Dear all,

I'm from Singapore and will be arriving in Amsterdam on 28 Oct, departing on 5 Nov. This is my first trip to Europe, together with my boyfriend and I wish to cover as much as I can!
This is what I intend to do:

1st Stop: Amsterdam (2 days)
- Visit Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank's House, Hortus Botanicus
- A city tour (on foot/bike) to understand Amsterdam's history and architecture
- Take a canal cruise, check out the Red LIght District, visit open-air market

Is 2 days sufficient for Amsterdam? I will be staying at Swissotel Amsterdam as I'm an employee working under the group managing the 3 brands: Raffles, Fairmont and Swissotel. I'm not sure if it's the best location to stay at in terms of convenience to all the attractions.

2nd Stop: Rotterdam (1 / 2 days?)
- Visit the NAi, Maritime Museum, cube-shaped houses, the 'Swan' etc
- A city tour

Basically, I want to take the opportunity to explore and take in the architecture in Rotterdam. Is 1 day sufficient?

With maybe 5 days left, I want to visit visit the Dutch Country Side. But I'm not sure where to start because I came across an itineray that includes Edam, Zaanse Schans, Volendam and Marken, all in 1 day! Windmills, dykes and ditches, cheese farm, picturesque villages wooden shoe factory and fishermen’s villages along the former Zuidersee are all that will be covered. And it sent me pondering how in the world is this possible!?

In addition, I thought Kinderdijk and Schermerhorn are the 2 sites to see and learn about windmills. So I do not know exactly whether going to Zaanse Schans is sufficient.

Also, there is Aalsmeer, where the world’s largest flower market is located. I understand it's cold in The Nethelands now. So is there a subsitute for this attraction? Because tulip is my FAVOURITE flower! And I wish I can see them in their most beautiful in their home ground.

We also like to visit medieval castles such as the De Haar Castle and Rijksmuseum Muiderslot in North Holland's Muiden. And I'm having difficulty figuring how to get to these castles! There doesn's seem to be any day trip/tour that covers visits to castles.

Then there are Utrecht, Leiden, Delft and the famous pottery, The Hague, Alkmaar and its cheese market. We definitely don't want to miss these!

Please advise me on whether I'm too ambitious. Or it is indeed possible to cover all the rest of these sights in 5 days. I found alot of tour companies doing day tours that can finish these sights in like 2 days. And I was wondering if that's the best way to see these places or should we do free and easy all by ourselves. Yet, I do know that with guided commentary, we will be able to better understand the history and facts. So, I'm in a dilemma.

Lastly, most important question is should I use Amsterdam as the base to travel out to these other towns/cities and then back to rest for the nights or should we travel out and stay within the towns/cities we visit? Which way is more cost savings?

Oh, one more thing. I can't seem to find the scheduled timing and price chart for the NS (the railways) in The Netherlands. Can someone guide me to a web / location that I can lay my hands on them?

Thank you all, in advance!!!!

Cheers,
Mag

Hi Mag,
for most of the things you want to see you could just stay in Amsterdam and do day trips, even to Rotterdam,
You will find details of Dutch Railways at www.NS.nl. Click on the English version.
You won't see any tulips at this time of year I'm afraid, but the flower market at Aalsmeer is still worth visiting, if you can get up early enough. If you do a search on the web you will find it's opening times and details of how to get there.
For places like Zaanse Schans you can book a tour from Amsterdam or do it your self by train and bus, the same with the other places you mention.
There is a lot of information on Amsterdam and the Netherlands already here on the forum if you do a search, and most of the places you mention have websites in English.

Thank you hetismij! I just found some really informative posts in the forum by other travellers. Will do more research on the web. Is there any particular tour company you would recommend?

We took a couple bike tours with Mikes Bikes while in Amsterdam - the city tour and the countryside tour. Thoroughly enjoyed them both. The tours are in English, the guides are a lot of fun, and we saw a lot of great stuff.

For our visit, we had 5 days rather than your 8, so we spent most of our time in Amsterdam itself, but we did make a day trip to Delft. This is a neat town and I highly recommend it - and only an hour by train from Amsterdam.

