Palenque recently stayed in a nice B&B in Haarlem - maybe he'll tell you where it was.
There are also several B&Bs around Lisse - if you do a google you will find them. You could also contact the VVV (tourist board) - www.hollandrijnland.nl

Haarlem is a very short drive from the Keukenhof and yes i will get the name of the nice cozy B&B i stayed in in Haarlem the past week. Haarlem to me is a very very nice city- Leiden is also close to Keukenhof and no doubt has similar B&Bs - Leiden, home to a great and large world-class university may be a bit livelier than Haarlem but both are really cute canal-lace towns. Alternatively you may research B&Bs in more rural areas between Leiden and Haarlem.

Thank you this is exactly the kind of information I need to make reservations. I appreciate the website info and would love the name of your cozy B&B in Haarlem. I believe my husband has visited Haarlem. What is the word for "B&B" in your language????

B&Bs in Dutch are just bed and breakfasts, or maybe kamer met ontbijt, or even logies en ontbijt.
In Friesland they are bed en brochjes, because they use the Fries language for them instead of Dutch/English.
Around Keukenhof though they will be bed and breakfasts I expect.
Breakfast will be a Dutch breakfast - lots of bread, cheese, cooked meats, chocolate hagelslag (sprinkles) and the like.

I will also be visiting Keukenhof around the same time, but I am doing it during a layover.

I want to do:

Schiphol->Keukenhoff->Haarlem for dinner->Schiphol by bus.

What bus numbers do I use for each leg?
Which Ov-chipkaart do I use?
How much do I need to load at Schiphol?

Schiphol take train to Leiden and catch special buses that greet trains and constantly wisk folks to Keukenhof- and you can take bus 50 (or 51?) from Keukenhof to Haarlem and then a unique bus - one that goes on a dedicated right of way, at points on an elevated roadway, toSchiphol's main terminals.

Not sure of number but last week in Haarlem i saw it go by very often - a Connexion bus station is right opposite Haarlem's train station - Connexion seems to run most of the inter-city bus service in Holland.

not familiar as yet with the new Ov-chipkaart system.

www.9292ov.nl gives bus and train info from any point in Holland to another- i found it rather confusing to use but really have not tried much. The special Leiden to Keukenhof buses may not show up. Check www.keukenhof.nlfor details.

The bus from the gardens to Haarlem runs smack thru the heart of the flower fields - a kaleidoscopic journey for sure at that time of year.

The bus from Haarlem to Schiphol is #300. It leaves from the front of the station (not within the bus depot area) and makes a stop on the Gedempte Oude Gracht in front of the V+D department store. Departures are every 10 minutes and the journey is about 45 minutes direct to Schiphol Plaza. It required 7 strips the last time I was there.

For a place to stay in Haarlem (west side) I suggest the B&B Paula. It is very convenient if you have a car but also accessible by bus or taxi, ~€12.

BTW, bus #300 is a large red reticulated bus. You can't miss it!

spaarne, my friend, the whole area in front of the Haarlem train station is currently a huge whole in the ground - the area right in front where Bus 300 stood - the Connexxion bus station is still intact- so not sure where the 300 bus stops but it is not currently in front of the stationas this area is even closed off to pedestrians as the new Station Plaza is created, as signs tout.

jeri -

we stayed in Amsterdam and did a day trip by car to Keuchehof and then Haarlem, where we had supper before returning to Amsterdam, wishing that we'd stayed in Haarlem.

it's just the right size for a few days' stay - big enough for there to be things to do plus good transport links, small enoguh for you to get to know it.

you might like to find out if you could hire bikes as that is a great way to get around in Holland.

greg there is a special bus which runs from Schiphol to Keukenhof during the season, which I believe is combined with the entrance ticket to Keukenhof. That would be the easiest to take to get to Keukenhof - you can buy the ticket at the tourist information in Schiphol. You can also ask them for advice on getting back via Haarlem. Or look at http://journeyplanner.9292.nl/ which is the English version od www.9292ov.nl mentioned by Palenque.

you can rent bikes at Haarlem's train station i believe and then do about a 12-15 mile or so flat putz toe-pedaling thru the tulip and other flower fields to Keukenhof and then continue onto Leiden, put your bikes on the train and return to Haarlem (needing to by a Fiets or bike ticket for the bike, which you load on the train yourself.

