Visiting the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

While I’m writing this, it’s April 16, 2021, and the tulips are springing into bloom in the Skagit Valley. Not full bloom yet — next week will probably be a prime time to see them this year. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is back this year — almost in full color. The two main farms that comprise the festival are selling timed tickets online in advance. This is to keep crowds down and enable better social distancing.¹

If you’re a reader of the future coming across this post, I hope you are living a wonderful post-pandemic life. Know that the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival happens every April. That does not mean, however, that the blooms are out throughout the month. Tulips bloom on their own schedule according to weather conditions, so the dates for best viewing vary year to year.

Here’s more information about some of the main venues for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and some photos of tulips and daffodils. At the end of this post, you’ll find a link to our interactive, user-map-pin-submitted map page.

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Farms

Tulip Town

Tulip Town features fields of flowers, a tractor ride around the fields, a lovely barn, and a covered but spacious area with shopping, food, conical tulip displays, and an outdoor area for eating your food.

The tulip field isn’t so vast that you must take the trolley, its easily walkable for most.

If you’re a photographer and willing to pay the fee, you can sign up for a photographers pass to get access to the tulip fields during sunrise or sunset. Then hope that you’re greeted with a lovely sunrise or sunset the day you sign up.

Roozengaarde

Roozengaarde’s fields seemed, to me, a bit more vast than those at Tulip Town. The gardens were also more crowded than those of Tulip Town, and keeping distance more difficult.

Roozengaarde also has shops and outdoor food. Pick up their catalog for fall ordering from their vast bulb selection.

They had some quite interesting varieties of tulips here.

Don’t miss their lovely display garden! I preferred it to the tulip fields.

Garden Rosalyn

Instead of vast tulip fields, Garden Rosalyn featured some lovely manicured displays of tulips. That, as well as some kids’ playthings, and a duck and goose pond.

What it did not have, also was the crowds. It was $10 cash for admission. Go if you just want to appreciate some tulips and perhaps get some close-ups of flowers. And do it without the crowds.

Other Fields

If you drive (or bike — I wish I’d brought mine!) around the area during the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, you’ll see other fields. Many are private. However, this didn’t stop people from pulling over to snap photos.

Tulip Fields Map

Note that the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival keeps an interactive map on its website. However, we found its format a bit frustrating to use ( we like a good map pin!). Additionally, we found our connection very spotty in the Skagit Valley. Therefore, we’d recommend printing either addresses or their printable map in advance.

Have you been to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival? Consider leaving a comment or suggestion to help future readers.

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1. Though I noted that one was actually selling tickets at the door which annoyed this “socially distant timed ticket holder who would have arrived earlier had she known it was an option” just a bit.[↩]