in the Netherlands can be more like ladders to us in the UKWe were then driven back to our hotel after a thoroughly fun but exhausting day, along with some very helpful ideas from Jeroen of other gems to visit during our stay. We certainly got the best out of our time during this trip, due to the help and experience of our guide Jeroen

Visiting Amsterdam with advanced Parkinson's Disease This was our first visit to Amsterdam and my first trip abroad since my PD diagnosis, so I wanted to get some local help to ensure both I and my partner got the most out of our short tripI chose Bespoke Amsterdam Experiences as they offered all the activities we were interested in - food, tulips, windmills and boatsIt was very easy to make contact with them to ask questions - especially about my mobility issues, and how this could be accommodated in the activities we were interested in. After the first contact, we had a dedicated person who handled all follow-up questions and bookings before and throughout our trip, which was very comforting and at no time was there any confusion or problem with language nuancesOn our first full day, we booked a private Dutch food tour. Despite the rain, our guide Kayleigh was excellent. She had been fully briefed about my condition and was always aware of my needs, whilst making sure my partner did not miss out on anythingWe got to try new food and drink along with the local knowledge on where best to find this. For anyone also interested in knowing more about the places they visit, we also got a very detailed and knowledgeable history of the location and food/drink we experiencedBespoke Amsterdam Experiences not only listened to my upfront concerns and needs, but they also went out of their way to adapt the experience around these and at no time did I feel awkward or uncomfortableAfter the trip, we took away an amazing list of restaurants, bars and food to try during our stay