sljap

I will be staying in Amsterdam for 5 days in mid November. I would like to take one or more day trips to one of the following places..which places would you recommend and why??
Haarlem, Leiden, Gouda, Delft or Rotterdam....

vancojo

Delft is really cute and easy to stroll around. We liked Haarlem as a base to stay but would not think it a better/much different from Delft as a day trip. The highlight of our recent trip to Netherlands was Hoge Veluwe National Park. I think you could make it as a day trip for Amsterdam--it was such a change from the towns we had visited before--not to confuse your itinerary--but even if the weather is fallish the art museum in the Park is spectacular--hate to confuse things, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the towns on your list.

joday

We are also thinking of staying away from Amsterdam. We are looking at Haarlem for a base, but we really want to see Delft and Gouda. We're also going to Bruges, Brussells, and Ghent on this trip. Thinking of staying in Ghent as a base to see the other two. We would like to know the names of other delightful villages that would be worth a stop to look around or just stop at backery or restaurant. What are your favorive places in this area. We're going in June. A few days ago I posted a question about getting Five Star hotels in this area. I don't think I got any replies. Has anyone done this here?

greg

Vancojo, how did you travel to Hoge Veluwe National Park and back?

If you are a pottery fan, the Royal Delfware factory in Delft may be of interest. It is a big tour bus destination, so you must be into this type of pottery to make a trek (walkable) from the Delft old city center worthwhile.

Others will probably disagree, but after seeing one canal city to another, they all start to feel the same ... to me. I liked Edam to the north. I thought it was a small charming canal town located in a farmland -- if you can beat the tour buses . I also liked Marken since its stilted architecture was interesting. You can make a nice easy one day loop through Edam by bus, Volendam by bus, then a boat to Marken, then a bus back to Amsterdam (Centraal) using a Arriva bus Waterland bus ticket. I did not like Volendam as much. It was full of big bus tour groups and couldn't wait to hop onto a boat to Marken. Marken felt so idyllic especially after Volendam.

Saraho

ttt