We were delighted to learn about the marvellous tulip festival that is held every year in spring in this adorable town of Morges. Even if it is not as big as the Keukenhof gardens in the Netherlands, it was as prettier along with a bonus of lesser crowds.
Morges is a town nestled on the Lake Geneva just about 40 mins train ride away from Geneva city. We reached Morges train station in the morning and were welcomed by all the boards about the tulip festival. The tulips are planted all along the promenade by the lake and inside the Parc de l’independance in the city. The festival was started in 1971 to celebrate 50 years of the Vaudoise society of horticulture. Every year, the festival celebrates the coming back of spring and it is so amazing to see almost 120,000 tulips of 300 variety.
The Parc de l’independance is a magnificent park along the lake side besides the Morges river with the background of the Swiss alps. There are beautiful chestnut trees along the border and thousands of tulips of different colours and shapes creatively planted in wonderful designs.
The festival lasts for 6 weeks and we were luck to visit in the first half. The flowers looked fresh and we were lucky to visit on a sunny day to see all the colours in their perfect glory. There was a small wooden terrace to watch the designs in which the tulips were planted from a height. It gave a perfect 360 degrees view of the gardens.
The lakeside promenade is ornamented by the tulips all along and looking at the site of the tulips along the blue lake water with the backdrop of the snow clad Swiss alps is such a delight. Some local people also took their boats off in the lake which added to the pretty scenes.
We spent hours looking at all the colours of the tulips and trying to get perfect pictures in the Independence Park and also later walking at the decorative promenade. As we reached early, we could have all the time we needed with the beautiful frames before it got a few more visitors in the late afternoon. Any amount of pictures taken would not do justice to the pretty landscape we were looking at. If you are anywhere around western Switzerland during spring time, this delightful town of Morges will surely make your day.