Please advise on 10 day trip in and out of Amsterdam
 

My husband has work in Lieden,and after we are traveling for 10 days. We are thinking of taking the train to Paris for most of the time and staying at the Hôtel Saint Jacques in Paris and the Hotel Fita for 2 nights on our way out of Amsterdam. We love museums, historical buildings and alittle bit of partying. My husband is a civil engineer so he is into bridges, trains, etc. Any suggestions? We are up for changing the itinerary.
Thanks!

I'd suggest more time in Amsterdam. We loved it there. Here are my notes, with recommendations for restaurants, hotel, and sight-seeing (sorry it's so long!):

"Final stop: Amsterdam. Five nights’ stay, first visit for all of us (family of four)

We LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Amsterdam! You always hear of the Red Light district and the coffee shops and the laissez-faire attitude, but you don’t hear how open and friendly the people are, how lovely the canals and side streets, how wonderfully trendy the restaurants and cafes, how people are out strolling at all hours of the night and you feel safe everywhere. I think I’d expected it to be quaint and charming (which it is), but in a dark wood-paneled cliché way, not in the young and contemporary way it is.

The standard reply we were given in Amsterdam, when we asked for anything, was always “Of course!” How refreshing.

We stayed in a fabulous location, at The Hotel Residence le Coin, which was directly across a small street from the Hotel de l’Europe, down the street from the Hotel Doelan, on Nieuwe Doelenstraat (sp?). A great neighborhood in the heart of old Amsterdam.

The hotel has a lift and A/C, also free use of the hotel’s washing machine and clothes dryer in the basement (which was welcome as we’d been traveling over a week when we arrived there). Each room has a little kitchenette, a nice-sized bath, large rooms with wooden floors and a sitting area. It’s fairly new, so everything sparkles. Very friendly front desk, too.

Two cafes on the same block as the hotel were wonderful: Café Katoen for a university atmosphere, and Café le Jarden, for great table seating on the canal.

Amazing dinners at two restaurants in particular:
“Stout!”, at Haarlemmerstraat 73 (www.restaurantstout.nl). Fabulous ‘foamy asparagus’ soup with shrimp, chateaubriande, fresh fish, dessert course, wine list. Very trendy lighting. Great service. We’d gone to the neighborhood in search of a restaurant called “Lof” which we’d seen written up. We didn’t like its atmosphere, but were lucky that Stout! was just across the street.

Also at “Restaurant Dining Eleven” we had a great dinner. It’s at Reestraat 11. Also trendy and contempory, well-presented and beautifully-served meal.

Another nice dinner at “frenzi”, at Swanenburgwal 232. Very simple and contemporary. We arrived shortly after 10:00p.m., when most restaurants close in Amsterdam, and persuaded the owner to sell us any left-overs they had in the kitchen! They put together a nice Caesar salad with cooked-in-the-shell shrimp and mango. Very nice.

Also a good brunch at a place across the street from frenzi—called “Puccini”. Creative salads and sandwiches. Very nice also.

We took a canal cruise one evening. Toured the Anne Frank Huis and the Van Gogh Museum. Visited the Nieuwe Kerk (sp?) Our teens went to a concert at the Paradiso and loved it.

One afternoon we did the 2:30 “Best of Holland” excursion to Volendam and Marken, with a stop to see wooden clogs made, Gouda cheese created, and to visit windmills. It was by bus, with a boat from Volendam to Marken. A lot of fun. Even our two teens liked it.

Our teens also liked shopping at one street in particular, between our hotel and the museum district. Also a Zara shop there, and many others like it. They thought the selection and prices were better in Amsterdam than what they’d seen in London and Paris even.

A detail about Amsterdam if you go there-- carry enough Euros in cash, because many places won't accept a credit card for a 'small' purchase (i.e. under 25 EU).