Since you want to see as much as possible, I definitely think that basing yourselves in Amsterdam and making day trips is a really great idea - will save you the time lost in moving from 1 hotel to another. The trains are great.

An itinerary that includes "Edam, Zaanse Schans, Volendam and Marken, all in 1 day!" was mentioned. magtml, I think you're right to put that exclamation point there, as that strikes me as hopelessly overambitious -- and I'm not a poky sightseer. I was able to see the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuisen and Zaanse Schans as a combined day trip from Amsterdam, but I don't see how one could possibly fit in more here.

May I suggest either Langweer or Elburg. Both very easy towns to walk around in with shopping and beautiful waterways.

Hi; For us, besides Amsterdam, Maastricht was one of the most lovely 'medieval towns' in the Netherlands. It would require two nights, as it is at the southern tip of the country, easily reached be train. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/maastricht As 'hetismij' has suggesteed, most of the sights you want to see, can be reached by train on day trips. Another lovely 'medieval town' not mentioned is Gouda. A short train trip. Love the country. Richard P.S. Very good French food at a reasonable price. www.theeboom.com/

Thanks for all the suggestions! Have been laid down by work to really plan out the itinerary for this trip. Netherlands has so many great sights, it's realy difficult to decide where to go and what to see!

iris1745, would a day trip to Gouda suffice? Or can I cover Gouda and Rotterdam in 1 day? They seem pretty near. I've checked out Maastricht's official website. The town is beautiful! How long is the train ride from Amsterdam to Maastricht? It seems really far away. If it's a must-see, I may have to re-work the itinerary to see if I can fit it in.

Maastricht is lovely, and has a different feel compared to other Dutch towns, but it is a fairly long trip from Amsterdam, and there are lots of nice places to visit nearby.

Would you consider renting a car? If you want to go to De Haar castle, it's easier and the area between Utrecht and Amsterdam, along the Vecht river is lovely. It's where the rich merchants from Amsterdam had their country houses.
From the website of De Haar, it seems that there's is one bus per hour from Utrecht station to Haarzuilens. This is also a nice area for cycling.

Another place you may want to consider is the Veluwe national park (with the Kroller Moller museum, where you will find several Van Gogh paintings), and palace Het Loo, near Arnhem.

Palace het Loo is in Apeldoorn, not Arnhem and can't really be combined with Hoge Veluwe/Kroller Muller.

Masstricht is 2 and a half hours away by train from Amsterdam so unless you plan on staying a night there I would give it a miss.
You could do Gouda and Rotterdam in a day or Delft and Rotterdam in a day.

Hi; If 'medieval architecture' is a desire, Masstricht should be on your list of cities to visit. We have been twice. I thought the train ride was longer, but for only two and a half hours, consider Masstricht for one night. Leave Amsterdam at 8am and you have almost a whole day to visit. . On the way back to Amsterdam, you could visit Gouda and Delft. Lots of decisions, but with eight days in the Netherlands, you will have a great trip. Richard

Wow, 2.5hrs is a long ride!
Well, I kinda have this itinerary outline in place right now. And I will attempt to expand it gradually by fitting in the attractions to visit, based on the time available in each town/city.

Pls share with me some of the best sights in these locations and knowing how much there are to see and so little time to spare for this beautiful country. I would really appreciate your kind advice. Tks guys!

Day 1: Amsterdam, eta 0625
- A walking/biking city tour
- Canal cruise
- Red-light district tour

Day 2: Amsterdam, eta 0625
- Visiting attractions namely Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank's House and Hortus Botanicus

Day 3: Haarlem eta 0900 (Overnight)
- Tour Haarlem and Leiden

Day 4: Den Haag eta 0900 (Overnight)
- Tour Den Haag and Delft

Day 5: Rotterdam eta 0900 (Overnight)
- Tour Rotterdam and Gouda

Day 6: Masstricht eta 1030 (Overnight)
- Tour Masstricht only

Day 7: Utrecht eta 1000 (Overnight)
- Tour Utrecht only

Day 8: Amsterdam eta 0900 (Last night!)
- Join a day trip up North Holland

Day 9: Depart @ 1040