Went to Tesselaar on the Sunday, day two of this year’s festival. My cousin texted the night before saying tickets were 30% off and that everyone was getting a free return pass, so we just went, no real plan.
Long rows of green with maybe a third of it flowering. Patches of colour here and there, not the wall-to-wall tulip photo you see on their website. If the flowers haven’t hit bloom standard on the day you’re there, staff hand you a Flower Guarantee Pass at the gate. No purchase needed, no asking — they just give it to you if the tulips aren’t up to scratch that day. It lets you come back free to a future festival, spring tulips or the autumn KaBloom event, whichever comes first. Ours was handed over without us saying a word. Apparently they can’t reissue it if you lose it, so I’ve already put mine somewhere I’ll definitely forget about.
Adult ticket was $27.50 instead of the usual $39.50. Kids under 16 get in free but still need an actual printed ticket, which the guy at the booth had to explain twice because my mum kept trying to walk my nephew through without one.
The cherry blossoms and poppies were the real drawcard
Honestly, the tulips weren’t the best part of the day. There’s a stretch of cherry blossom near the show gardens doing its own thing. The bed of Iceland poppies got me more than the tulips did too. Apricot and burnt orange mostly, some almost coral. I took way more photos there than I did in the actual tulip rows.
My nephew cared more about the gnome hunt than the flowers. We did the little tractor ride around the fields once.
Food on the way out
Got a lemonade and an ice cream on the way out. Ordered strawberry, got handed strawberry-and-vanilla because the guy misheard me over the noise. No complaints, it was good. The lemonade actually tasted like someone squeezed real lemons that morning instead of mixing a syrup. Small thing, but it’s what I remember most clearly now.
There’s a stall selling tulip bulbs too, if you want to take some home. Didn’t buy any. I kill basically everything I plant.
Should you go this year
If you’re going specifically for the big flower-field photo, I’d wait a couple of weeks. The bloom’s running late this year because of the wet spring, and the festival’s own site says as much rather than pretending otherwise. If you’ve got kids and just want a day out, it’s still worth the drive — just go in expecting green with colour breaking through, not the postcard version.
This year’s dates are 12 September to 11 October, 10am to 5pm, at 357 Monbulk Road, Silvan. Dogs on leads are fine, parking’s free. If you’re timing it around the school calendar, the Victorian spring school holidays run 19 September to 4 October this year, right in the middle of the festival, so those weekends will be busier than most.
Source for the ticket terms and Flower Guarantee Pass conditions: tulipfestival.com.au/faq