My husband will be attending a two day conference here in June and we are thinking about taking our sons (17 & 21) along with us and then after the business is done spending another 4 days in Amsterdam. Is there enough to do in Lelystad for two days? How long does it take to reach here from the airport in Amsterdam? Are there any places nearby that we could take the train to for something to do? I did a search but didn't turn up much other than an outlet mall and I know that wouldn't go over with the boys!

Lelystad wasn't even built until the 20th century when the land it sits on was reclaimed. So it's naturally just a bit short on historic monuments and atmosphere. I know there's a historic shipbuilding museum there and probably some other museums, but really since train transport in the Netherlands is good and distances are short you could easily get out of town. Amsterdam is less than 3/4 hour away by train (the airport is less than an hour away; unless things have changed, though, the train between Lelystad and Schiphol bypasses central Amsterdam), and from there you could easily get to lots of nice places -- Haarlem, Leiden, Delft, amon others. Another idea is taking a bus from Lelystad across the cuaseway to the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen, which has a really nice open-air museum as well as an indoor museum. I don't know how often the buses run, though.

Thanks for the help KT!

Wow! What a "blast from the past"
In the late 1970s the spousal unit and I were staying in Laren [near Hilversum] and, wandering around in our little Opel, we ended up in Lelystad -- and enjoyed an exhibit on the technology of the still visibly draining polder.

The good news in the Netherlands is that you are never far from anywhere.

One place we really enjoyed was the open air museum at Arnhem -- you can get there by train with once change in under 2 hours. [The change is either at Duivendrecht or Utrecht Centraal] I don't know off-hand how close the museum is to the train station.

Thanks to all, this is sounding more interesting all the time!

Hi

I visited the area often during the late 70's and 80's. I visited the first building in Almere Stadt ..... had to climb ladders to get to the roof level. It is now a pretty big commuter town.

The Lelystad polder museum was destroyed in a fire, but may have been rebuilt.

I'd second the maritime museum in Enkhuizen.

Otherwise Amsterdam is close by train.

Another interesting place is Naarden Vesting, a fortified island. You would have to research public transport for that.

Peter
The Languedoc Page
http://tlp.netfirms.com

Maybe you'd like to take a day trip or spend an overnight on a boat on the Ijsselmeer (formerly the Zuiderzee)? There is even one trip that leaves from Lelystad:
http://www.sailtrack.nl/cmsimple/en/...ck:Round_Trips

ttt

Check on www.bataviawerf.nl where they rebuild old historic ships. The page will come up in Dutch but you can click for the English language version.