The only unpleasantness we encountered in Amsterdam related to cab rides and inconsistent pricing. Especially when our two teens were grossly overcharged cabbing to the hotel from the concert. They were well aware of the route, having walked it already twice, but we'd wanted them to cab home late at night. They knew the cabbie took a very round-about way back in order to over-charge. Also, when we arrived at the taxi sand at Central Station, I was literally swarmed by rather aggressive cabbies and felt uncomfortably jostled by them all.

A great trip all in all. Weather was spotty, with rain showers on and off, but not bad."
:)>-

I wasn't that crazy about Amsterdam, myself, but that varies.

As long as it is on the way, I really would suggest you stop for a day in Brussels. There are a couple excellent museums there, which you like (their music museum is one of the best I've ever experienced, although I know lots of folks wouldn't care about that), and some very interesting architecture and buildings. You can fill those interests just be being around the Grand Place (the music museum is not right there, though). Always plenty of good beer, also.

Are you staying in Amsterdam while he is working in Leiden? Or travelling to Amsterdam after Leiden?
You could explore the Netherlands a bit more, by train or car.
Bridges - hundreds of interesting bridges in Holland - the Erasmusbrug in Rotterdam, the motorway bridge by Zaltbommel, the prince Clausbrug in Utrecht, any of the old or new tilting bridges.
Engineering works - the Delta works, the Afsluitdijk, the canals and locks, windmills!
In addtion to the usual museums in Amsterdam there a couple of interesting ones in Leiden. Or Den Haag. For windmills you could go to, for instance, Kinderdijk or Zaanse Schans but many mills are open to the public on weekends. Some are cornmills, some saw mills some just pumping mills. Steam engine - Cruquius, near Haarlem, www.cruquiusmuseum.nl/ or Hertog Reinout, near Nijkerk, www.stoomgemaalnijkerk.nl, click on evenementen and scroll down you will see the days it is in steam.
Trains - the railway museum in Utrecht. Airplanes either the Aviodrome in Lelystad or the military aircraft museum in Soesterberg (Free!!!).
For partying see what is on a Melkweg or Paradiso in Amsterdam. Plenty of lively nightife in Leiden too - it is a big university town after all.

Hi katemouttahere:

I just returned from Amsterdam and stayed at the Hotel Fita for 6 nights. It's in a very convenient location with regard to the museums, and I enjoyed my stay - glad to hear you're staying there too.

While in Amsterdam, I took day trips to Delft, the Hague, and Haarlem. I would say that I enjoyed Delft the most - particularly climbing the church tower for the spectacular view.

However, I also spent the weekend in Bruges in Belgium, and that was definitely the best part of the whole trip. While I liked the Netherlands, I absolutely loved Bruges - if you've never been there, it's definitely worth the 4 hour train ride from Amsterdam. Cheers!

For the Thalys highspeed Amsterdam to Paris train be sure to book tickets early as if you wait until you get there you could pay literally hundreds of dollars more as they have a Byzantine airline-like pricing structure

Or go from Amsterdam to Bruges on regular IC trains you can just hop on at normal prices and then go Bruges-Lille-Paris - also a route that you can arrange as you go and walkup tickets not outrageous as they are on the Thalys

www.thalys.com
www.ns.nl - Dutch railways

look for bargain 25 euro advance one way tickets vs over 100 euro i believe normal fare but to get these you usually must book weeks in advance

Thanks for all of the advice. We are now spending 2 nights in Brugge. I am about to purchase the train tickets.
Thanks again!

Since you mentioned your husband's particular interests, you might check out the National Train Museum in Utrecht (www.spoorwegmuseum.nl) which can be reached by steam train from the Centraal Station in Utrecht at select times.

Also Rotterdam, for urban planning, contemporary architecture, and one of the world's busiest working harbours, might be of special interest. While in Rotterdam, the NAI (National Architecture Institute) is a beautiful museum that highlights architecture and urban planning.

In Amsterdam pay a visit to Arcam, the city's architecture and urban planning info-centre (it also has small displays and exhibitions) and also take the time, or send him if it's not your thing :) to the Eastern Harbour Area. Oostelijke Havengebeid in Dutch. It's become rather famous for being a successful example of reclaimed industrial land that is now a thriving community.