Tulipmania

Not a huge fan of tulips or any flowers to be honest, but they are growing on me and am always open to exploring new things. I thought this was going to be a lot more than what it is. They basically just have five areas around pier 39 where they place the tulips. Not exactly what I would call a festival and definitely not what I expected.
They have tours starting daily at 10am and I think if you’re going to give this a shot, try to make it to one of those, otherwise you just grab a card and go on a «self-​guided tour», which is basically just walking to the five areas where they have these gorgeous flowers spread out and reading the small bit of information on the card. Would’ve preferred being able to ask questions to the tour guide, as it would’ve made the experience more enjoyable and educational, more importantly.
Won’t take you more than thirty minutes to an hour to walk around and see all the tulips, unless you are going to analyze every bulb looking for god knows what. The tulips here deserve five stars, but this whole «Tulipmania» festival is over advertised and falsely promoted in my humble opinion.
That said, I still want to come back next year and go on one of the tours to see if it makes as big of a difference as I presume it would.

So the tulips were indeed beautiful but spread out into 5 small groups, not one huge display. I brought my 3 year old daughter who loved the hub bub but on a sunny gorgeous day in SF, it was very very crowded and I had to make sure to hold her hand most of the time. My 80 year old mother did not enjoy the crowds to say the least. We should’ve gone to Baker beach instead! Paid an arm and leg for the tourists snacks from a stand.

I absolutely loveeeee tulips!
Though I haven’t had the chance to see the tulip festival in Seattle (yet), I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about Tulipmania last year. Throughout the 2 weeks of the event, you’ll see many varieties of tulips blooming. There’s even a guided tour at 10AM daily if you can make it! If not, no worries because you’ll see handouts for self-​guided tours around the pier.
Basically, Pier 39 is decked out with tulips in the planters & there are stories behind the 5 stops of the tour. Such as where the bulbs came from and what they’re called. The vibrant colors were gorgeous and really brought a lot of life to the pier (: This year they had a red tulip theme in the front with the seal statues, so gorgeous! I was happy to also see some daffodils.
If you’re a tulip lover like me, I highly recommend making a trip to the city to stroll around the pier to see this exhibit! It’s also a good excuse to go eat some yummy clam chowder. Don’t make a trip JUST for this though because you can get through it pretty quick. Tulipmania ends this weekend, go go go! (:

While I didn’t get to partake in any tulip festivities, I did come down to Pier 39 to specifically see all the tulips on view this past weekend. If you love gardening and flowers I’d say it’s well worth your time. They had some beautiful displays and interesting tulip arrangements.
Lots of color popping everywhere and from what I read on the official site, various guided tours. The stars did not align with my going on a tour, but I still enjoyed strolling around on Pier 39 specifically to see what tulips were on offer.
Even if you’re a cynical local, come down and check it out!
The Unilocal 100 Challenge East Bay Edition!

The annual Tulipmania festival at Pier 39 is a beautiful reason for a local to head down to touristland. The festival takes place every February. The gardeners plant tens of thousands tulips all around Pier 39. They have a free, daily guided tour which I recommend to get the full experience. As of this writing in 2013, the tour starts at 10am. They stagger their tulip bulbs so they have tulips blooming for about a six week period.
Fun fact: While on the tour, I learned that some varietals of tulips are fragrant!