hetismij2

If they buy the museum card they can see most of the hermitage for free - only the extra exhibition needs a €2.50 contribution. Given they are visiting more places than just Amsterdam (hooray! ) the museum card is almost certainly better value.

dwdvagamundo

We stayed in Arnhem at the NH Arnhem Rijnhotel and loved it. My spouse would like to go back and stay longer. We had a car for this part of the trip and believe it made travel much easier.

We also loved Rotterdam--one of our pleasantest surprises-- and would recommend you take the boat from there to Kinderdijk rather than a car from elsewhere. Public transport in Rotterdam is super.

theatrelover

I am overwhelmed by all this help. Thank you all so so much! ssander, this is the first I have seen about the Hermitage and that definitely sounds interesting (who knows when we will ever get to Russia). Thank you hetismij2 for the suggestion of the museum card. I had seen that there are many cards available so this is very helpful. dwdvagamundo thanks so much for the Arnhem hotel recommendation. I will get on this as soon as possible. I think we would rent the car before leaving for Arnhem.

PalenQ

I was shocked when the Kroller-Muller refused to honor the National Museum Card for entrance - about the only museum I've been to not honoring it (except the Sex Museum and Hashish Museum and Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam!)

Even if driving you may want to park your car at the entrance to Hoge Veluwe national park and take the free bikes from there thru the old sand dunes to the Kroller-Muller.

theatrelover

Thank you PalenQ. I thought that idea of using the free bikes sounded very enjoyable.

hetismij2

Pal, the Kroller Muller museum is free with the museum card, but everyone must pay an entrance fee for the Hoge Veluwe National Park.
It's the only NP in the Netherlands you have to pay to enter.

You can reserve bikes with locks for a small fee, otherwise you may find your white bike has been taken whilst in the museum. They are free to take, so there may not be one that is the right size. The park website tells you more, as does the museum site.

PalenQ

Well things have changed - it was at the museum ticket window that they said no to my card - that it was not good at the museum - I questioned that and they said no - perhaps they were charging me to enter the park at the museum?

PalenQ

another one who love Rotterdam - a spankingly modern large city but a nice one - striking modern avand-garde architecture rather than the usual canals lined by ancient buildings.

The town centre is a marvel of urban planning - walkways in places sunk below street level - lots of really neat and eclectic museums - the Ship Museum one of the best and by it the Hollywood-eqse sidewalk with hand prints of famous people performing in nearby theatres embedded in them -many famous names.

And then you have Delftshavn from where the Pilgrims set out I think after fleeing England. An authentically old part of town.

Trek up the Maas Tower to see Manhattan on the Maas and one of the world's largest ports from high up. Soccer fans can tour the local home of Feyenroud (sp?)- lots of things to see and do in this unique place -now just an hour from Amsterdam by kind of high-speed train.

theatrelover

Thank you for all this information. Is Volendam and Marken so touristy that we should skip it? Any thoughts on how much time I should schedule to visit Zwolle, Giethoorn, Kampen, Zutphen, Deventer area?

laverendrye

As your husband is interested in the Second World War, I would suggest a visit to Groesbeek, just outside of Nijmegen, while you are in the eastern part of the Netherlands. The very interesting National Liberation Museum is located there, and there are memorials around the town documenting the landings of the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. It is also the site of the large and very beautiful Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery.

http://www.bevrijdingsmuseum.nl/basi...6#.V5tQy1e5JHg

http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/rememb.../groesbeek-cem

hetismij2

Personally I would skip Volendam and Marken. They will be heaving with tourists, and whilst they are lovely villages they are overrun a lot of the time.

I could happily spend several days based in Zwolle to visit that general area, but I would say you need at least three,
Giethoorn will take a couple of hours, depending on whether you choose a boat trip or just walk through it. You could easily make a (long) day of Giethoorn, Blokzijl, Schokland, bulbfields and maybe Urk.
If you want a boat trip I would suggest the whisper boats in the Weerribben National Park, or rent bikes and enjoy a bike ride there. It will be a little early for storks but you may get lucky and see some. They are an increasingly common site thank goodness.
Deventer and Zutphen would be another day trip.
I used to live close to Blokzijl, on the old sea dike and know the area fairly well, though I haven't visited as a tourist for a long time.

