wendy17

Hello all,

My boys, 6 and 8, and I have three full days in Belgium. Our apartment is in Retie on the border of Holland, about a 1/2 hour SW of Eindhoven and 45 minutes S of Tilburg. We have a car and will be back in Brussels at the end of our trip to do Bruges, etc, so I thought this part of the trip would focus on Holland.

We will arrive from Cali and will overnight in Retie for 4 nights. On the 5th day, we will set out for Freiburg.

I'd like to say that we will peruse shops, art museums, and take in cultural sights, but these are young boys. They've done well in open air museums, technology or natural history museums, and of course love to swim, hike, and run.

Here are some ideas I came up with, but I've purely gone off of the map and websites, so any input would be appreciated. And I don't plan to see all of this. These are just options.

Here are some options:

1. Zaanse Schans: While I don't really want to do 2 hours in the car after an international flight and before a drive to Freiburg, I've heard this is a must see with kids. How long will a visit take? Several hours once there?

2.Maastricht Underground: Stumbled across this while thumbing through a guide book.

3. Utrecht.

4. Kindrdijk. Maybe a better option than Zaanse Schans?

5. Efteling Park?

6. Gouda...only because the 8 year old learned that's where his favorite cheese comes from. We will not be there on market day, so it may not be worth a visit.

7. Genneper Parks, especially the water park.

8. I see that Achel and Westmalle breweries are close to me. I'd like to get to one for a beer. (Yes, I know I can buy it in a store here.)

Okay, please know that this is my 14th trip to Europe, so I am satisfied with seeing something new, showing the boys (their second trip) some other part of the world, but open to kid friendly or silly tourist stuff as well.

Oh, we will depart early for Freiburg. I thought at first we'd see Bokrijk Open Air Museum, but then thought we'd reroute and hit Trier instead.

Thanks!

laverendrye

For boys that age, I would put Madurodam in the Hague at the top of the list.

http://www.madurodam.nl/en/

PalenQ

Utrecht's National Railway Museum is a great family attration - lots of hands on stuff and a trove of old trains, trams, etc:

https://translate.google.com/transla...l/&prev=search

Take a boat ride thru Utrecht's canals too.

Whathello

Efteling is said to be nice.

Btw, just a remark without much interest, you are visiting Netherlands, not Holland. That is like saying England for UK. You have 2 provinces that are called Holland (south and ... north) out of 11.
Utrecht for example is in the province of Utrecht.

wendy17

Thanks for the input. I will take a look at Madurodam...I had the Hague on an earlier list. Not sure why I removed it.

Utrecht seems a good option too and a railway museum would be quite appealing to the boys.

And old habits die hard I guess. I do know the difference between Holland and the Netherlands and while I use the word for Netherlands when speaking German, I use Holland in English. Will have to do an informal poll, as I think probably most Americans say Holland.

PalenQ

Yes Americans say Holland and things like the Holland-American Line ships use it and so does the NL government in like the Holland Tourist Office:

Holland.com: Tourism in the Netherlands
www.holland.com/

Why do they use holland.com because that's what Americans call the NL.

Welcome to Holland.com, the official website of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, where you receive all the information for your visit to ..

But technically I think Holland only refers to a part of The Netherlands - the eastern parts and the parts most folks go to.

But as this is an American-dominated and sponsored forum using the American term to me is perfectly acceptable and it is shorter and easier to type than The Netherlands.

menachem

Yes to Efteling. It's almost everyone's favorite childhood memory in NL. Rides are quite ok for that age category, and there are a few beautifully thematized one's. However, the fairytale forest remains a firm favorite with almost all visitors.

Also: Openlucht Museum in Arnhem and the Market Garden museum in Hartenstein: both are near Arnhem.

Madurodam: the novelty soon wears off.

Zaanse Schans, meh.

Railway Museum in Utrecht: nice, also because they'll be able to climb into a lot of trains, it's very hands-on.

