Amsterdam train to Hague - Delft
 

Please bear with me as we are planning our trip to Amsterdam with 5 days notice! DH and I are taking our 22 year old son before he starts his dream job after college! We are staying at the Moevenpick Hotel and plan on buying the Amsterdam Pass for the 3 day Museum pass and transportation. We arrive this Sat. A.M. and plan on walking along the canals and exploring on Sunday possibly doing the "Mike's Bike Tours", Anne Frank's house and a museum or two. Here's the big question...Monday we would like to take the train to Delft with time to get off and look around Haarlem, Keukenhof, Leiden, the Hague (more time here to go to Parliament)and Delft, then straight back. 1st - how much pp for the 3 of us? 2nd - schedule to know how much time in each place to catch the train to next stop? I went briefly to www.ns.nl - is that the best site? I'm sure I will get several replies with "you are planning too much in one day" but, oh forgot to mention, we will be in Amsterdam 5 nights - departing Fri. the 4th. We travel quite a bit and want to make the best of this opportunity. DH is an airline pilot so we do alot of spur of the moment trips. Anyway, hopefully my fellow Fodorites can help me with this. Thanks

I'll be the first one to compalin about posters who rant on and on and don;t answer THE question but are you sure a museum pass is going to save you money if you only go to a couple?

...Monday we would like to take the train to Delft with time to get off and look around Haarlem, Keukenhof, Leiden, the Hague (more time here to go to Parliament)and Delft

that's an impossible day - Keukenhof - is it open (www.keukenhof.nl) - usually only a spring show but in recent years they have had shows later in summer/fall but check

Drop Leiden in my opinion and Haarlem

Take train to Den Hague Central station, then for Delft you can either take train or a slower but lovely tram ride along a major canal to Delft

that would be a full day in itself

Haarlem is 20 mins by train from amsterdam so do it some other day - Frans Hal Museum would be worth it in itself if into that.

You don't need to worry about train timetables. They are frequent in the daytime and run less frequently through the night.
As far as I can see, a day return from Amsterdam to Delft is 19.90 euros per person. If you're breaking your journey, it may be worth getting a day ticket for 24.20 euros, and for an extra 5 euros this will cover all buses, trams and metros throughout the Netherlands.

We plan on going to a couple of museums on Sunday - do our day train trip on Monday, then more museums on Tues. and Wed.

I bought a museum pass last Jan and found that just by going to the three major museums in Amsterdam just about paid for it - plus i went to Rembrandthuis, Jewish Historic Museum and others in Utrecht - a good deal and is good for one year - i hope to use mine again before it expires.

<i> I went briefly to www.ns.nl - is that the best site? </i>
That is probably the only site for schedules, fares, and conditions. Use the Union Jack. It is very easy.

I am partial to Haarlem (where I lived) and to The Hague. See Madurodam and the Strand. Keukenhof is only open for April and May. Leiden is a university town so your son may find some interesting cafes there. Delft is a beautiful little place.

Click my name link for other information on Holland. Many posts.

Be flexible in your planning since the weather changes often and can be quite nasty at this time of the year. See http://tinyurl.com/35vbxf or http://tinyurl.com/2mc8xl.

Oops. At www.ns.nl click English. No Union Jack on the page.

The weather forecast for te coming week is actually pretty good, once we get throuth tomorrow and Saturday. However be prepared for showers and cool evenings.
Book your tickets for Anne Frank online to avoid the queues. Keukenhof is closed. It reopens in March.
If you go to Den Haag have a look at Panorama Mesdag too, worth the visit in my opinion. www.panorama-mesdag.nl/, but don't try to do Leiden and Haarlem as well. You could combine Delft and Den Hag comfortably.