I understand that museums are commonly closed on Mondays.

My wife and I have a 5-day Holland Rail Pass. What would you recommend as the best Monday day trip?

Delft is one good one - i did for the umpteenth time a few weeks back

fine fine old town - dreamy canals and the Porcelyne Fils (sp?) famous Delftware factory that is a short bus ride or walk - about a mile or less from the station - see it being made on tours and the museum, etc.

I do not think Dutch museums are closed on Mondays but may be wrong

If going to more than a few be sure to buy the National Museum Card, valid for one year. I had one in Jan and went to many museums i would not have and found many of them to be neat.

Leiden is another neat Delft-like town that's closer to Amsterdam

Den Hague, Utrecht and Haarlem (only a few euro each way in case you do not want to use your pass), especially Haarlem in a fine old town with the famous Frans Hal museum in an old convent i believe.

I also enjoyed Rotterdam of all places - for its modern art and sky scrapers (locals call it Manhattan on the Maas, the river there) and i went to several museums, because of the pass, that i found really fascinating. Modern Art was one of them - they are all in a group a short walk from the train station

there are many other neat towns to day trip to

I'm not sure of the spelling, but the zaanseschans is interesting - windmills, open air museums...

http://www.zaanseschans.nl/

Also, Marken and Volendam - very touristy, but atmospheric. You take a boat to the island of Marken.

The Hague has the fabulous Mauritshuis - with Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" and "View of Delft". You'd have to check the closing days, of course. Also, Madurodam (sp?) a miniature village with the famous buidings of the Netherlands...Touristy, again, but I thought it was interesting. This was in '81...

hetismij - what about museums, presumably major ones in Amsterdam being closed on Monday?

I just checked my notes from our trip in October, 2007. The following I have cut-and-pasted from my Word doc. This was a full day including lunch in Haarlem:

"Our first stop was Zaanse Schans, which was a 15-minute walk from the train station through this delightful old hamlet on the banks of the River Zaan. The day was overcast, about 55° and comfortable for walking.

Zaanse Schans presently has five working windmills, some small cottages with gift shops—all in an old-world setting. We visited a windmill named de Kat (The Cat) owned by a father and son. It produces powdered colored dyes. The windmill gears were working, and when we climbed the “almost” vertical stairs to the top outside, the wind was turning the sails. On our way out, I bought a cup of hot chocolate. In fact, there is a cocoa factory in this rural village, and the entire area smells of cocoa. A wonderful aroma!


Madurodam, known as the smallest city in The Netherlands. Madurodam was nice to see. The scale is precisely 25 times smaller than in reality. The green areas require special attention, because real trees and shrubs with small leaves are used in the landscaping."

It was a pleasant day out out of Amsterdam for us.

I know, for example, that the Escher museum in The Hague is closed on Mondays.

another vote for Delft. I always stay in Delft and visit other places. The town is easily walkable and you still have canals and LOTS of bicycles.

Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum, Ann Frank house in Amsterdam are open every day.
So no problem and I never heard of a common closing day.

In Delft, both the Prinsenhof Museum and the Huis Lambert van Meerten appear to be closed on Monday.

In Rotterdam, the Boymans-Van Buningen Musem and the Maitime Museum Pins Hendrik also appear to be closed on Monday.

So too ...

the Rijksmuseum Van Oudheden in Leiden,

the Teylers Museum in Haarlem

the Nationaal Museum van Speelklok Tot Pierment, the Centraal Museum, the Rijksmuseum Het Catharijnecovent, and the Dutch Railway Museum in Utrecht,

the Rijksmuseum Palis Het Loo in Apeldoorn,

and the Fries Museum and Museum Het Pincesshof in Leeuwarden.

But Amsterdam major museums are open on Monday i think

and you are going to day trip out of Amsterdam that day because the perception Amsterdam museums would be closed.

Sounds like more museums out of Amsterdam are closed that day so maybe not the best day to day trip after all?

I've been to all those museums in those towns and have loved all - the Speelkok thing in Utrecht especially

The major Amsterdam museums are open on a Monday. In other towns and cities they tend to be closed. So I would say visit the MAsterdam museums on Monday and to the day trip another day.