Ena_m

I'm travelling next week to Amsterdam and will be staying 9 days. I was planning to do 4 or 5 side trips - Haarlem and the National Park Zuid-Kennermeland (initially I'd thought about Zandvoort instead of Zuid K. but in in the end it didn't seem appealing enough), Delft, The Hague, Leiden or Utrecht (or both). I was thinking of skipping Rotterdam, as it would probably be too much with all the other travelling for a nine-day stay and smaller cities with a peculiar charm appeal to me more, thus Leiden and Delft. I have some questions though. If I had to choose between Leiden and Utrecht, which one would be a better option for its architecture, museums, general atmosphere etc.? Also, are Haarlem and the tour in Zuid-Kennermeland doable in one day? Am I wrong to choose Leiden and Utrecht over Rotterdam?

ira

Hi E,

>Am I wrong to choose Leiden and Utrecht over Rotterdam? <

No.

Have you considered Den Haag and Gouda?

spaarne

Haarlem is nice. I used to live there. Zandvoort is only good in summer. Don't waste your time in October.

I was in Haarlem and Amsterdam a week ago. We took a day trip to Antwerp. It is a beautiful city and has delicious mussels. Try restaurant Bacino.

Rotterdam was leveled by German bombers in 1940. It has been built up again but not in a very pleasant way. It is a huge commercial port. Do Leiden and Delft, and Utrecht if you have time. Den Haage over Rotterdam any day.

ekscrunchy

I thought that Rotterdam was one of Europe's new design capitals, filled with great shops and great architecture. Am I dreaming?

artstuff

If I had to choose between Leiden and Utrecht, I would opt for Utrecht (33 minute train ride), then on to Gouda (22 minute train ride).

The canals in Utrecht are built on a cellar level, instead of street level, which gives the town a whole different atmosphere. There's also a wonderful musical instrument museum, the "Nationaal Museum van Speelklok", that's worth a stop. And, if you don't mind climbing stairs (465 steps), you can ascend the Dom Toren for an impressive view of the area.

The Stadhuis with it's glockenspiel, and the stained glass windows in St. Janskerk, are worth the extra train ride into Gouda, a lovely little town which can easily be done in 2-3 hours.

Delft and den Hague are right next to each other, so they can be explored on the same trip. However, you could easily spend a day in each town. It would help if you could do an overnight in Delft.

My husband and I kind of like Rotterdam, particularly for some of their post WWII architecture and planning. The Kijk Kubus, the Overblaak Rail station and the "Pencil" building, all in the same plaza, are worth a quick stop in Rotterdam, if you're into architecture. We also enjoy taking the tiny water taxi across the harbor to the New York Hotel, sometimes dodging the gigantic freighters and barges.

I envy you that you get to spend 9 days in one of my favorite countries. Enjoy your time in the Netherlands.

Robyn >-

vakantie

Utrecht is a much bigger city than Leiden so if you are looking for a smaller more peculiar charm, Leiden would be my choice.

That being said, Utrecht is a very charming city as well. The cellarlevel canals artstuff is talking about definitely give the town a different feel. An interesting museum is het centraal museum and if you are into architecture you could do the tour to the famous Rietveld house. I haven't visited it yet but want to soon! http://www.centraalmuseum.nl/page.oc...=&version=

Rotterdam is, as said, mostly post WW II. If you are into architecture though, I think it makes a nice change from all the historic towns you have chosen to visit. It has no small town feel to it al though, it's actually the only Dutch city with a real skyline. It does have interesting sites. If you do go, make sure you know in advance what it is you want to see, as it is not 'layed out as natural' as the other towns you are talking about. Where in most towns you just walk into the city center and find lots of places of interest, in Rotterdam you'll have to look for it more actively. It has many good museums with Boijmans van Beuningen being one of my favorites.
http://www.boijmans.nl/en/5/many-sided-museum

Good luck planning everything

iris1745

Hi Ena; Consider visiting the wonderfull town of Muiden, ten miles south of Amsterdam. It has a magical castle. Google or Yahoo 'Muiden' and click on images for viewing. ENJOY Iris

PalenQ

I spent a wonderful day in Rotterdam last Jan - yes stunning architecture and high-rise structures leading locals to call it Manhattan on the Maas i think

It has several very neat museums as well - one a shipping historical museum on the port and an acclaimed modern art one and several others

Leiden, Utrecht, Haarlem, Delft are all lovely old cities but in many ways the same - Rotterdam is unique in many ways.

Rotteredam and Delft could be combined in one day as the cities are a few minutes apart by train.

ekscrunchy

Interesting article about Rotterdam:

"Rotterdam is increasingly to architecture what Paris is to
fashion or Los Angeles to entertainment."



http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/03/2...ace.html?fta=y

hetismij

A much underrated city, Rotterdam, but you have to like modern architecture.
You could combine it with Delft or maybe Dordrecht - you can take the waterbus to Dordrecht. It is another underrated, small, city.
www.vvvdordrecht.nl/

You could combine the Hague with Leiden. In the Hague do visit Panorama Mesdag!

