How could you visit Holland and not tiptoe through the tulip fields? Or, for that matter, follow in the footsteps of Vermeer in Delft or take in some of the famous folkloric "costume towns"? Indeed, the country is so manageably small, many travelers use its size as a rationale to "do" many of its towns and cities on day trips.

Happily, the regions north and south of Amsterdam are packed with touristic plenty in themselves. Here, in the provinces of Noord (North) Holland and Zuid (South) Holland, you can feast the eye on field after field of flowers, soothe the spirit with solitary walks through the Zaanse Schans -- a jewel of windmill-studded countryside -- or the Noord-Holland Noordwijk dune reserve, and enjoy time-machine getaways such as Hoorn and Zuiderzee.

Though you would miss much of interest if you left Holland after visiting no more than these corners of the country, few other regions so well merit day trips. For this is The Netherlands in a nutshell. The flat horizon broken by distant spires, the scudding clouds chasing their reflections along the motionless surface of a canal, the fresh-scrubbed farmhouses, and the magisterial art cities all remind us of the eternal struggle between land and sea, between man and nature.

Even if you are in Amsterdam for just a couple of days, it is easy to sample one of the best-known aspects of quintessential Holland, the bulb fields. Located in an area around the town of Lisse -- address to the famous Keukenhof Gardens -- this flower-growing area to the west of Amsterdam is a modern-day powerhouse of Dutch production techniques, resulting in a blizzard of Dutch flowers falling on every corner of the earth at any time of the year.

In spring, the bulb fields blaze with color: great squares and oblongs of red, yellow, and white look like giant Mondriaan paintings laid out on the ground (you're intrigued from the moment you see them from your airplane window). It is a spectacular sight, whether you travel through the fields by bike or bus, or pass by in the train on your way to Leiden. Such great progress has been made in producing new varieties of the main bulb plants that the calendar is no longer quite the tyrant it used to be. In the days gone by, it was usually the first week of May that brought optimum tulip viewing.

If spring came early, however, the peak of the tulips, hyacinths, and narcissi (many other blooms than tulips are cultivated in this region) could be as early as the middle of April, with nothing but heaps of discarded blooms left in the fields two weeks later. Everything then depended on the weather during the final critical 10 days after the buds were fully formed. Now with much hardier strains developed, it is no longer such a timely concern. Still, there is a general progression in this part of Holland from crocus from the middle of March, daffodils and narcissi from the end of March to the middle of April, early tulips and hyacinths from the second week of April to the end of the month, and late tulips immediately afterward.

An early or late spring can move these approximate dates forward or backward by as much as two weeks. It's good news, then, that most people visit the bulb fields using Amsterdam as their excursion base, so if the blooms don't cooperate they can also check out some of the great 17th-century Dutch floral still-life paintings in the Rijksmuseum.

Those paintings, in fact, should be discovered in any event, since they are telling evidence of "tulipmania," the astounding frenzy that broke out in 1630s Holland for the buying and cultivating of the tulip, recently imported from Turkey, which became a sort of 17th-century futures market. The rarest bulbs became more expensive than houses, only to have the whole market crash in due course, taking many fortunes with it. The first tulip bulbs were brought to Holland from Turkey in 1559. The name "tulip" was taken from tulband, the Dutch word for turban, because of the blossom's appearance. In 1625 an offer of Fl 3,000 for two bulbs was turned down, but the speculation in bulbs became a mania during the years 1634-37, as irrational and popular as stock market speculation in the late 1920s, when fortunes were made -- and lost -- in a single day.

One Semper Augustus bloom clocked in at today's equivalent of EUR4,000 -- little wonder the great artist of the time, Sir Peter Paul Rubens, was heard to lament he could only afford to buy one tulip for his wife's birthday. Today, scientists diagnose the rarest tulips illustrated in that era's books as suffering from viruses that caused abnormal (and beautiful) coloring or shape. The most famous abberration is the "black" tulip, which is really darkest purple. This flower was immortalized in Alexandre Dumas's novel The Black Tulip, which tells the saga of the development of this strain in the 17th century.

The bulb fields extend from just north of Leiden to the southern limits of Haarlem, but the greatest concentration is limited to the district that begins at Sassenheim and ends between Hillegom and Bennebroek. In a neat checkerboard pattern of brilliant color, the fields stretch out as far as the eye can see on either side of the road that joins these towns. You must prepare yourself for a surprise -- the landscape looks exactly like the color postcards you have seen.

