The flower fields in Lisse have become an Instagram sensation over the past few years and with it their popularity has soared. These beautiful fields nestled in The Netherlands are home to millions of flowers, from tulips to hyacinths, and its easy to understand why the area has become such a tourist destination. At first it can seem a little difficult to find these fields though and it can quickly become an expensive trip, particularly during the spring and general Easter period where travel costs are inflated anyway.

For many, visiting Lisse is somewhat of a bucket list destination though and there are ways to work around all of the challenged that crop up if you want to get out into the country side and really experience the fields for yourself.

You can’t get in the fields, but you can take pictures: You can't (and shouldn't try!) get into the majority of the fields. Ultimately this is someone's livelihood so understandably there are fences and streams surrounding many of the fields. They’re beautiful but a lot of hard work goes into growing and maintaining the flowers and their bulbs so the farmers are protective, and rightly so. Some farmers are more lienient and will allow you to enter their fields to stand on the sand banks at the front of the fields, but even they have large signs asking you not to enter the paths between the actual flowers. All of our photos were taken from the edge of the fields and we played around with the angles to get the shots we wanted. Some farmers have even had to resort to installing barbed wire in front of the paths to prevent tourists from going through them, don’t be one of those people.

It can be expensive, unless you’re willing to compromise: Generally travelling to The Netherlands and Amsterdam isn’t cheap, but if you throw in tulip season and the Easter/spring holidays then the prices rapidly start to climb. To get around this we took an overnight coach there and back (12 hours on the way, 10 on the way back) which is not only a much cheaper mode of transport than flying but it cut out our accomadation costs. No we didn’t sleep particuarly well, toilets at the stations and airports became both our changing rooms and teeth-cleaning facilities, and we didn’t shower for 3 days but it was all part of the adventure. Our entire trip came in at under £150 each and for us it was the best way to do it. It also meant we didn’t have to take any annual leave which is always a bonus.

Cycling is the best way to see everything: Hiring bikes is without a doubt the easiest way to see everything. There is a hire point at Kuekenhoff and for €12 (€10 for the bike and €2 for the helmet) you can hire a bike for 3 hours. There are 4 pre-planned routes and we opted for the purple route. We found this to be the right length for the amount of time we had, to be slightly quieter as there wasn't any overlap with the other routes and not too far to cycle. Even as a very nervous cycler I felt quite at ease on the Dutch roads. They're much better designed for cyclists than in the UK and generally the drivers seemed much more tolerant of cyclists than they tend to be in the UK so even if you're not the most confident cyclist it is still worth doing as its the best way to see the most fields.

Transport to and from Keukenhoff/Lisse isn’t great: There are no direct links from Amsterdam City centre to Kuekenhoff and the surrounding areas. We took the bus service from the airport to Kuekenhoff just paid for the bus journey (€10 each for a return) as we knew we didn't want to go inside the Keukenhoff exhibition itself. Getting back to the city centre was harder though we ended up having to go halfway by bus and half by train. We didn't find the public transport to be the easiest to navigate and due to the amount of traffic in the area it took about twice as long as expected to get from Keukenhof to the centre of the city so it's worth noting the timings if you're on a tight schedule.

Visiting the flower fields was hardly the most glamorous trip of my life but it was fun, it was an adventure and I got the chance to see something truly amazing. The internet, particuarly Instagram, can often make the world of travel seem so unattainable and intimidating, like it always has to be luxury 5* resorts and beautiful dresses, and whilst there is certainly a place for that it isn’t for everyone. Start by working out your priorities and where you want to visit and just go for it. This little trip pushed me outside my comfort zone, it allowed me to see something incredible and was a great chance to spend time (and laugh so much) with a friend and really that’s what travel should be about.

A big thank you to Helli for the photos of me and for forcing me outside of my comfort zone on this trip. Who’d have thought there would be a day when I got on a bike.