Or for tiptoeing thru the tulips, take a train from either Leiden or Haarlem to Hillegom train station (several kms south of Haarlem) and then walk a few miles on side roads thru the heart of the flower fields to Keukenhof - i did this a few years back and then walked to Lisse (a neat smaller town) and took a bus then to a train station on the Leiden to Amsterdam rail line.

i enjoyed walking thru the flower fields as much as the Keukenhof

This was the case last spring anyway: Bus 58 takes you directly from the airport to the entrance at Keukenhof, nonstop as I recall - it took about half an hour or so.

I forgot to say that during the month or so Keukenhof is open, bus 58 ran pretty frequently - at some parts of the day every 15 minutes or so, other parts of the day every half an hour.

Palenque,
Thanks for the news. I haven't been there in a year. According to the Haarlem.nl website they are building an underground garage with capacity for 5,000 bikes. That will free up some space in and around the station!

I looked at: http://journeyplanner.9292.nl/, but I needed to supply precisely where I am starting from to get the info. What I wanted to know were bus routes especially in Haarlem connecting back to Schiphol. By Monte-Carlo type of trials and errors, I found at least two buses, 277 and 300. I poked around the site but can't seem to find a route map. I was hoping to find somethings like this: http://www.campaniartecard.it/zona_1_2.cfm.

Bus 300 goes from Haarlem to Schiphol. Here is the site for the schedule, including route map. Very easy to use.
http://www.connexxion.nl/

Palenque - do you have the name of the Bed & Breakfast in Harleem??? Please & thank you.

We need to make reservations soon. Does anyone have any Bed & Breakfast suggestions for Harleem or Lisse? I checked out the Paula B&B website, it looked nice, but we are very allergic to cats. Appreciate your help.

Haarlem Holland B&B Guest Comments - Bot B&B Homepage
Bot Haarlem B&B Guest comments from tourist who visited our Dutch home in Holland.
www.botbedbreakfast.com/bed-breakfast-comments.asp

But i do believe there are no rooms with bath/WC in the room - shared only but there are three i think for four rooms.

Hanna Bot is handling things in the winter, while her brother, who also lives there, 'is wintering in Brazil' as Hanna said.

Bot Bed & Breakfast; 40 Ramsingel, Haarlem - just a block off the end of the pedestrian shopping zone - a tad less than a mile from the train station - if coming from Schiphol Airport then the 300 bus stops really close - easy enough to drive to as well - on the south end of the town centre. On a canal and the breakfast room has a view of the canal. Great breakfast - Hanna is a really neat person as well. There is a dog but i did not see a cat and if there had been one i would have reacted immediately due to my cat alergy.

Okay I've been doing more research... Would love feedback on the following cities as a base: Haarlem, Leiden, or Lisse. We will only have 2-3 nights and Amsterdam is too big to consider now. If you are familiar with these cities tell us what you think and please recommend a Bed & Breakfast and any of your favorite restaurants. A sincere thanks for your assistance.

Talked with a travel buddy yesterday and he said I may already be too late to book near the tulips in April. Any suggestions would be appreciated for Haarlem, Lisse, or Leiden B&Bs. Thanks again.

For those who are not affected by cats here is a B&B in Hillegom, just two miles from Keukenhof. http://www.station152.nl. I might add that cats are pretty much ubiquitous in Holland.

Asking for more Bed & Breakfast suggestions in Leiden, Lisse, or Haarlem. Thanks.

Your other duplicate post is not helpful.

What is wrong with Palenque's recommendation for the Bot B&B? It is in an excellent location.

Have you tried to Google B&B for Haarlem, Lisse, Leiden?

spaarne's Hillegom B&B reference is right in the heart of the flower fields! And it is a sweet tiptoe thru the tulips (on paths - don't dare enter the flower fields themselves) a few miles to the Keukenhof. The Hillegom train station is obviously right by the B&B, which could interest me as well since it is right by a train station (i presume)