Day Trips from Amsterdam
 

My husband, twenty something daughter and I will be in Amsterdam for 6 days in May. What are must sees that can be done in a day trip, using public transportation. We are willing to leave the city.

Alkmaar - neat old city with famous Friday morning old-fashioned and colorful cheese market
Delft - a neat old town with canals and the famous Delftware porcelain factories
Haarlem - just a few minutes from Amsterdam by train - cool ole city with classic main marketplace
And lots more
near Amsterdam Zaans Schanns - grouping of windmills in an open-air museum with old structures that have been moved here.
Marken and Volendam - two historic former ports on the now largely filled in Zuider Zee - townspeople in Marken wear old costumes for tourists and the town is an official open-air museum of traditional Dutch ways - bus to Marken from Amsterdam and boat across the water to Volendam and return to Amsterdam by bus.

After you seen what there is to see in amsterdam, everyone has a favorite, i would take the train to Cologne Germany and see the biggest Dom in Germany. I think it took me about two hours and its a great scenic trip

You can go by train (1 hour) to Utrecht - nice city with a splendid cathedral.

If you go to the Alkmaar Cheese Market, get there early. The guidebooks say one hour early. We got there two hours early and got a good spot. By one hour early, the place was packed and all the good viewing spots were gone.

If you go by train, the best way to go except for Marken and Volendam which don't have train service, buy a day return ticket (daag retour) i believe which should be cheaper than buying two one way tickets and save you the bother of buying one to return. I think if you buy at the automatic ticket machines the train fare may actually be a euro or two cheaper than at the window. Trains run about twice hourly on most routes. Yes Utrecht is also a nice town, though a bigger nice town - the wondrous cathedral is actually built on piles of cow hides that were put under the foundations to stabilize it in this low-lying area. Utrecht is especially colorful on Saturday, when a neat old world market takes over the town streets. Hop a boat tour thru the canals or sit at the wall-wall cafes along the Oude Gracht, a San Antonio-like sunken canal where the old warehouses have been turned into mainly cafes and restaurants.

I second Delft! A quaint and darling town.

I am 23 have just come back from Amsterdam and it's a fabulous place. I would suggest going to the Anne Frank House which is so interesting and if you're into art The Van Gogh Museum is also fantastic...but there are so many great little streets to explore and shops to look at around MuntPlein (an open square type area on one of the canals)
You should have a fabulous time.
If you can get to it go to Edam clog and cheese factory its great and you get to taste test some of the yummy cheeses.

I loved Marken and Volendam. Also went crazy for the matjes herring sold on the streets. Yum ! ! !

Visiting the Anne Frank house is truly an emotional experience. Don't forget the Heinekin Brewery.

"Must sees" don't really spring to mind, and you can easily fill 6 days in Amsterdam. But it is worth seeing something else of the Netherlands, andb lots of places that are worth seeing, depending on your tastes, are within easy reach:

Keukenhof gardens:
http://www.keukenhof.nl

If you visit Utrecht, the museum of mechanical musical instruments (which is much more lively than that sounds):
http://www.museumspeelklok.nl/

If you're interested in painting and history, the Hague (for the Mauritshuis) and Delft, or Haarlem (for the Frans Hals Museum):
http://www.mauritshuis.nl
http://www.delft.nl
http://www.franshalsmuseum.nl/

Brussels. Great train trip with windmill sightings.

We day tripped to Haarlem and Delft when we were in Amsterdam last year. Haarlem is only about 10 minutes away by train-- very close. We went to the Ten Boom House, walked around the main square and went to the Teylers Museum there. All were worth seeing

From there, we took the train on to Delft and spent the rest of the day there. I wish we'd had more time in Delft. It's an adorable, charming town with plenty to see. I would have liked to see one of the pottery factories (as touristy as that is), but didn't have time. It took us maybe 30 minutes by train to get back to Amsterdam from Delft, as I recall.

I have lived in Haarlem and recommend it. Madurodam in the Hague is very interesting.

I'll second (third?) Haarlem and Keukenhof gardens. Both are only a short trip out of Amsterdam and well worth it.