DH and I just got back from a one week stay in Amsterdam and Delft, with trips to Leiden and the Hague. I wanted to find a less expensive trip this year and figured going to Amsterdam in November would be pretty much be off season. I knew it could rain but I also knew the trams were good and easy and we wanted to see many museums. Turns out the second week in November was our lucky week! We only had one day of light rain at the very end. Otherwise, it was in the 50s—perfect walking around weather. DH and I are 60, in solid walking/stair climbing shape, and really enjoy history and art. First, I will cover some logistics and then go through our trip day by day.

One issue is that the Amsterdam Museum was closed for renovation. We didn’t get to go to a museum that really gave us “all the history in one place”. We picked it up as we went to the other museums. I would definitely start there if you can, so then you know how all of the other pieces fit in the puzzle.

Transit and Tickets
We landed at 10:00 am and gave ourselves an hour to go through Customs and get luggage etc. Then we got Bus 397 to Museumplein—which is where our hotel was located. This turned out to be faster than the train but it was crowded and we had to stand. After baggage claim, we followed signs to ground transport and there were actually signs for Bus 397. When you walk out the door, there will be other buses and vans right in front of you. Go around them to an island which is B17 where the bus stops. I bought tix via the QR code that was on the sign at the bus stop but then my phone was doing weird stuff. It really is better not to buy tickets and just tap on and off with your credit card.

I bought the I Amsterdam card because it had most of the museums we wanted to see plus it included the trams etc. in the city. What I would do differently is—I would also consider getting a Museum Card for Leiden, Delft, and the Hague. I did not investigate to see if the Museum Card would have paid for itself in those other locations. I suggest you do that if you are seeing lots of museums outside of Amsterdam. You would use this in addition to the I Amsterdam card.

You do need to get advanced, timed entry to the Reijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Rembrandt Museum. You can do that 2-4 weeks in advance and be fine. And for the Anne Frank House as well. (which I thought I had done but didn’t so we missed it!) You need to get tix 6 weeks in advance for this museum. I have heard that they have taken the furniture out of the Anne Frank House and that some travel experts said the Dutch Resistance Museum is better. Decide what works for you 

Using the trams was super easy. You can use City Mapper or even google maps on your phone. It will walk you to the correct tram stop, tell you which tram to get on, and when to get off. We didn’t end up using the trams all the time because the weather was nice and we enjoyed walking. And many times, it wasn’t that much shorter to take the tram! However, I will note that we were dog tired by the end of the day with all of the museum standing around and then walking. I was getting a cold so I wasn’t feeling well. Probably could have felt better if we had saved energy and used the trams—it’s just not our usual thing.

For trains between cities—we just bought tix at the station when we were ready to go. I suppose I could have saved some money there too but it was really easy to get tix from the kiosks and that ticket was good for any train that day that was going to the destination you selected. So no problem if you want to leave earlier or later!!! If you are traveling with luggage, it is worth the couple of extra Euros to have the space to put your bag on a rack. If you are in second class, full sized bags don’t really fit under the seats BUT they do fit in the space between where the seat backs meet. Note that the line between Amsterdam-Leiden-the Hague-Delft is highly traveled by business folks and students. Another reason to buy a first class ticket is that you will get a seat. We got one when we got on in Amsterdam, but folks who got on at the next stop when it was 5:00 ended up standing for 30 minutes. It was super easy to use the trains—you just looked at the departure board and found a train that listed the town you were going to. The board lists the train and then all the stops it makes. Intercity trains take a little longer, sprint trains are a little quicker because they make fewer stops. Trains ran back and forth between those towns easily every 30 minutes.

Hotels
I was all set to stay at Jan Luyken Amsterdam. I loved the location and the included breakfast and snacks and drinks. But it was $300 a night for a room that was big enough. They have smaller rooms but in reviews, people complained about how tiny they were. Then I was looking and saw Hotel JL 76—which is like ½ block south of the first hotel and was half the price!!!! It did not include breakfast—that was 20E a person and we paid that for the convenience but it was still much less expensive for a very nice room! The staff were very professional. We did send out 2 days of laundry—we paid way too much for that!!! But we wanted to pack light. They also had an honor bar where you could pour your own drink—like way more than at a restaurant—and pay at the front desk. Again, even with these things, it was much less expensive in November. The location is one block away from Museumplein station. It’s a lovely, quiet, clean, leafy neighborhood. And just one block from the major museums. The shower was in a weird, super narrow bathtub that you had to step up into—be careful getting out!

We stayed Sunday-Wednesday in Amsterdam and then Wednesday-Friday in Delft. We stayed at the Hotel de Koophandel, which had a very nice room. No elevator—and those stairs are steep. Not a problem for us but if you have balance/movement issues probably not the best place. Breakfast was included. The hotel is located on a beautiful leafy square and we ate dinner both nights at restaurants right next to the hotel. Super easy. This place had a walk in shower. The bathroom was small but functional.

