We are two active, well-traveled, 60-ish females spending 3 weeks in the Netherlands in May, 2012. After spending at least a week in Amsterdam (and also doing day trips from there), we want to experience the rest of the country. We enjoy museums, landscapes, exploring neighborhoods, good food and wine, getting into the culture, and kicking back - mix it up. We'd like to base ourselves in 2-3 other places in the country. Suggestions for best places to base ourselves and best few things to see/do when based there? Prefer to travel by train, bus and bike while there, but can rent a car if necessary.

You may want to extend your explorations to nearby Belgium, these countries are so so tiny - Bruges is one of Europe's prettiest and most historic towns and only a few hours by train from Amsterdam. Would make a great base from which to hop to Gent, Antwerp and Brussels.

Otherwise Holland is so so tiny that everything is a nice day trip from Amsterdam but if you want to base in a sweet regional town then how about Haarlem - near Amsterdam yet so so different - Delft is a smaller lovely town that could make a good base as well.

Ditto PalenQ re Haarlem. The Frans Hals Museum is small but a gem. St. Bavo, the *Big Church*, and the Adriaan windmill are interesting. The Adriaan was recently rebuilt. For the real article go up to the Zaanse Schans. You can climb around inside the windmills.

For landscapes Holland is pretty flat, but you could rent bikes and pedal through the dunes to Zandvoort and then south through the dunes to Noordwijk. A flat but scenic ride is south through the tulip fields to Keukenhof, http://tinyurl.com/y8hltjl.

Also ditto PalenQ's recommendation for Antwerp. Good mussels and beer. If the marine museum has reopened don't miss it.

Do visit Haarlem, but it's so close to Amsterdam it makes no sense to base yourself there.

I second the vote for Delft, my very favorite small Dutch town.

There is a lot of territory to the north (Friesland is a province due north of Amsterdam, on the sea, with a very different culture and language). You could center yourselves in/near Groningen or Leeuwarden to see these areas.

Southern Netherlands is quite beautiful and interesting, and only a short distance north of the border with Belgium, which you certainly could include on this tour. I loved our overnight in the tiny, and most lovely, village of Veere, and commend it to you.

For a different take on Netherlands, seek out Maastricht, which lies as far east and south as Netherlands gets. It is a most lively university town, very pretty and with a wonderful spirit. Highly recommended.

Finally, consider basing yourselves in/near Apeldoorn, in order to visit the spectacular palace at Het Loo and the stunning modern art collection at the Kroller-Muller Museum, within the confines of the Hoge Veluwe National Park. Go especially if you like Van Gogh, as this museum has the world's second largest collection of his paintings.

I second the vote for Maastricht . We were able to do several day trips from there including Aachen, Germany and Liege, Belgium.And Maastricht could hold your interest for several days as well.

Maastricht is very nice. It has a fantastic Carnivaal, aka Mardi Gras, but you won't see that in May.

If you want two other bases besides Amsterdam, I would choose Apeldoorn and Maastricht, as mentioned by others. Apeldoorn for the Veluwe national Park, Kroller Moller Museum, palace Het Loo. Maastricht for the lovely town and surroundings, great food and day trips to Belgium and Germany. Totally different vibe from Amsterdam or Apeldoorn.

Otherwise Antwerp is a good candidate, if you like musuems, culture, good food. There's a fabulous new museum, opened this year; www.mas.be. But the main fine arts museum is closed for refurbishments.

Beware of the holidays in May, when shops may be closed (May 17 and 28), and tourist sites could be busy.

With three weeks you could head north for a week, explore Friesland, maybe the Wadden Islands, Drenthe and Groningen, all undervisited by tourists, then head back south via Overijssel where you can visit some lovely old villages and maybe see some tradional costumes. Flevoland offers the "new" land which is not so interesting, but Gelderland again had many lovely villages, such as Elburg, the town of Apeldoorn, with het Loo Palace, the Veluwe, Arnhem.
Utrecht province offers the city of Utrecht, the town of Amersfoort, the delightful Spakenburg (with a very good chance of seeing traditional dress). Soestdijk Palace where Queen Julian lived - you could visit the gardens which are lovely - the tours of the palace are only in Dutch I believe and must be pre booked. The Groene hart has some lovely small villages surprisingly close to Amsterdam.
Then down through Brabant and on to Maastricht and zuid Limburg for hills.
Zeeland is also full of interesting places to visit.

There really is enough to do in the Netherlands without side trips to it's neighbours.

Renting a car means you can get to some more unusual places which the bus/train system won't take you too.
If you decide on a Wadden island then you can get the train to Harlingen and the ferry acorss to either Vlieland (where no visitors cars are allowed) or Terschelling, and rent bikes.
You can do them as a day trip from Harlingen if you get the fast ferry.

Whilst the 17th (Ascension Day) and the 28th (Whit Monday) are public holidays some towns and villages have special events on those days.
Soest (where I live) has the "Oud Ambachtenmarkt" - old trades market - full of people demonstrating old crafts and the like, on Ascension Day. There other some other events around the country too.

Great suggestions from everyone and it really helps us narrow it down - thank you so much!

I agree with Utrecht, Haarlem, Leiden, Maastricht, the islands and do not forget Rotterdam (one of the biggest harbours of Europe) and the dikes at Zeeland, callend Neeltje Jans http://www.neeltjejans.nl/index.php/en/home.
But did you really see all of Amsterdam: I live there and I did not see all yet. Some extra things to take a look at:
- Amsterdam North part of the city with a wharf and artist and city develepment.
- Unesco National Heritage Beemster (dikes 10 km form Amsterdam city centre http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/899 and see more in Holland
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