Kinderdijk and Keukenhof in 1 day?

Old Jun 4th, 2013, 07:03 PM
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Kinderdijk and Keukenhof in 1 day?

Hi. I am planning my trip to Netherlands in April 2014. If I make Rotterdam as my base, is it possible for me to visit Kinderdijk (windmills) and Keukenhof (tulips) in one day? I intend to take public transport and no bicycle or car. If yes, what are the best routes? Thank you.
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Old Jun 5th, 2013, 01:36 PM
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KInderdijk will take you half a day, then about 2 hours travel all in all to Keukenhof, so say you'd do Kinderdijk in the morning, head back to Rotterdam, take train to Haarlem, then go to Keukenhof, you'd arrive there at about 3 PM. Seems pretty rushed to me.

Kinderdijk: don't do the river cruise, but take the High Speed ferry from the Willemsplein pier, get off at Ridderkerk and take the connecting ferry to Kinderdijk.
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Old Jun 5th, 2013, 02:39 PM
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You would not take the train from Rotterdam to Haarlem as that would take you smack right by the Keukenhof (no station there) and then you'd have to backtrack on a bus from Haarlem - far better take a train from Rotterdam to Leiden then hop the special shuttle buses that go constantly from Leiden train station to the gardens - avoid weekends IME if possible for a more relaxed visit.
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Old Jun 5th, 2013, 03:28 PM
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PalenQ is right on about starting at the Leiden train station. You want to take Connexxion bus #54 - they offer a combination bus/Keukenhof ticket.

If you have time while in Leiden, you can visit the Molen de Valk, a lovely windmill museum conveniently located within a 5 minute walk from the train station. (Look left while exiting the station - you can't miss the windmill.) You can tour all 7 floors of the Molen de Valk (falcon), starting with the caretakers home/office on the first floor, then on to the outside deck on the 4th(?) floor, which wraps around the entire molen and offers a great view of Leiden.

http://molendevalk.leiden.nl/en/

Robyn
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Old Jun 5th, 2013, 05:03 PM
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Thanks all. After Kinderdijk in the morning, must I head back to Rotterdam for my trip to Keukenhof in the afternoon? Is there another way?
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Old Jun 5th, 2013, 08:32 PM
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Cool! I thought there was a faster busservice from Haarlem. (Note: Leiden, 30 minutes by train from Rotterdam, Haarlem 40)

Keukenhof express is now bus 854 from Leiden.
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Old Jun 5th, 2013, 08:36 PM
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Your question about heading back to Rotterdam: yes, you must. If it we're me, I'd do them on separate days and combine Keukenhof with Leiden, The Hague or Haarlem and Kinderdijk with Dordrecht (one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands and cradle of Dutch calvinism. It's a beautiful city and the ferry ride up and down river is interesting.
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Old Jun 5th, 2013, 09:48 PM
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Thanks menachem, will make a detailed search on this.
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 12:25 AM
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Hi again. After searching, there is another place to see windmills named zaanse schans. Should I pursue going to Kinderdijk which is UNESCO heritage or just go to a tourist area? It may be more convenient to make Amsterdam a base?
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 06:28 AM
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Zaanse Schans is the 2nd largest grouping of behemoth wooden windmills in Holland and is right on Amsterdam's doorstep - short train ride to Koog Zaandijk then short walk to the area - windmills clustered around waterways and there is also a museum of life in the Zuider Zee area - all told not as impressive as Kinderdijk but still awesome and you can tour at least one mill that will be open.

I would make Amsterdam your base and do Zaans Schans and Keukenhof in the same day - this way you could go to Haarlem and take the bus from there to Keukenhof, going smack thru the flower fields to get there (from Leiden the bus does not go thru many flower fields) - return via Leiden to Amsterdam.
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 04:11 PM
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Great! I would love to see the flower fields too! Thanks.
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 06:24 PM
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Kinderdijk and Keukenhof in 1 day?
Posted by: tropica on Jun 4, 13 at 11:03pm
Hi. I am planning my trip to Netherlands in April 2014. If I make Rotterdam as my base, is it possible for me to visit Kinderdijk (windmills) and Keukenhof (tulips) in one day? I intend to take public transport and no bicycle or car. If yes, what are the best routes? Thank you.


Looks like Pal has persuaded you to see Zaanse Schans. I agree. You can climb around inside a working windmill there. The best way to see the flower fields is to go Dutch, by bike. Since you don't want to bike, the bus from Haarlem will have to do. Here is my photolog of a bike trip from Haarlem http://tinyurl.com/5nwqzp. It is a very easy ride. You'll also see most of this from a bus window.
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 10:24 PM
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spaarne,your pictures look so real, make me eager to be there.

I am still searching around. I found out today my companion has been to Zaanse Schans last year. Guess I shall skip it and pursue Kinderdijk. I am considering Utrecht my base after the Keukenhof visit.

Thanks all.
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Old Jun 7th, 2013, 04:28 AM
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You can take the train via Haarlem to Hillegom then walk a few miles - tiptoe perhaps thru the flower fields - well on back roads along them - I did this en route to the Keukenhof and it was as much of a treat as the gardens and exposition itself.
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Old Jun 7th, 2013, 05:09 AM
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Gouda would make a sweet smaller town base for Kinderdijk - just about 10 miles or so to the south.
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Old Jun 7th, 2013, 01:32 PM
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I'll second Gouda, if not for a base, definitely for a visit. It's a quaint little town which has a charming Stadhuis on the Marketplein, complete with a mechanical figure carillon on the side of the building, which, every half hour, enacts the town receiving it's charter.

Then there's St. Janskerk, which has over 60 beautiful stained glass windows, dating from the 1500's through the present, depicting bible stories and the history of the Netherlands. The story of how the windows were preserved during WWII is quite interesting.

http://www.sintjan.com/index.php/en/glazen/glass/glass

Utrecht is a much larger university town, but it has a nice old centrum. The Dom is most impressive, and if you dare to climb the 465 steps of the Domtoren you'll have a great view of Utrecht and it's surroundings. The Mechanical Clock Museum is interesting, if you're into that kind of thing, and has much more to offer than just clocks (musical instruments, etc).

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Old Jun 8th, 2013, 08:40 AM
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Utrecht's Dom's tour uniquely was built on a foundation of cow hides I read!
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Old Jun 9th, 2013, 06:01 AM
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Pal - Can you please elaborate on the "foundation of cow hides"? You have sparked my interest...

Robyn
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Old Jun 9th, 2013, 09:13 AM
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Well in a former life I was a travel writer specializing in European travel and wrote an article on Utrecht - a city with many many neat places - eclectic places - and when researching the cathedral I read in one reliable source that when the church tower was thrown up they put a ton of cow hides under it as a foundation - now would use cement of course and probably has been shored up. Google was not my friend when trying now, years later to, document this!
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Old Jun 9th, 2013, 03:47 PM
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Wow! I will definitely look into your suggestions!
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