Quaint Towns within 2hr Driving from Amsterdam
 

Going to Amsterdam for 5 nights.
Now I desperately need suggestions for next 4 days.
Other nearby towns appear to be so similar Amsterdam.
Would like scenic hikes.
And someone mentioned Apeldoorn. Will travel over border be an issue?

Haarlem is very different from Amsterdam as is Utrecht, and those are only two cities close to Amsterdam. The Hague (Den Haag), a little bit further on, has also a totally different atmosphere, if only because of the lack of all those tourist crowds.
Apeldoorn is hardly on the list of »quaint« towns. The only reason to go there (or not) is the Palace Het Loo.
Close to Amsterdam you'll find lots of walking possibilities, at least if you don't mind the open landscape. Get the train to Purmerend and walk along the dike of the Beemster polder to the village of De Rijp and, if you've still got energy, further on to Schermerhorn.
Or to Weesp and take the small roads to Naarden, a wonderful 17th century fortified town (and very unlike Amsterdam). Or take the bus from Utrecht Centraal Station to Vianen and walk along the river Lek to Culemborg. Lots of possibilities if you have a look at a map.
For something different, you can cross the border and go to Antwerpen, which is served by regular Intercity and Thalys trains. What issues are you thinking of?

Head over the Afsluitdijk, visit Harlingen, Franeker, Leeuwarden, or go up to Groningen if you want something larger. Or try Zwolle, Blokzijl, Giethoorn, Urk, Schokland, Deventer, Kampen, Zutphen, Arnhem, Nijmegen, or head south to Den Bosch, Breda or even Maastricht and around Limburg. Middelburg maybe in Zeeland, Amersfoort, Utrecht, Naarden, Muiden. Any number of smaller towns and villages in any province.

Visit the countryside too. Try one of the National parks such as the Weerribeen or the Biesbosch or Lauwersmeer.

For quaint towns, my first choice would be Utrecht.

It is not a town at all, but if you have 4 days, what about Hoge Velouwe National Park - a combination of nature and art (van Gogh and contemporary art)?

Utrecht is a city. Plenty of nicer places to drive to within two hours of Amsterdam. Not that Utrecht isn't worth a visit, by train, but OP wants to drive. Get out in to the countryside, and visit some villages and small towns.

Of course for something nothing lie Amsterdam, but also not "quaint" you should visit Rotterdam.

Many places are architecturally similar to Amsterdam because of their age, but are totally different in every other way.

quaint, Goes or Veere everything else is just too big.

Most of those I listed are as small or smaller. I am not sure what OP is looking for though.
As I said many places are similar architecturally to Amsterdam, but nowhere is similar to it otherwise.
I hate the word quaint btw. It diminishes the places referred to thus, almost insultingly.

bm

Certainly not an expert, but I drove from (near) Schiphol to Edam one day that I had spare, and enjoyed it very much.

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I also don't like "quaint," and for a larger town what about Delft? Magical.

yep, i don't like quaint but customer is always right :-0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsC5xmmnwmA shows how quickly you can get to the rest of the Netherlands. It is smaller than many cities after all.

Are you day tripping out of Amsterdam to those places - if so a car in Amsterdam, if your hotel is in the city centre is problematic - tough tough city to drive and park in. Get a hotel on the outskirts like down by RAI perhaps.

But if going to cities take the train - if going to more rural areas then of course drive. Anyway check out the train system - www.ns.nl is the official site of Dutch Railways I think and for general info check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

And yes how about Belgium too - Antwerp is practically in The Netherlands and IMO a very interesting if not totally quaint city.

And someone mentioned Apeldoorn. Will travel over border be an issue?>

Apeldoorn in in The Netherlands of course but you can day trip to Cologne, Germany in just a few hours by train or car - see the uber famous cathedral and wander around the neat riverfront and pedestrian shopping zone (prices always seemed cheaper to me in Germany than NL).

Quaint it ain't..don't panic,it's organic...picturesque, scenic, ugly or?...who really cares what adjectives one uses to describe a city, a town, a village, etc.You'll end up using your own, anyway. Fodors tends to have on its roster more and more wordsmiths.

On one of our visits to The Netherlands we broke it up into small chunks and it worked well (for us, anyway..enjoyed it all) https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...jijtPg8r6L6QE# these pics will give you some ideas. First we decided to do the towns around Am'dam (all by car)...this included Keukenhoff Gardens at the height of tulip time, bustling Rotterdam where I wanted to walk the steps where my grandpa walked in 1912 as he awaited passage for America after a long and hazardous trip from The Ukraine over a xenophobic Europe. (as described in one of my recent novels of the time)...took in nearby Kinderdjk, home of a concentration of windmills.

We also made time during that first swing to see Dan Haag and loved Delft (with a visit to a working porcelain factory). After a week in Am'dam itself, we then headed north to Volendam and Edam (the cheese town) and extended that phase to the countryside further east, to the welcoming canal village of Giethoorn which was very pleasant with great sunny weather.

This was all coupled with a 2-week trip into Belgium (Brussels and Brugge).

With the week in Amsterdam and the six days spent as described herein, we felt we had a satisfying view of the country which we had seen in less depth years before.

Stu

Delft!

philly fan (poor thing)

Delft was very impressive, canals and all

Hoorn- just northwest of Amsterdam is a gem - not like cookie-cutter Dutch regional towns - one of the nicest places near Amsterdam I've seen.

Another vote for Delft.

For sure Delft, glad to see it finally got some mentions. Also an easy day trip while you're in Amsterdam..

The Hague--the Maritshuis just re-opened. It has some charming parts.

Yes Delft is a perpetual favorite for many including myself - you can combine it with a look at The Hague and the Mauritshuis - easily - take train to Den Hague Central station and take a bus or a mile walk at the most I'd say to the Mauritsjhuis/Royal Palace (or whatever they call it) area - then walk to The Hague's H.S. station thru the heart of town and take the train to nearby Delft, spending most of your day here.

Car would be a complete hassle in The Hague and Delft too.