mikej48

I have a member of our group of 6 who wants to see some Dutch Countryside during our 5 day pre-cruise visit to Amsterdam. I found a fairly reasonable tour from Viator (under $60) which is a 1/2 day Countryside and Culture Tour from Amsterdam Including Zaanse Schans, Edam and Volendam. Is this something that would give us a taste of the countryside? Any advice on other similar tours?

PalenQ

What does Bitcoins have to do with De Rijp?

You may also want to investigate bicycle tours that go north of Amsterdam thru truly bucolic rural areas.

https://www.macbike.nl/bike-tours/

the group tour you mention would let you see some countryside from a bus window but menachem's suggestion is a better option (meanchem lives in Holland).

MoBro

Mike, that sounds like the tour our family of four took about 15 years ago, when our kids were young teens. We took it, because it was an easy thing to do for one afternoon.

It was fine, for what we wanted: we saw windmills, tasted Gouda, and then had time to walk around Volendam for lunch. From there, we took a boat back to the bus, and back to Amsterdam.

Depending on the age and interests of your group, some might enjoy it.

hetismij2

MoBro, if the tour went to Edam then that is probably what you tasted. Not every Dutch cheese is Gouda.

If you want to see countryside rather than tourist traps take the train and visit Hoge Veluwe, or even get the train to somewhere like Baarn and walk through the woods to Maartensdijk or Hilversum and get the train back from there.
Better yet rent a car and head out of Amsterdam in almost any direction and you will find countryside and real villages. You could head out to Bunschoten-Spakenburg and if you are lucky see women wearing dracht, not for the tourists but as their every day clothes. You could then drive through the polders to Amersfoort, head back through Soest, see Paleis Soestdijk, (former home of Queen Juliana), drive through the woods, visiting Lage Vuursche where you can catch a glimpse of Princess Beatrix home, then back via Naarden, Naardermeer and Muiden.

menachem

Also, "Gouda" means it was traded in Gouda, it's not an indication of provenance of the cheese itself.

Iwan2go

Enkhuisen was our favorite place when we went to Amsterdam! There are direct trains that take about an hour. The Museum was interesting and relaxing. http://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/en/10/home/

PalenQ

Enkhuisen indeed was great both times I've been there - the indoor museum is OK but the outdoor museum is fantastic. Take a boat there or walk about 20 minutes from Enkhuizen train station - also a lovely old town:

https://www.google.com/search?q=enkh...w=1745&bih=864

You see all the Dutch countryside most folks want to see from any inter-city train, including one to Enkhuizen and it is also easy to stop off at Zaanse Schans to see Holland's 2nd largest grouping of windmills (most brought here from around the old Zuider Zee) - Dutch consider it a tourist trap but to me very enjoyable -can go into one working mill and there is a museum (and a large Dutch souvenir shop that is a total tourist trap but if you want wooden shoes, tulip bulbs, lace, etc.

Take train to Koog Zaandijk and walk about 10 minutes to Zaanse Schans:

https://www.google.com/search?q=zaan...w=1745&bih=864

Foreign tourists sometimes enjoy places locals call tourist traps!

Marken/Volendam is also neat IMO - Marken a veritable open-air museum of traditional Dutch seaside life - been three times and always enjoyed it but yes often overrun with bus tours:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mark...w=1745&bih=864

All three sites are easy to get to by public transportation - the bus from Amsterdam to Marken goes thru nice countryside and then you take a boat across the water to Volendam and its historic old port.

mikej48

I really like the Enkhuisen idea and we could also see the windmills at Zaanse Schans on the way. Thanks for the great guidance! Volendam also looks nice but I think we will opt for the first.

Michael

Take a boat there or walk about 20 minutes from Enkhuizen train station - also a lovely old town:

I don't understand. When we went there, the train station was right by the inner yacht harbor. The boat ride to the museum is an enjoyable long way of getting there.

menachem

yes it is, but a walk through the city has you pass by the most beautiful parts of it and is about 20 -30 minutes.

mewanderlost

Pick a car and go to Giethoorn! You will not regret it for sure.. taking packaged tours are just too expensive and you will get bound by their timings etc.

