Side Trips from Amsterdam
 

Hi - we are a 28 yr old couple and will be in Amsterdam for the first time from July 6 to July 11 2006. I know there is plenty to see there, but given the easy accessibility of the train station, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations of good day trips by train in the summertime from Amsterdam.
Thanks,
Jeff

If the weather is good on Saturday or Sunday go over to enjoy the beach at Zandvoort. Regardless of the weather visit Haarlem for a day. Saturday is market day in the Grote Markt, adjacent to the Grote Kerk (Big Church).

Train to Den Haag/The Hague, Delft,Gouda, Utrecht. I would avoid tourist traps like Vollendam, Monikkendam etc.

Thanks guys - I looked up Zandvoort and it looks like a nice day trip to the beach.
Jeff

But if it is a real nice day, be prepared for a LOT of people on the beach!! Better go on a working day.
Also Zaanse Schans is a nice tourity spot to visit, rather close to Amsterdam.

If the weather's indifferent, there's always the mechanical musical instruments museum at Utrecht (and the town itself is very pleasant). The tour ends by the dancefloor and several giant organs that play boogie-woogie:
http://www.museumspeelklok.nl/speelklok/uk/

ttt

We took the train to Harlem and then rented bikes and rode to Zandvoort, about an hour ride but I think we went a bit out of the way. Also one time I took a day trip to Texel - an island off the coast. I was the only American in sight and it was a great chance to see the Dutch at play - many teens were headed out there I think to camp. You have to take a ferry over to the island and then there are buses that you can use to sightsee. I had hoped to rent a bike there but it was very windy - in fact it was a lousy day, rainy, cold, and gray (in July) but the Dutch seemed to be having a fine time on the beach. They are a hearty bunch!

If it's a *real nice day* all the better to be at Zandvoort beach on a Saturday, and especially a Sunday, in July or August. It has miles of beach. Wander south in the surf from the train station, only a couple hundred meters from the (small) waves. German campers are toward the north. Bloemendaal beach further north is the trendy place nowadays, I'm told, but I'll stick to Zandvoort. It is easier to get to. In either case, when you see the Amsterdamers on the beach it is an experience.

TTT

I really enjoyed my easy-as-pie day trip to Den Haag, where I not only went to the Mauritshaus, a truly excellent small art museum, rich with delightful paintings, but the incredbily quirky Panorama Mesdag. Look it up on the web! If you can't get to the beach, the Panorama Mesdag is the next best thing.

Because I am a big fan of the Dutch painter Mondrian, I also went to the Gemeentemuseum, which has more of his works than any other museum in the world.

In The Hague the exquisite miniature (scale of 1:25) village of Madurodam is certainly worth a visit. www.madurodam.com