There seem to be quite a few open-air museums in the Netherlands, something our family (including a 7 and 11 year old) tends to enjoy. We will be in the Netherlands in July. Can you recommend a favorite open-air museum or did you find that one did not live up to expectations? All input is appreciated. So far our plans include Zaanse Schans, Het Veenpark, and the Netherlands Open-Air Museum and National Heritage Museum(Arnhem).

I was at Zaanse Schans in June. Very worthwhile! Lots of good demonstrations and windmills, pretty setting, and plenty of shopping and eating, of course. You can get there on foot in about 10 minutes from the Koog-Zaandijk train station, a 15-minute ride from Amsterdam. For a less-congested visit, I suggest getting there by 10 or 10:30, as the early afternoon tour buses seem to unload heavily!

If you are taking children to the Netherlands, by all means go see Madurodam outside The Hague. It's a miniature of Holland and it's outdoors. Like Disneyland, it's just as much fun for adults.

Het Nederlands Openluchtmuseum near Arnhem is nice. Many different traditional buildings /houses /farms/ in a park-like setting. <BR>Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen is also recommended: a nice day-trip from Amsterdam. <BR>

I concur on the recommendation of the museum near Arnhem. My favoritepart is the merchant's house. He would add a room every year that business was good There was also a bridge just like the ones Van Gogh painted. We did as a daytrip from our hotel near Hilversum. [We stayed in a small town called Laren. The hotel was Hamdorf or something like that. Laren is a bit of an artist's colony. I remember swans in a pond in the center of the town next to the gass station.

Last spring I visited both of the museums that Sjoerd mentions, and I thoroughly enjoyed them both. They are quite different from one another, so I didn't find them at all repetitive. The Nederlands Openluchtmuseum is large and varied, spread out on a big wooded site, with groupings of buildings from various regions of the Netherlands. The Zuiderzeemuseum has more of a villagey feel, and concentrates on the old Zuiderzee ports. It has two parts -- most people seem to go only to the Buitenmuseum (the open-air part), but there's also a Binnenmuseum (indoor museum) that has ships, furniture, and traditional costume.