Friday night I used points to stay at the Amsterdam airport Sheraton. Which is basically in the airport. Super convenient, very nice room, good room service, etc. Allowed us to max our travel day on Friday and then get up the next day for a morning flight out. Highly recommend it!Walking and Bikes
Be very careful!!! Do NOT walk onto the red bike pathways without checking both ways 5 times!! Bike riders are fast and aggressive and they don’t stop for pedestrians. I am used to looking for cars—this time it was bikes. And the side walks are really narrow and often crammed with bikes. So stay on the lookout for bikes, cars, trucks etc. as you are walking. I am amazed there are not more collisions. It was much better in smaller towns-less bike and tourist traffic and the bikers seemed more easy going. There is no way I would bike in Amsterdam during the summer with full tourist crowds-yikes!

Day by Day
Day One—land, go to hotel, check in, leave luggage and keep going! We walked about 25 minutes to the Rembrandt museum. I really enjoyed this museum. It was fun to see the house, to understand how he lived and worked, to learn more about his life and family. That took us 1.5 hours to go through.

Then we walked a short distance to the Portuguese Synagogue and the Jewish Museum. The Synagogue is quite impressive—very large—and the audio guide is very good. The Jewish Museum was interesting and the ticket to the Synagogue included the museum, but I was looking for a little more history on the life of Jews in Holland, etc. Again, it’s not bad but I guess I was looking for more than it was designed to give  We say both places within an hour or so. We walked back to the hotel—it was nice and it was helping us stay awake! We rested for an hour and then went out for a great first night dinner of CHEESE and WINE at Kassbar Amsterdam. You can sit at the bar where the cheese goes by you on a conveyor belt and you just take a small plate or you can sit at a table and order. Make a reservation—it is tiny inside! We got a flight of 6 cheeses (we picked) and then bread, grapes, and some charcuterie. They had lovely accompaniments for each cheese plate. (shaved dark chocolate with a really robust blue cheese—it was incredible!). And the rest of it made the light meal we wanted. We crashed early!

Day Two—We started with the Rijksmuseum. We spent 3 hours there with the extensive collection and a fun special exhibit. For lunch, we went to Cafι Van Zuylen—very nice soup, sandwiches, salads, and a cat who snoozed on the bench next to me!!! He enjoyed watching the people go by outside. Then we did the Rick Steves Jordan walk which was very nice. We were supposed to go to the Anne Frank House but I messed up on the tickets, We tried to get on 2 different canal cruises that were free with the I Amsterdam card but they were both sold out! Get there really early or see if you can book ahead for a future one. For dinner that night, we went with the hotel recommendation of Kartika for an Indonesian Rice Table restaurant. This place only takes cash—so make sure you have at least 40E per person for dinner plus more for drinks. It was truly superb food. Great service. The flavors were incredible. That place is a must do.


Report continued in comments

Day Three-We started with the Van Gogh museum. What a delight!!!! You get the history of his life and his work and interactions with his contemporaries, etc. We really enjoyed this museum!! We got plenty of stuff at the gift shop for fun souvenirs! That took us about 2 hours to see the collection and the special exhibit. We had planned lunch at one place that was closed, so we walked half a block to a small Italian place and had salad and pasta and soup. Easy peasy. Then we traveled to Our Lord in the Attic Museum. Wow, this is a must do. The church is huge and it really gives you an amazing idea of just how huge Amsterdam houses were! This place is very interesting and ingenious. It took us a good hour to see it. Next was supposed to be the Palace but it was being renovated so we went to the Willet-Holthuysen House. It was a nice look at a very fancy older canal house and the collections of the folks who lived there. In between all of this we also incorporated Rick Steves Amsterdam walk to see some sights. For dinner that night, we went to the Five Flies and did the 5 course tasting menu with wine pairings. It was fantastic!!!!!! Highly recommend doing this.

Day Four—We checked out of the hotel and took the tram to the Central Train station where we stored our luggage. We had conflicting reports about luggage storage. What we found was outside the train station—to the far left if you are facing the station, across a small bike road, there is a white building that houses lockers. We stored our luggage there and got tickets to Delft for a later train. Then we went to the Dutch Resistance Museum. It is incredibly well done—really addresses the question of who joined the resistance, who hid people, who didn’t and why. I highly recommend this museum. Well done interactive exhibits with personal stories. It took us a good two hours to go through it. Really good!!!! For lunch, we walked over to the Maritime Museum (our next stop) and ate at the cafι there which had very large sandwiches. The Museum was a bit of a bust. We wanted to see more info on navigation and how sails were rigged and who was on the boats, etc. It was more a bunch of pictures of naval battles and some relics. The real stars are the boats docked at the harbor on the back side of the museum. The ships were really cool. We enjoyed that part the most. Then we walked along the harbor back to the station, grabbed our luggage, and got on the train to Delft.

The hotel was a 10 minute walk from the train station. Delft is a tiny, lovely town. So peaceful. We ate that night at Spkjshuis de Dis, which was fantastic. Truly one of our best meals. And great service.