The bluest of skies combines with the brilliantly colored living flower quilt to create a dazzling Technicolor world; colors appear clearer and brighter than you've ever experienced them. The apparent artificiality of the sharply defined rectangular fields is not a concession to taste. It is part of the businesslike efficiency of an industry that has made tulip bulbs one of Holland's leading export commodities.

It must be remembered that here the bulb, not the flower, is the most important part of the plant. When the flowers are ripe, so to speak, they are cut off, leaving only the green stalks. The children play with the discarded blooms, threading them into garlands that they sell to passing motorists or making floral mosaics with them.

Lisse is one of the hubs for the famed Bollenstreek Route (Bulb District Route), but more popularly known as the Bloemen Route (Flower Route). Daytrippers from Amsterdam head here by taking the A4 southbound toward Leiden, then the N207 turning for Lisse if venturing here by car. You can also get to Lisse by train from Amsterdam. Other modes of transport are to rent bikes from the train station in Haarlem, or, more comfortably, take bus nos. 50 or 51 at the rail stations in either Haarlem or Leiden to disembark near a Van Gogh field you want to explore -- Hillegom is a top village stop hereabouts.

When the bulbs are at their best, they are often "beheaded" (in insure future growth) by armies of wood-shoed gardeners, who remind us that these bulb fields are private property (so be circumspect about heading down any field lanes). Tour companies and the local VVVs (Tourist Information Offices) also organize walking and bicycle tours, often including a visit to Keukenhof. When you take a walking or bicycle tour, or independently travel one of these ways following a map route, you get to experience the subtle scents in the fields. You'll find road-side flower stalls selling flowers, bulbs, and garlands.

If you're really serious about your tulips, attend the annual Bulb District Flower Parade, held on the last Saturday in April, a 20-mile route that extends from Haarlem to Noordwijk, a colorful processional filled with floats and marching bands.

Heart of Tulip Country, the town of Lisse is home to the famous 17-acre Keukenhof park and greenhouse complex, which draws the crowds especially during the spring, from the end of March to the end of May. Founded in 1950 by Tom van Waveren and other leading bulb growers, the Keukenhof is one of the largest open-air flower exhibitions in the world. As many as 7 million tulip bulbs bloom every spring, either in hothouses (where they may reach a height of nearly 3 feet) or in flower beds along the sides of a charming lake. In the last weeks of April you can catch tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and narcissi all flowering simultaneously. In addition there are 50,000 square feet of more exotic blooms under glass. Keukenhof is the creation of the leading Dutch bulb-growing exporters, who use it as a showcase for their latest hybrids. Unfortunately, this means that commercial, not creative, forces are at play here. There are many open gardens adorned with colorful flowers (even "black" tulips) and gaudy frilled varieties. Also in evidence is a depressing lack of style. Garden after flat garden has bright floral mosaics, meandering streams, placid pools, too many paved paths, and hordes of people. Any sense of history -- Keukenhof's roots extend way back to the 15th century, when it was the herb farm (Keukenhof means "kitchen courtyard") of one of Holland's richest ladies, the Countess Jacoba van Beieren -- has been obliterated. Tulip time is famous here, but there are special shows on view every season of the year. For information about rail access to this destination in the town of Lisse, log on to www.ns.nl or call the main rail info number (PHONE: 0900/9292). Lisse, N207, Netherlands. PHONE: 0252/465-555. www.keukenhof.nl. COST: EUR7.95. OPEN: Late Mar.-May, daily 8-7:30, early Aug.-mid-Sept., daily 9-6.

At Aalsmeer, about 19 km (12 mi) southwest of Amsterdam near Schiphol Airport, the Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer (Aalsmeer Flower Auction) is held five days a week from the predawn hours until midmorning. The largest flower auction in the world, it has three auction halls operating continuously in a building the size of several football fields. You walk on a catwalk above the rolling four-tier carts that wait to move on tracks past the auctioneers. The buying system is what is called a Dutch auction -- the price goes down, not up, on a large "clock" on the wall. The buyers sit lecture-style with buzzers on their desks; the first to register a bid gets the bunch. Note that you can reach the auction hall by taking NZH Bus 172 from the stop opposite the American Hotel near Amsterdam's Leidseplein. Legmeerdijk 313, Aalsmeer, Netherlands. PHONE: 0297/392-185. www.aalsmeer.com. COST: EUR4. OPEN: Weekdays 7:30-11 AM.

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