Skagit Valley Tulip Festival 2024: Guide for Seattle-Area Families

It’s tulip time! Washington’s beloved annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is back again for 2024. This gorgeous burst of colorful blooms is a spring rite of passage for many Pacific Northwest families.

The daffodils bloom the second half of March, and that means the tulips are on their way. For 2024, growers are predicting the tulip bloom might be a tad on the early side. Mid-April is typically a good time to plan a trip, though the exact timing of the bloom depends entirely on Mother Nature.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival runs seven days a week, April 1–30, and draws visitors from all 50 states and more than 85 countries.

First, pick a farm

This year, there are four venues welcoming tulip-seekers: RoozenGaarde, Tulip Town, Garden Rosalyn  and Tulip Valley Farms. All four are offering advance online ticket sales now, and most will also have tickets at the gate.

Note: You have to buy a ticket for each individual venue; there isn’t a single ticket that gets you admission to all of them.

Let’s see which farm is right for your family.

RoozenGaarde

If you are looking for endless rows of flowering color, RoozenGaarde is the place for you. It is breathtaking. You want tulips? They’ve got tulips. Tens of millions of them. Magnificent photos here, guaranteed.

RoozenGaarde has more than 50 acres of tulips and daffodils. The 5-acre display garden is redesigned and hand-planted every year with more than 200 varieties.

Tulip grower Brent Roozen is the third generation to run this family farm. His grandfather, William Roozen, emigrated from Holland in 1947 and started RoozenGaarde.

Purchase tickets online and you'll pay $15 per person for a weekday, $17 on weekends. Tickets are available in-person for a slightly higher price ($17 for weekday, $18 on the weekends). Kids ages 2 and younger are free. Parking is included in the ticket price. No pets or drones are allowed.

RoozenGaarde details: Open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–7 p.m., and Saturday–Sunday, 8 a.m.–7 p.m.; 15867 Beaver Marsh Rd., Mount Vernon.

Tulip Town

Tulip Town is smaller than RoozenGaarde (18 acres of flowers as opposed to 50+ acres) but admission is a bit cheaper for your youngsters. The trolley ride — a huge hit with kids! — is included with your ticket price. This year there is a special Kids Easter Egg Hunt (for kids age 10 and younger) hunt on March 30 and 31. The egg hunt is free with admission at 11 a.m., noon, and 1 p.m. You can get tickets and find more information on the website. 

Tulip Town allows leashed dogs. Pet dogs enter free on any ticket level except the experience pass.

Tulip Town was founded by Tom and Jeannette DeGoede, who helped start the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival back in 1984. A group of Skagit Valley locals bought the farm when the DeGoedes retired in 2019.

General admission costs $15 online ($20 at the gate) for ages 12 and older; $13 online ($18 at the gate) for seniors and military; $7 online ($10 at the gate) for ages 6–11; and kids ages 5 and younger are free. 

Additional ticket levels come in a dizzying array of options: experience passes, anytime tickets, engagement packages, date-night packages, season passes and golden-hour photography passes. Check the website if one of these options sounds appealing to you. 

No drones are allowed.

Tulip Town details: Open Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., and Friday–Sunday, 9 a.m.–7 p.m.; 15002 Bradshaw Rd., Mount Vernon.

Tulip Valley Farms

This 30-acre farm in west Mount Vernon offers views of Mount Baker and beautiful surrounding farmland.  In 2023, 12 acres of bulbs were planted among hazelnut trees and between grass rows. The goal is to minimize muddiness, and allow visitors to walk between the tulip rows. Tulip Valley Farm offers Night Bloom (a chance to experience the fields at night, complete with lights and lasers!), U-pick and dogs are allows for an additional fee. The "Wow Garden" and "Parrot Garden" are new in 2024 and packed with fancy tulips. 

General admission to Tulip Valley Farm is $13.50 online ($19.50 at the gate). Tickets for children ages 3–15 are $8.50 (if purchased at the gate tickets cost an additional $3). Tickets include the opportunity to join Farmer Andrew for a free farm tour at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday–Saturday. Drones are allowed, but you'll need a drone pass ($100) and proof of insurance and drone license. Parking is free. 

Tulip Valley details: Open daily, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (buy tickets for Night Bloom for evening access on Fridays and Saturdays, 5–7 p.m.). Find Tulip Valley Farm at 15245 Bradshaw Rd., Mount Vernon

Garden Rosalyn

Garden Rosalyn is in its third year as part of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. This venue showcases its small landscaped garden that includes tulips, but not acres of tulip fields. The garden also features hand-planted designs with lots of charming details. Kids will love the pond with its resident family of geese and ducks. Don't miss the charming windmill and gift shop, and grab a snack from the food trucks that will be on site.

Tickets cost $15 per person and can be purchased online. Admission is free for kids younger than 2 yeas old. Parking is included with your ticket.

Garden Rosalyn details: The garden is open daily, 8 a.m.–7:30p.m., at 16648 Jungquist Rd., Mount Vernon.

Tips for parents

1. Pick the best time to go.

Before the tulips, the fields are bright yellow with daffodils. Tulips typically begin their bloom right around the start of April, and peak blooming happens in mid-April. Check the festival’s bloom status info and the farms’ Facebook and Instagram pages for updates.

If you visit any sunny weekend at the peak of the bloom, you can expect heavy traffic. The earlier in the day you go, the better. Those two-lane rural roads get way backed up, and it only gets worse as the day goes on.

If you prefer less busy times, plan to arrive midweek before noon. The least busy days are the days when the weather isn’t great.

2. Dress for the weather.

Rain or shine, the tulips are always beautiful. But keep in mind that these are working farms, and this festival is an outdoor event. If you prepurchase admission, some farms are allowing you to change the date of your ticket up to 48 hours in advance.

Be prepared for wet and muddy field conditions that may not be accessible to strollers and wheelchairs. You’ll want to wear rain boots and something you don’t mind getting dirty. It’s not a bad idea to pack a change of clothes for the car ride home.

If facilities are important to you, note that you’re looking at port-a-potties at the farms.

3. Know where to go when the troops get hungry.

When the troops get hungry, the farms have concession stands and food trucks. In town, we like the Skagit Valley Food Co-op for grab-and-go deli items. The Chuckwagon Drive-In is a good spot for really cheap burgers and watching a model train chug through the dining room.

On the west side of the Skagit River, try The Net Drive-In for old-school burgers and shakes, or find family-style Mexican cuisine at Mexico Café.

And no visit to the Skagit Valley is complete without a stop at Snow Goose Produce. This family-run farm stand is famous for its super-sized ice cream cones. Bring cash and an appetite!

4. Remember, you won’t see this anywhere else in the country!

Three-quarters of the nation’s commercial tulips are grown in the Skagit Valley, according to Washington State University’s Skagit County Extension. More than 1,000 acres of tulips and daffodils are grown in this county, more than any other county in the country. That’s a whole lot of flowers!

Numbers aside, the flower fields are gorgeous. You could fly to the Netherlands … or you could drive 60 miles north from the Seattle area to our local flower nirvana, right in Mount Vernon.

Editor’s note: This article was first published several years ago and has been update with information for the 2024 tulip festival.