Discover the vibrant beauty of Bowral during its annual Tulip Time Festival, a seasonal celebration of colour, blooms and community.

Each spring, Bowral bursts into colour as thousands of flowers bloom during the Southern Highlands’ annual Tulip Time Flower Festival. Returning to Corbett Gardens from 11 September to 5 October 2026, this year’s celebration brings together spectacular garden displays, live entertainment, family activities, workshops and regional food and wine experiences tied together under the theme Together We Bloom.

What is Bowral’s Tulip Time Flower Festival?

 Bowral’s Tulip Time Flower Festival this year extends from 11 September to 5 October. Running for more than six decades, the annual festival has transformed Corbett Gardens in Wingecarribee Street into a floral wonderland, with more than 80,000 mass planted tulips and annuals. 

Although the festival purports to be about one thing – tulips – it also honours the arrival of spring, offering a vibrant experience for visitors. A quick rewind tells us the Tulip Time Flower Festival began in Bowral when the local Rotary Club donated 500 tulip bulbs after a previous floral festival had failed due to a lack of funding. These days, the Southern Highlands festival draws visitors from across Australia to watch the seasons change. 

And while it’s still very much a community event, it has grown into quite the spectacle. Visitors are invited to wander through fields that pop with red, pink and yellow blooms and provide the perfect backdrop for happy snaps. 

The festival is open from 9:30am to 4:30pm each day, with last entry at 4pm. Over the long weekend (October 2 to 4), visitors get an extra hour with the festival closing at 5:30pm, with last entry at 5pm.

What to see at Bowral’s Tulip Time Flower Festival?

The annual Tulip Time Flower Festival is about much more than flowers. The festival’s Bloomin’ Weekends add a little extra colour to proceedings, with everything from guided walks through Bowral’s historic streets to hands-on workshops and exhibitions by local artists. There will also be live entertainment, market stalls and plenty of regional produce to sample between garden strolls.

Travelling with little green thumbs? Make a beeline for Bloom & Play at Bowral Memorial Hall on 28 September. The family-friendly event promises hands-on activities, entertainment and plenty of springtime fun. Four-legged family members can also stop and smell the tulips during Dogs Day Out on 21 September – the only day pups are permitted inside Corbett Gardens. Just be sure to keep them on a lead.

Be sure to hit the Tulip Time Flower Trail, which winds through a collection of public and private gardens across Bowral, Moss Vale and the wider Southern Highlands. The trail includes Corbett Gardens, Leighton Gardens and the elegant grounds of Retford Park, giving keen anthophiles even more opportunities to stop and smell the flowers.

The festivities will spill into the streets for Bloomin’ Friday on 25 September, when Bowral’s local businesses dress their shopfronts in tulips and floral finery. And while you’re wandering through the gardens, leave room for a pit stop at the CWA building, where freshly baked scones and Devonshire tea will be served daily between 10am and 2pm.

You can also board the Moss Vale Picnic Train in Sydney and arrive in Bowral or Moss Vale in old-world style. The nostalgic steam-train journey rolls through the countryside before giving passengers time to explore the gardens, boutiques and cafes of the Southern Highlands.

This year’s Horizontal Festival also coincides with Tulip Time over the October long weekend. Hosted among the vines at Centennial Vineyards from 2 to 4 October, the multi-sensory celebration brings together wine tastings, artisan food, live music and contemporary culture. In other words, it’s the perfect excuse to raise a glass to spring.

Where to stay

The beautiful thing about Bowral is that it’s around a 90-minute drive from Sydney, traffic permitting. But if one day among the blooms simply won’t cut it, bunker down in town at Berida Hotel, one of Bowral’s most beautiful places to stay. Just an eight-minute walk from the town centre, the ivy-clad boutique hotel feels worlds away from the hamster wheel of life in Sydney. It began life as a private residence in 1925 and has since been thoughtfully restored, with elegant rooms, leafy outlooks and an onsite restaurant and spa.

The best Bowral accommodation for the annual Tulip Time Flower Festival also includes stays within easy reach of the petals, from the Collette Dinnigan-designed Black Barn Bowral to Gibraltar Bowral and Peppers Craigieburn Bowral. A little further afield, Peppers Manor House offers an elegant country escape in Sutton Forest.

Gathering the entire entourage? The Pill Factory in nearby Bundanoon sleeps up to 36 guests across 14 bedrooms and is booked exclusively, making it well suited to big family getaways and group celebrations. Accommodation fills quickly during Tulip Time, so it pays to book your bed well before the first buds appear.

Ticket Prices

Wingecarribee Shire residents receive free entry via the Merrigang Street gate, but they’ll need to bring proof of residency. For everyone else, the prices are as follows:

Online tickets (not including booking fee)

Adults: $18.50 per person
Concession: $12.50 per person
Youth: $13* per person (13-17yrs)
Child: Free under 12 years

At the gate (no cash)

Adults: $20 per person
Concession: $13.50pp
Youth: $13.50 per person (13-17yrs)
Child: Free under 12 years