Day Five—We slept through breakfast at the hotel so we got take away coffee and banana bread from a shop just off the square and ate/drank while we walked to the train station. We spent the day in Leiden and really liked it. It is definitely busier than Delft—but really more lively vs. hectic. The very first thing we did was visit the Molen Museum de valk—the windmill museum. This place is really cool, We learned all about the history of windmills and how they were improved over the years and how the mill keepers can turn the sails to face the wind and how windmills kept Amsterdam above water. The lower floor shows the millers living quarters and then you start the ladder climb up through the windmill. I get scared on steep ladders but I was fine. It really was a discovery adventure to find out what was going to be on the next level. And all of the science of machines!!! DH loved this.

Next we went to the Rijksmuseum Boerhave. This is a cool science museum with really good exhibits on the first microscopes and navigation instruments etc. I knew DH would love it and he did! For lunch, we went to Bar Lokaal. They have a small menu but I had one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had! Lastly, we went to the American Pilgrim Museum (it doesn’t open till 2). We toured the church first—it was interesting to see the graves of the Vermeer family and some others. The Pilgrim museum is now right next to St Pieterskirk. It’s only 2 rooms but it was very interesting and had lots of info we never learned in school Lastly, we did the Rick Steves walking tour of Leiden, which included walking up the stairs to the defensive “mound”/castle like structure. That was a nice vantage point to look over the city.

We took the train back to Delft and ate at de Beren Delft—a nice, casual restaurant next to the hotel. Stick with the beers—the wine list is sad. But the service was very friendly. We did the sharing menu and it was very good.

I do want to add that I chose to stay in Delft based on the idea that there was a full day’s worth of things to do in Leiden and it is a short ride from Delft. I wanted to stay in a place that we would only spend the morning in and then leave. The other option would have been to stay in Leiden, taken the train to Delft, then the train to the Hague and then train back to Leiden. I just chose an option to reduce train time but different folks will have different choices.

Day Six-We ate breakfast at the hotel and checked our luggage there. Today was the only day we had rain! You can see everything in Delft within a 10-15 minute walking radius so that was really easy. We visited the shop-The Blue Tulip—which is next to one of the churches and found some really cute hand painted Delft ware. I didn’t want to see the factory—it was more fun to visit a small shop. We went to the Vermeer Center and were pleasantly surprised. None of the actual paintings are here. They have projected reproductions of all of his work in chronological order plus info about his life. I really enjoyed seeing all of his “work” in one place and seeing the evolution over time. It helped out later in the day when we went to the Hague and there was just more than one Vermeer in a room and I recognized all of them by sight. The upper floors had info on his techniques, pigments used, and the theory that he may have used a camera obscura. We also did the Rick Steves Delft walk and visited the old and new churches. We were going to go to the Prisenhof Museum but it appeared to be undergoing renovations and we took longer in the Vermeer Center than we had planned.

So we went back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, and caught a train to the Hague Centraal. From what I saw, the other Hague train stop did not have luggage lockers, but I could be wrong. These lockers were downstairs and easy to use. It was a short walk to the sights we wanted to see from the Central train station so that was a plus. First stop was the Escher Museum in the Palace. DH really likes Escher and I was so impressed by his early wood cuts. He is well known for many of his “infinity” pieces but he also has some really cool landscapes. The museum is in the Queen Mother’s former winter palace. In each room there is info about her and the original state of the room and what it was used for. Sort of 2 museums in one! The last stop—and I was really dragging by then—was the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery. My plan was to zoom through the highlights—and we did. But we also paused to look at the “lesser known” works and really enjoyed those as well. This is a small museum—2 small floors with maybe 15 small rooms. But it packs a PUNCH. I am truly glad we went—it was really worth it. By that time it was almost 5 and we never got lunch.

We went back to the train station, grabbed our luggage and went to the Scholpol Airport. It was really nice because the airport is south of Amsterdam and you don’t have to take a train into Amsterdam and then back to the train station. You come out of the train station right back at the place where you walked out on your first day to find Bus 397! We looked for signs to get to the Sheraton—pretty easy. We were so tired. We got room service and relaxed. The last day our flight was delayed by 45 minutes. It was so nice not to have to get up early to worry about getting to the airport and we slept in a little knowing we had some more time.

All in all this was a really good, compact trip. Traveling in November is nice because the crowds have decreased. I think if we had gone in the end of September, places that had been closed would have been open, so there is that risk. If you are going to close to remodel, of course you would do that starting in November. The Christmas lights were all going up and the Christmas markets were being built. It is a great time to go for easy traveling and very few lines!!!

I shall read this in detail later but a quick note on the Museumkaart - as a non EU resident you can only buy a temporary card at some museums, which is valid for 5 visits in 31 days only. You cannot buy the full card.

https://www.museum.nl/en/frequently-...theNetherlands

Depending on where you go with those 5 visits, it can make sense to get the card. We were seeing 2-3 museums a day!

That's still only 2 days worth of trip.

Sadly abuse of the system forced them to introduce the limit.

Great TR! Thanks!

Glad to hear you made it to the Dutch Resistance Museum!