Castlefest takes over the landscape park around Kasteel Keukenhof from Thursday to Sunday at the turn of July and August. The 2026 edition (30 July – 2 August) was the 21st, sold out, and drew 55,000 visitors with 850 volunteers; the organisers, Vana Events, have already fixed 5–8 August 2027 for the next one, with tickets on sale from 1 October 2026 at 12:00 CEST.
The programme is built around live music on several stages, from pagan folk to medieval rock, a large market of exhibitors selling costume, leather, jewellery, books and blades, medieval craft demonstrations, workshops, fantasy authors and themed catering. The centrepiece is the Wicker Ritual: over the weekend visitors, bands and traders ‘live towards’ the moment on Saturday night when the Wickerman is set alight in the park.
The castle is honest about its age. Kasteel Keukenhof was built in 1642 for a Dutch East India Company commander and enlarged in neo-Gothic style in the 1860s; the medieval element of the site is only its name, which goes back to the Keukenduin that supplied the kitchen of Jacoba van Beieren’s Slot Teylingen in the 15th century. What is medieval at Castlefest is the craft, the music and the atmosphere, not the architecture.
Costume is not required but is the norm, and a weapons regulation applies to prop weapons. Children under 4 enter free with a ticketed adult, ages 4–12 need a children’s ticket and everyone from 13 pays the regular price. There is a campsite next to the car park (a ‘Castlefanatic incl. camping’ ticket covers the campsite but not parking), a stamp system for re-entry, free bicycle parking and no dogs except certified assistance dogs. Lisse has no railway station; the nearest are Leiden Centraal, Haarlem and Hillegom.
