Leiden and area
 

Hello,

I'm fine-tuning our April trip and spending the last four nights in Leiden. I have one day planned for the Kuekenhof Gardens, and another for a daytrip to Delft. I have an afternoon set aside for Leiden and am wondering if I should use the remaining day to stay in Leiden or look at another daytrip.

Basically, is there enough to keep us busy for 1 and 1/2 days in Leiden? I'm travelling with my 86 year old mom and we enjoy the architecture, people watching and a museum or two.

Our trip schedule is Amsterdam - Brussels - [stop in Gent] - Bruges - Antwerp - Leiden

Thanks!

Any large enough cities have what you are looking for and you can spend as much time as you care to spend, so "enough" to do is an unanswerable question. I am not sure how you chose your destinations, but just in case if each subsequent city start to look just like previous ones, a day trip that different from your other destinations is Edam, Volendam, and Marken. I started from Amsterdam around 8:30am, bus to Edam, then another bus to Volendam, a boat to Marken, had a leisurely lunch at Marken harbour, then bus back to Amsterdam around 3pm. Marken houses are unlike anything you would see in other cities you mentioned.

Leiden is nice, with a few beautiful museums (Volkenkunde, RMO, Sieboldt Huis) to keep you occupied. Also the University's Botanical Gardens are gorgeous, as is the entire area around it (Rapenburg). Leiden is the Oxford of The Netherlands, and home to the oldest university in the country.

The Hague is 10 minutes by train away, so that might be an idea for an afternoon too. Edam, Volendam and Marken are just too inconveniently situated, daytrip-wise, to be worthwhile, since getting there involves one too many transfer with public transport, or getting on a guided bustour.

The Hague is convenient and gorgeous in spring. Do have tea at the Des Indes hotel!

Consider Haarlem and/or Gouda. I stayed five days in Haarlem last summer and did day trips (including Ams, although I'd been there before so was more interested in visiting other towns). Here's my trip report (also included the rest of the places you are going).
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...etherlands.cfm

These day trips are so easy in the Netherlands that you don't have to decide ahead of time. Gather the info for Haarlem, Gouda, etc but if you aren't bored in Leiden you don't have to take them. But even though I stopped in Leiden twice, and really liked it, I think you might want a half day trip to Haarlem at least.

Thanks for the suggestions of Haarlem, The Hague and Gouda. I'll do some preplanning and if we decide we want a change of scenery we can flip a coin and head off for even half a day.

Leiden is lovely and has the Pilgrim history, church and museum. They lived in Leiden for 10(?) years prior to sailing to N. America on the Mayflower. We really enjoyed Leiden and have considered using it as a base as well. John Quincy Adams attended the University there.