Doezie70

I am planning a trip to the Netherlands in mid April and will have 6.5 days on the ground there. Our plan was to stay in Amsterdam and use it as a home base to range out from to see the rest of the country. I have heard from some that Haarlem is also a great place to use as home base. Would someone give me advice on this?

Also, how much time do I need to spend touring Amsterdam? Was thinking 2-3 days.

Finally, what are the must-see places outside of those cities? I had originally been planning Broek-in-Waterland/Monnickendam/Marken, Keukenhof Gardens/Leiden, and Delft.

menachem

All kinds of cities in NL are good places to say. Haarlem, but also Utrecht, Leiden, The Hague, even Rotterdam it seems

Depends on where you want to go.

However, if you have 2 or 3 days for Amsterdam, is that 2 or 3 nights? Or days,, really? If days, you'll have time for either of your daytrip options, but not for all of them. What are you planning to do in Amsterdam itself?

StCirq

We are taking an 8-day trip to the Netherlands at the end of March, mostly to catch the Hieronymous Bosch exhibit in Den Bosch. Have been several times before, but will spend 3 days/4 nights in Amsterdam, 2 nights in Den Bosch, 2 nights in Antwerpen.

How much time you spend in A'dam is up to you. Usually, about 3 full days does it for me, but I'm also fond of Utrecht and Rotterdam and Den Hague and Delft and other Dutch cities/towns. If it's your first visit, a trip to Het Loo wouldn't be amiss, either. And Waterloo.

hetismij2

It probably depends on how much time you want to spend actually in Amsterdam. Staying in Haarlem means getting the train into Amsterdam when you want to visit.
All the places you want to visit are easy to get to as day trips from Amsterdam.
Are you staying the full 6 days in the Netherlands? Did you have other places you wanted to see too? Het Loo would be good, or Hoge Veluwe and the Kröller Muller Museum. Or Utrecht with amongst others the Speelklok museum and DomUnder.

https://www.museumspeelklok.nl/lang/en/
http://www.domunder.com/en
http://museautrecht.nl/en/info/fancy-a-day-trip.html

StCirq, we are going to the Bosch exhibition in February. Looking forward to it.

isabel

On my first trip to Amsterdam I stayed IN Amsterdam (3-4 days). On my second trip a few years later (7 days) I stayed in Haarlem. My intent for that trip was a lot of day trips (Delft, Leiden, Gouda, and Haarlem itself). Also the hotel I stayed in the first time (Hotel Brouwer - wonderful) was booked for my dates and I couldn't find another I really like for a good price. Prices were less in Haarlem.

Now having done it I'd say 'doesn't really matter'. The trains between Haarlem and Amsterdam are frequent and only take about 15 minutes so it's equivalent to a metro ride in a large city. On the other hand, being IN Amsterdam every evening after the day trips would offer more to do and more choices of where to eat, etc.

Here's my photos - http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/netherlands

And my trip report (for the second trip) - http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...etherlands.cfm

spaarne

<i> Amsterdam vs. Haarlem?
Posted by: Doezie70 on Jan 4, 16 at 2:08am</i>

I prefer Haarlem. Here is a small blurb http://preview.tinyurl.com/j8w53hh.

How long to stay? I spent 5 weeks in Haarlem summer 2015. I have lived there and have returned so many times I can't count the visits. I wished that there had been a pilot strike to keep me grounded. I am checking flights for April. I can always manage another bike ride to Keukenhof. What a beautiful place when in bloom.

What else to do and see? That depends on you. I biked and walked around Haarlem, Zandvoort, and Bloemendaal and enjoyed meeting the folks, sampling beverages, and taking photos. My new favorite "beer" is Amstel 0,0 which is non-alcoholic. There was a mediocre "jazz" event on in Haarlem, but the local cafes were great with home town talent playing at the bar or in the "streets" -- if you can call those alleys streets. I made several train expeditions to satisfy my need for Amsterdam, the Hoppe, and the Rijksmuseum. The tall ship expo was on in Amsterdam. This cannot be over-hyped. It comes every 5 years. I made one trip to Leiden and accidentally found out where the Pilgrims started.