Much as I like Utrecht, the capital of my province I would probably give it a miss if you are visiting so many other places.

What tour are you doing in Zuid Kennemerland? Then we can help with whether you should combine it with Haarlem. It also of course depends on want you want to see in Haarlem.

Ena_m

Thank you all very much for your fast replies. I definitely no longer plan to go to Zandvoort, only do Haarlem for that day instead of combining the two towns. I'm also probably going to skip Zuid-Kennemerland, I haven't checked all the tours of it but in the end am not so interested in it and don't think I'll have that much time since my list of museums planned to visit is REALLY long. I'm of course going to Den Haag and Delft but plan to go to Den Haag one day and Delft some other day. I thought about going to both towns the same day but since I plan to visit Mauritshuis, Gemeentemuseum and Panorama Mesdag and the main landmarks, I won't have for Delft too and very little time to do sightseeing in Delft, and my plans include visit to the Vermeer Centrum, the Royal Delft factory tour and other main sights so it will be impossible to do both and I want to take time and enjoy the sights (plus, I always tend to stay in museums an hour or two more than planned). I thought about doing Scheveningen (for an hour or two) with Den Haag but only if I do all the museums and see everything I planned in D.H. iris1745, thank you for the Muiden, the castle looks wonderful and so does the area itself, small and compact and lovely. I think I'll probably include it since it's so close to Amsterdam and do either Leiden or Utrecht (or maybe Utecht+Gouda), not both. I could included these two because nine days is not little considering the small size of the whole country but I don't want to rush, go to ''too many'' places, be under any pressure of not making it to see one sight or other because I have to go to another place etc. I want to just stroll around Amsterdam, soak in the view, see as many interesting museums as possible, do a boat tour, sit in cafes etc. I'm so excited, it's my first time in Benelux! Plus, I planned to spend a day/day and a half in Cologne (my first time there as well) since my airplane ticket is Cologne-Sarajevo. I plan to leave Amsterdam in the morning on the 10th day and enjoy some Cologne sights (planned to see the Dom of course, maybe two romanesque churches and visit the Ludwig Museum, hope that'll be doable) that day and the next morning since my flight is around 3:30 P.M. I can't wait for it all! Thank you all for the comments and suggestions once again!

yk

Hi Ena_m-

I totally agree that you'll need 2 separate days for Den Haag and Delft, given your interests. I visited both on the same day and definitely wished I had more time in both places.

It may be a bit late now since you're leaveing next week, but you might be interested in this recent thread regarding a visit to the Peace Palace in Den Haag.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35161350

Have a great trip! I'm envious of your trip.

PalenQ

If doing more than one or two train day trips in Holland then by all means investigate the Holland Railpass - which can be used on any train anytime - just hop on. No waiting in often long lines to buy tickets (since i guess many American credit cards don't work in the automatic ticket machines). Compare fares at ns.nl - Dutch rail website with prices in euros with pass prices. For any pass info and info on Dutch trains in general i always refer to two good sites that contain a lot of objective info in addition to the usual pass prices and an option to add to cart thing- www.budgeteuropetravel.com (whose online european planning & rail guide has a good chapter on Holland trains and places to go) and www.ricksteves.com.

basingstoke2

Back in May we stayed in Haarlem as a base and did our day trips to Amsterdam, Delft and Utrecht thus we had a bit of a different perspective. First of all we were very happy to have stayed in Haarlem rather than Amsterdam as originaly planned. Haarlem is a lovely small Dutch city, very convenient to our other destinations with a warm and friendly ambience. It was a nice place to stay and to return to at night. In Haarlem, don't miss the Frans Hals museum. We thought it to be a really special place.

Utrecht and Delft were both excellent days trips. They are quite different from each other. In Delft we toured the Royal Delft pottery with the intention of choosing a piece or two at the source and found several items that we now enjoy (I am looking at a plate we purchased now). We also thought the stained glass windows at the Dom were exceptional. Utrecht has several small shops along the canal where you can purchase older pottery and plates and very good prices. Seek them out if you like that sort of thing.

Our trip reports for Holland and photos are posted on this forum. They would be dated sometime early in June.

basingstoke2

In re-reading my above post, I notice that I have given the impression referring to the Dom and its windows that it is in Delft. The Dom I refer to is in Utrecht.

PalenQ

Ah the Utrecht Dom - one of the most graceful churches in europe imo

and odd fact i learnt once when i was writing an article about Utrecht - that a whole pile of cow hides serve as a foundation upon which to build the church in the wet soil.

hetismij

Which probably explains why the middle bit was washed away!

artstuff

Thanks for the interesting information about the foundation of the Utrecht Dom, PalenQ.

If you visit the Dom, be sure to take the time to look for the foundation's "footprint" on the Domplein (between the Kerk & the Toren), where a line of stones shows the layout of the section of cathedral that was "washed away" by a hurricane in the 1600's.

Robyn >-