Flower-Spotting Adventures With Austin-Lehman

New adventures are in full bloom this spring and summer.

From bike tours in Holland to hiking in Havasupai, multiple opportunities for actively viewing spectacular spring and summer colors await. For a week of biking spiced with cuisine and culture, head out to the lavender fields of Provence, France’s garden spot, where blossoms of  hyacinths also abound. Try a Pacific Northwest tour filled with biking, hiking, paddling and horseback riding in the Skagit Valley and San Juan Islands. The Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon offer breathtaking vistas and vibrant patches of lupine, serviceberry, butterweed, morning glory and blooming cacti in an explosion of color. Or visit the first national park in the United States—Yellowstone—for its display of alpine wildflowers in late summer.

If making a decision on which path to travel becomes difficult, just ask the experts. “The best trips for spring flowers in all of Europe are our cycle tours in Holland,” says Austin-Lehman cycling guide Sajid Litjens. “Everywhere are the most amazing colors. You have to visit ‘de Keukenhof,’ a tulip fair with all kinds of bulb flowers. But the ultimate highlight is just cycling through the tulip fields. The landscape almost looks like an abstract painting.”

Carol Austin of the Austin-Lehman family says, “Havasupai in the Grand Canyon is a must for spring flower-seekers. From late March to early May, all of the desert flowers are in bloom, and up against the backdrop of red rocks and blue skies the colors are amazing.”

It’s time to truly stop and smell the roses.

Following are some of Austin-Lehman’s stellar adventures around the globe:

Holland – Haarlem to Odoorn

Eight day/seven night departures are $2,998 per person double.

Holland – Netherlands Highlights

Five day/four night departures are $1,998 per person double.

Provence, France

Seven day/six night trips start in April through autumn.  $3,598 per person double  (single supplement is $680).

Pacific Northwest’s Skagit Valley and San Juan Islands

Six day/five night tour begin June 12 and continuing through September; $2,798 per person double.

Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon

Five day/four night hiking trip begins March 20 and continues through the summer and early fall; $1,698 per person double.

Yellowstone National Park

Six day/five night trip, best in June and July. The per person double rate is $1,998. Children’s rates are from $1,598.

Photos courtesy of Austin-Lehman.