Read more about Giethoorn here

https://mewanderlost.com/2017/08/30/...ou-must-visit/

menachem

I think the point for me about pointing out other than the stock tourist destinations is not that I think they're inherently bad or something. Rather that they are exploited to make a quick buck off of tourists in selling an illusion of Dutch culture. So I'm always happy to point out real Dutch culture, such as Zuiderzeemuseum. That museum has a long history and was purposefully founded to preserve and show the lost Dutch culture of the Zuiderzee, now IJsselmeer. So what you get if you go to Zuiderzeemuseum is a really good, well curated insight into a central part of the Dutch cultural heritage. Zaanse Schans pales in comparison. Really, trust me on that.

menachem

And also, don't go to Giethoorn. It's overrun and very popular with Chinese tourists, who go there in droves. Instead, visit the lovely old Zuiderzee towns nearby: Blokzijl, Vollenhove. Although in winter, there's not much to it and the Giethoorn inhabitants deserve a well-deserved quiet period.

Kampen is also a beautiful city and a stronghold of Dutch fundamentalist calvinism. Zwolle is a wonderful hanseatic city on the most beautiful river of the Netherlands: the IJssel river.

mikej48

If we take the trip to Zannse Schans and Enkhuizen, could we also fit in a trip to Delft or is that too much for 1 day? Looks like its at least 2 hours by train.

PalenQ

Delft is in south of Holland and not practical to team with those two which will fill a day.

greg

>>> If we take the trip to Zannse Schans and Enkhuizen, could we also fit in a trip to Delft or is that too much for 1 day? Looks like its at least 2 hours by train.

I think it benefits you to be able to compute the travel time on your own without having to wait for some one to do this for you.

For walking part, you can use google map walking distance estimator. You decide how long it takes your group to cover given distances.

If you look at the google map, from the train station to the first attraction at Zaanse Schans is about 1 km. The furthest windmill is about 1.5 km. This would give you time it takes your group to walk. Add how much you care to spend at the museums and wind mills, you get how long it takes you at Zaanse Schans.

Then if you look at the google map again, you see that the Enkhuizen train station to the Zuiderzeemuseum is about 1.6 km. How long does it take your group to walk this distance? How much time do you care to spend in Zuiderzeemuseum?

For Delft, while you are mentioning only about the train part, which incidentally if you actually looked at the train schedule is about 65 min trip from Amsterdam Centraal, the city is pretty big. Even though the station is across the canal form the city, you would walk several kilometers inside the city.

Is everyone in your group up for all these many kilometers of walking in one day? How long does it take to move around?

For train, http://www.ns.nl/en is the Netherlands site, but I find www.bahn.com much easier to use if only interested in travel time.

menachem

If we take the trip to Zannse Schans and Enkhuizen, could we also fit in a trip to Delft or is that too much for 1 day? Looks like its at least 2 hours by train.

Delft is the other way, by train. That's not too bad in and of itself, but it involves changing trains at Amsterdam Sloterdijk and a lot of backtracking.

Instead of Delft, consider visiting Hoorn, either on your way to Enkhuizen or on your way back. It's on the same train line and gorgeous.

menachem

greg: in Enkhuizen, you can use the ferry to get to the zuiderzeemuseum. Docks just behind central station, docks right at the museum entrance.

Also: Zaanse Schans: NO! (hehehe)

If they want to visit Delft, I wouldn't do that on the same day as the Enkhuizen - Whatevertown combo. I would pair Delft with The Hague and take the number 1 tram from The Hague central to visit it: interesting ride through The Hague, along the Vliet to Delft. And it has stops that are nearer to the central part of Delft.

Michael

For us Enkhuisen was a full day's trip. At best a stop along the way is possible, but not going in the opposite direction from Amsterdam.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7623082534450/ and subsequent pictures

PalenQ

Yes Delft would be a nice day in itself - not only the incredibly quain old town center but also a visit to a Delftware factory and museum to see artisans crafting the town's iconic porcelin plates and tiles and vases, etc and the most famous one is the Porceleyne Fles factory/museum about a mile south of the old town center:

http://www.bluedelft.com/royaldelft.html

I have twinned Delft with Den Hague just a few minutes away by train (just to see Mauritshuis and old Royal Palace complex though)- but as greg says Delft has lots of things itself that requires walking - though you could just look around the central old town area - with its many Delftware gift shops! - but I got a walking tour brochure from the tourist office and followed it around town and saw many neat places - like ancient almshouses, churches, the technologial university's museum, etc.