We’ve all seen it before on Instagram: dreamy photos and videos of girls dressed in flowy dresses and fairytale-worthy skirts, standing in an endless field of colorful flowers. Once a year, visitors from all over flock to the famous fifty-acre flower field to get their multicolored ranunculus fix.
Chances are, you’ve seen the flower fields on Instagram, but if you’re expecting to stand amidst a field full of flowers swaying in the wind, you’ll be very much mistaken! My friend Fish and I made a trip out to California specifically to catch the flower fields at Carlsbad, and learned a lot on our day there.
When To Visit
The Carlsbad Flower Fields are only blooming for a few weeks each year, usually sometime between mid-March and early April. This is when the ranunculus flowers are at their peak, and the field looks like a huge swath of colors. Since blooming status changes slightly from year to year, the best way to pin down the right time to visit is by checking the official Carlsbad flower fields website. Of course, they offer attractions besides the ranunculus year-round, but the most popular time to visit is when the fields are blooming.
Fish and I visited at the end of March (March 27th, to be exact!) and the fields were absolutely stunning, the blossoms magnificent and enormous. If you’re planning your trip very ahead of time, I would aim right at the end of March for the best chances!
How to Get to the Flower Fields
Great news! The flowers fields are located a short 30-minute drive from downtown San Diego. You don’t even need a car—we took an Uber both to and from the fields. I would recommend either driving yourself or taking Uber/Lyft because there’s not much public transportation to speak of in the area.
You can easily combine your time at the flower fields with a visit to La Jolla, which is located directly between San Diego and Carlsbad!
Want to combine your Carlsbad flower field trip with a trip to San Diego? I’ve got you covered in my list of Best Things To Do in San Diego!
The Big Rule…
All right, here comes the big shocker. You are NOT allowed to walk into the fields or between the rows of flowers! Unfortunately, that means your dreams of standing in the middle of the blooming flower fields will have to stay just a dream. There are no exceptions to this and the staff will certainly get mad at you if you walk into the rows.
Instead, the team there has set up several “photo zones” in small cutouts in the fields. These usually involve a patch of artificial green grass lining the dirt and a bench that can comfortably fit at least 2 people. There are only a handful of photo zones in the entire field; I didn’t count, but I would estimate maybe ten max. And that leads us to the next point…
Expect Lines for Photo Spots
Since there are only a couple of spots where you’re actually allowed to stand, and the flower fields are only open for a short amount of time each year, there will almost certainly be lines for the photo zones. Thankfully, there is a 6-minute time limit on each spot (by honor rule) and you can come back to spots as many times as you like. People generally respect the rule.
Also, if you’ve ever spent time trying to get a photo at any crowded spot, you know the people come in waves. There will almost certainly be at least one photo zone where there’s almost no one waiting for a turn. Seize the moment and take your photos there!
It’s also worth noting that between traversing the gigantic fields, waiting in line for photos, and actually taking photos, you can easily spend a lot of time here. Fish and I spent at least 3 hours here and only left because it was closing time!
How to Get “The Photo”
So I’ve already talked about all the pitfalls and how you won’t be able to stand in the flower fields. How did I (and many other Instagrammers) get those dreamy photos, then? And no, the answer is not that we walked into the fields illegally!
The trick is to use perspective to make it look like you’re standing in the field. For example, for the photo below, I had Fish stand diagonally from me and the bench so there were some flowers between us. Then I had her shoot the photo from a low angle through the flowers to give the impression that I was standing in a full field! They turned out quite convincingly, no?
That does it for all of my tips after visiting the famous Carlsbad flower fields! I hope these can make planning your trip a little easier—and also demystify those Instagram shots for you as well. 😉
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