Also during summer, the Veluwse Stoomtrein Maatschappij operates steam trains from Apeldoorn.

tonfromleiden

I agree with Menachem that Kinderdijk is much better than the Zaanse Schans. You could make it great fun by using the river ferry from Dordrecht, but then you have to return to Dordrecht to pick up the car again. (It's a half-hourly connection leaving from the northern tip of the historical centre. Look on Google Maps for »Merwekade Dordrecht«.)
Getting to Gouda can be made great fun by taking the river ferry from Nieuwpoort to Schoonhoven, and from Schoonhoven follow the small river Vlist to Haastrecht. The interesting part of Gouda is small, and in extensively explored in one hour.

And the terminology for this part of the world is indeed confusing. Have you ever wondered why the correct English term is in plural? And why the English name for the language is what in Dutch and German is used for German?

Whathello

PQ. Don't take it personally. You know I like you.
But
To say that because 300 millions are wrong it makes it right is sheer stupidity.
Saying that it is even more ok because this forum is US dominated is arrogance.
Don't bothering to correct is showing contempt towards the Dutch.
My personal - non European please don't let us turn this into Europe vs US.
French also use Hollande for Pays Bas
Didn't the Brits use Low Lands or was it when Belgium was part of it ?

PalenQ

Don't bothering to correct is showing contempt towards the Dutch.>

What about the Dutch government using the word Holland to promote itself in the U.S. Enough said - let Americans here use their vernacular and let the Dutch use theirs.

Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions - ANTOR
www.antor.com/members/netherlands
The official British website of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions with tourist information and offers for Holland, Amsterdam and many other cities and regions. ... Director UK & Ireland - Sandra Ishmael. Marketing Project ...

note the use of Holland by the NBT above - why because that's what most Brits also call it.

Much ado about nothing IMO.

Cheers as always to one of my favorite Fodorites.

Whathello

Holland Amstersam and other regions.
Could these other regions not be Zeeland Brabant Gelderland etc ?

Isn't it written Netherlands board for tourism ?

Cheers also to my good fellow American poster.

Ik Ben vandaag een Nederlander - see what you make me write to copy JFK !!!!!

I'll have to check vernacular.

PalenQ

Holland Amsterdam and other regions.
Could these other regions not be Zeeland Brabant Gelderland etc ?>

Yup now that I re-read it - bad example!

Cheers

now back to giving advice about kiddos in Benelux.

tonfromleiden

»Didn't the Brits use Low Lands or was it when Belgium was part of it?«
I think the plural »Netherlands« or the synonym »Low Lands« (and the equivalents in French, Italian, Spanish etc.) dates from the days the whole of the Netherlands and Belgium was one entity under Spanish rule.
And to make it even more confusing, the full official name of this country (»Kingdom of the Netherlands«) also uses the plural in Dutch.

PS. It's a pity we can't use »Prussia« for Germany anymore.

StCirq

Most Americans say Chunnel, too. That doesn't make it correct.

PalenQ

Zaanse Schanse is a second best place to see a group of behemoth wodden windmills and enter at least one working one usually but it is Ersatz - those mills being brought there from around the Zuider Zee area - that's why there is also a Zuider Zee Museum there.

But though impressive it in no way compared to Kinderdijk- an authentic group of windmills that has been there for ages I think-much more vast area and unlike Zaanse Schanse - in an industrial area Kinderdijk is out in the wide open - if you can get a bike and take it on the boat and cycle thru the mills on bike paths.

I also liked Enkhuizen's Open-Air Museum - you can take a boat there from Enkhuizen's train station (or walk):

http://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/en/234/visit/museum/

The Speelklok Museum in the center of Utrecht is fun too for all ages - lots of old musical clocks and again some hands on stuff:

http://www.museautrecht.nl/en/about/...speelklok.html

In Utrecht kids may like the Clock Museum

PalenQ

In Amsterdam your kids and family can rent pedalos - pedal boats to do their own canal rides:

http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/visitin...iew/canal-bike