Looking for advice on what to see outside Amsterdam
I will be in Amsterdam this fall and will have a free day. I've been to Amsterdam several times and want to explore outside the city.
If you've traveled there, what places outside of Amsterdam would you recommend seeing?
I plan to hire a guide with a car, so I can direct him/her to take us almost any place.
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It’s been close to 20 years but one place we visited was Volendam. Quaint little town north of Amsterdam and along the way we toured windmills, wooden shoe maker, etc. It was part of a tour. You might investigate day tours outside Amsterdam that do stuff like that, if that interests you.
It depends on what your interests are. The Hague offers a wealth of experiences…..the Mauritshuis Museum to see Vermeer’s ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’ and other works of art. You can take a tour of the International Court of Justice. There is the Grote Markt for eateries. On and on.
Mike,
If you head towards Volendam you can stop at Marken, Edam, and Zane’s Schans but head further north to Hoorn. Haarlem is 15 minutes train ride but is a smaller version of Amsterdam. Utrecht is an easy train or car ride. Kasteel de Har by Utrecht is easier by car. Further away but still doable by car is Kinderdijk or Giethoorn(stop at Zwolle on the way.) If you have never been to Antwerp, it’s an easy high speed train ride and you can see The Cathedral of our Lady, the Red Line Museum, and the print house. I think the Rubens house is still being renovated. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll put something together based on your input.
I would add Delft, Zaanse Schans is fun to see, and Rotterdam would be a great stop for lunch at the very cool market place and the innovative art cube apartments nearby - really interesting architecture.
Volendam was an optional excursion for our Belgium/Netherlands cruise last year where Tauck arranged an ebike ride to a cheese factory. It's a quaint but a bit touristy village on the water. The cheese factory/dairy with it's automated cow milking machine was fascinating. We've also been to Zaanse Schans on our own. Just took the bus directly from Central Station. It's a bit like Colonial Williamsburg with windmills you can tour (for a price) and a few shops/restaurants.
Mike, when we visited Amsterdam we met our Dutch friends in the medieval town of Amersfort. It is quiet and beautiful. The Piet Mondrian House is there but not a lot of other “touristy” activities. We took the train which was fun and about an hour or two’s journey. We ate a delicious meal at a great rijstafel place near the train station. Our Dutch friends who live in Almelo highly recommended it, and it was a jewel.
Anywhere in the Netherlands is an east train ride away. I've been flying to Schiphol on the way back from other points in Europe and have had lovely stays in Leiden, Delft and Utrecht. This year I'm looking at Dordrecht and Rotterdam. Choose any day trip you like, though an extra day or two is even more fun. Here are 2 scenes from Delft last summer, where I stopped after a week in Riga.
Outside of Amsterdam? Get a RAC and drive over to see MADURODAM. Pretty amazing (I visited there several times in the late 1960s/early 1970s when I was stationed in the Army in Germany.)
Regarding Rotterdam, we docked by the beautiful red bridge while on the Yuletide Spirit cruise. Tauck took us on a food walking tour and we saw some of the ‘cube’ houses along the way. Not much time to really experience more but I hope to return some day.
I am so disappointed that Tauck discontinued the tour; this year will be its last.
Another question but somehow related to Amsterdam. We will be in Amsterdam at the end of a Tauck tour next year, May 2027. I have 4-5 days in between another tour begins with another tour company touring the Baltic States and that starts in Helsinki. We’ve been to Amsterdam twice and Helsinki once before. What do we do in between those tours? We enjoy trains versus going to another airport and we’re thinking about taking a train from Amsterdam to Paris and then flying to Helsinki when that tour begins. Of course my husband isn’t wild about Paris as I would be. He would be more interested near the sea. We’ve also spent 5 days in Nice before aTauck tour began another time. I looked up where trains travel directly from Amsterdam. I am interested what others have to suggest. Thank you.
Hamburg, Germany is vey interesting, but I do not think there is a direct train from Amsterdam.
OurTravels34 - You can fly to København then take a rail journey through Scandinavia as you work your way to Helsinki.
Interesting. I will look at that option. I am wide open to suggestions. We do enjoy the South of France and as mentioned, we’ve been to Nice and Aix en Provence. I enjoyed them both.
Last summer we took a Tauck river cruise ending in Amsterdam then flew to Stockholm to start the Scandinavia land tour. Short flight and inexpensive. We arrived 3 days prior to the tour start and had a great time. So many different museums and sights. Very easy public transport. The Tauck hotel on Gamla Stan was excellent. If you want to do something different you could take an overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. Paris is always good too but not if your spouse is anti.