If you travel back over the Afsluitdijk you might enjoy visiting the Kazematten Museum at Kornwerderzand www.kazemattenmuseum.nl/ , information in English http://www.landmarkscout.com/kazemat...e-netherlands/

So much to see, so little time to see it all. See folks there is so much more to the Netherlands than just the Randstad that most of you visit .

theatrelover

Thank you so much for all this help. hetiamij2 we are so lucky that we are flexible on time and not limited. People are always surprised that we can easily fill up 3 weeks traveling in only one country or sometimes in only one section of a country but we are interested in more than just the highlights. All your help is so appreciated.

menachem

I'll add one more destination to your list

as you can imagine, when the large polders were drained, they found ships and also warplanes. the ships are conserved at

http://bataviawerf.nl/scheepsarcheologie.html

you'll be able to connect the dots if you visit the ship's hall at the zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen, because there you'll see many of the same ship types.

and if you have a car, and you decide to drive through noordoostpolder on your way to the afsluitdijk, take the B roads from Emmeloord to Lemmer, past the farms. You'll see many commemorative signs for downed allied bombers.

a year ago I walked the pegasus trail in and around Arnhem and purposefully stayed in Hotel Dreyeroord, which was a command post during Market Garden. The hotel is exceedingly quaint (really, really quaint), but very historic and it has a lovely garden. The pegasus trail passes it, and I found walking it, past Hartenstein towards Arnhem incredibly moving, as it is so clear that Market Garden was very much urban warfare. A campaign fought in people's back gardens.

http://www.hoteloosterbeek.nl/

I often stayed in Rijnhotel for work and it's a wonderful spot. The restaurant location is really special.

menachem

Marken: if you take the bus to Marken from Amsterdam CS, you'll end at the "back end" of the island. A walk around Marken, out to lighthouse Het Paard (The Horse) and back is wonderful, and you won't meet any tourists, because they congregate near the harbour area.

For this you'd get off at the Kerkbuurt stop, and then head out via Wittewerf and Zereiderpad to the cluster of houses at Rozewerf (interesting B&B there, by the way). You then start circling the island and head out towards the lighthouse, returning via the northern edge of Marken towards Minnebuurt. There's a busstop there too, or you can return via Kerkbuurt (where all the action is)

Because of the reflection off the water surrounding the island, the light is just gorgeous. You'll see that same, Dutch, light in many, many 17th century paintings. Even on google streetview it's visible

https://www.google.nl/maps/@52.45605...2!8i6656?hl=en

PalenQ

I've enjoyed Marken and Volendam several times - yes Marken is literally an open-air museum with some locals even posing around in turn-of-the-century costumes (they once passed off as being 'real') but anyway a nice if surreal touch.

Then I took the boat over to Volendam, a much more real town than Marken (I took the bus from Amsterdam to Marken - in season you can also go by boat from Amsterdam to Marken)- on a Sunday afternoon the area around Volendam's port area was packed with folks at outdoor cafes - drinking beer and or eating pancakes but having fun.

I then walked along the coast to Edam - just a few miles north of Volendam and a great walk - Edam is a gem - tiny but relics of old warehouses and very few tourists there - and then took the bus to a train station and thence back to Amsterdam.

A superb day trip. Menachem gives great details on how to enjoy the lesser seen side of Marken - I could have used that info as I just headed from the bus to the museum town (not an official museum) and then boat to Volendam.

ssander

Hetismij2...

You are right...the museum card (museumkaart) is the best card...I mis-read my notes from my trip when I recommended the iAmsterdam card. The museum card covers much more through the country...including Rijksmuseum...but not transport.

New rules have the card good for 31 days for non-residents (used to be a year)...and it costs 59.90 euro for adults.

slander

hetismij2

The new rules were brought in because AirBnB hosts were abusing the old card - offering them as part of the package. Hence the requirement to have a photo again.

theatrelover

I am concerned about something I just read about. Easter Sunday is 4/16 so both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are holidays in The Netherlands. Are most museums and tourist attractions closed on both days? If so, that will take two days out of our schedule right in the middle of the trip which might make things more difficult. I notice that in 2018, Easter Sunday is April 1 which would mean we could come to The Netherlands after the holiday. I'm not sure what to do.

And thank you all for so much information. I am running out right now but I will read all the recent posts and respond when I return home. All of you have been so, so helpful!

hetismij2

Pretty much everything will be open for business as usual. Certainly most museums in Amsterdam will be, they are even open on Christmas Day. You would need to check the websites of other museums to see their opening times, but normally I would expect them to be open. The Kroller Muller is normally closed on Mondays (as are a lot of museum outside Amsterdam) but is open on public holidays including Easter.

theatrelover

Thank you all so much. laverendrye my husband will be very interested in those sites. We saw a lot about the 82nd Airborne during our trip to Normandy. Menachem thank you for the information and the recommendations and also for the details on visiting Marken. It sounds wonderful. PalenQ thank you for the information on visiting Volendam and Marken.

hetismij2 thank you for the information regarding Easter closings. I feel much more comfortable keeping to our plans.