Deflt is one of the finest day trips from Amsterdam - a fairly short train trip to this ancient historic town known for Delftware ceramics - anyway a recent article in the NYTimes Travel Section helps explain why Delft is so so cool!

It was one of our favorite towns in The Netherlands.

I spent a night in Delft in June. Really lovely town. I think in the future I'll stay over there and day trip into Amsterdam instead, when I need to connect to a flight to/from Schiphol.

I tend now to do that with Haarlem, andrew, which I find also very very neat and closer to Amsterdam and with direct express buses to Schiphol.

when we went with the main object of seeing the tulips and the Keukenhof gardens a few years ago, we ended up staying in Delft; we didn't fancy Amsterdam and Harlem was full.

We liked Delft a lot but in truth it was too far from Keukenhof for it to be really convenient; we spent far too much time going up and down the crowded motorways which were much busier than we remembered from our previous visit. it would be a good base for exploring Den Haag, Leiden, Gouda etc.

Yes Haarlem or especially Leiden would be a better base if motoring to go to Keukenhof.

I've always seen lots of traffic on main roads in Holland - one of world's densest countries- lots of cars -little room for roads-Unless doing countryside trains are much better for visiting Dutch cities and Keukenhof.

Thanks PQ. Good info for my planning.

We went to Delft on market day (Thursday?) and then strolled to and toured Royal Delft. Easy train ride from Amsterdam. Great vacation day.

I would go to Delft for its royal blue ceramic (which is gorgeous), and its scenery. Maybe I'll pair it with the Festival of Light in Amsterdam this December (I'm attracted to lights as moths to lamps )

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/tr...elft.html?_r=0

OOPS REASON FOR ORIGINAL POST WAS TO LINK TO THIS NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE BUT FORGOT TO DO IT IN OP!

Yeah, I wondered where that link was when I read your first post but anyway Delft always sounds cool to me.

FF - Delft is cool - we spent 3 nights there a few years ago and it made a very good base for touring.

[We also bought some really nice cereal bowls there so i think of Delft every time I eat my cornflakes!]

Delft is lovely and I really enjoyed it but Leiden has even more to enjoy, including,for Americans, it's 10 year long Pilgrim history.

Delft can easily be combined with a look at Rotterdam where from Delftshavn I think the pilgrims set foot for the New World.

Leiden is a gem often overlooked. Could easily split a day in Delft and Ledien though both deserve a leisurely whole day- especially Delft if trekking out to the De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles original Delftware Factory/Museum, a few miles out of town (nice stroll along a canal).

It's a pity that the entire southern part of South Holland isn't more on people's itineraries.

For instance, I almost never see Dordrecht mentioned, the olders city in South Holland and incredibly pretty one at that. And also where the Dutch republic, its calvinism and its revolt against the Spanish empire really consolidated itself. It's got two wonderful museums, beautiful and well preserved architecture and a history of former greatness.

One can go there by train, but if on a daytrip, I would go there by fast ferry from Rotterdam, with a stop in Kinderdijk along the way. The ferry ride up river is always spectacular. A quintessential dutch landscape of river, flooded willow plantations, that sometimes date back to the 1600s. And huge shipyards.

Delft and Leiden as one combination is also interesting, especially for people interesting in history. Delft of course where the rebel prince Guillaume set up his court and was murdered. Leiden the scene of the young republic's first university and a city holding out against the Spanish, until the republic prevailed, something commemorated every year on the 3rd of October.

Dordrecht, Delft and Leiden are excellent examples of cities that were booming until the 17th century but then got frozen in time as the Republic's economy and influence declined. The nineteenth century kissed them awake, but much of the architecture and layout was preserved.

The Hague is an entirely different beast, as a city, and warrants a daytrip of its own, I think.

*oldest*, what was I thinking.

thanks, menachem.

some great ideas there which i will store up for our next trip; we want to go soon as we broke one of those cereal bowls and I'd like to buy a replacement!

annhig: I think I would buy a Delft cereal bowl too, I'm crazy for cooking ceramics and bowls. I'll also buy some for my mom, she would be glad.

PalenQ and menachem: I myself don't over look the other parts of Holland, it's one of my favorite countries. I've been to Rotterdam and Kinderdijk twice, Amsterdam and Lisse twice, Den Bosch once this spring for the Bosch paintings. I hope other travelers will come to discover the lovely Dutch towns.

FF - there is a little story behind the cereal bowls. As we like blue and white china we thought that there could be no better place to buy some than Delft, but none of the shops we went into had anything suitable, as they only stocked fancy ones with cut out sides - very pretty but useless for cereals and milk which would end up all over the table.

Finally we found just what we wanted in the shop attached to the Nieuwe Kerk but sadly they don't do mail order, so we will have to be extra specially careful with the five bowls that are left.

The former Hansa cities along the IJssel are also within easy reach of Amsterdam. Kampen, Zwolle, Deventer are all beauties.
And indeed: why stay in Amsterdam? It's much nicer to use Haarlem or Leiden as a base.