Herbch

Planning a trip to Amsterdam next spring. want to spend several days in Amsterdam seeing the sights - probably stay in the museum area.

Then want to make several trips out of town - to delft, harlaam, dehaug (sp), keukenhauf, etc. Since each of these trips requires getting to central station. would it pay to change hotels or possibly move and stay in one of these towns - eg - harlaam for the last few days?

Can we get trains from harlaam or delft to all these places without coming back into amsterdam?

or should we pick a hotel closer to train station - but not such a great area I hear?

thanks

suze

No need to stay by the train station. I would choose like you said, museum area, Leidseplein, canal rings, the Jordaan. I've only spent time within the city so can't advise about the other towns (but will top this post for you).

suze

Sorry, didn't really finish my thought. Because it's easy enough to get to and from the train station on foot or using the trams so better to stay in a prettier neighborhood.

maryanne1

Planning the same type of trip in April that you are. We decided to stay near Vondel park Hotel www. Fita.nl After reading we decided to stay away from the train station when I found there is a tram going very near the Hotel. I only booked this hotel on other Fodor's recommendations and also on the list of Fodor's Hotels. The owners have been wonderful in answering my emails.

Michael

I would just do day trips from Amsterdam.

Herbch

so how long does it take to get to train station from vondelpark area? by tram? by cab? go after rush hour - 9 AM +?

don't want to talk it.

Travelnut

The tram is fun (but secure your belongings from pickpockets) and I enjoy watching as we wind around thru town, so I tend to not realize 'how long'...but I'd say 15 minutes on the tram from Leidseplein to Centraal, probably 20 from Vondelpark...

A cab is just a bit quicker maybe 10 minutes, if that, and will cost about 13-15€ (about 10€ from Leidseplein).

Haarlem is only about a 15-minute ride on the train from Centraal. We took a 1/2-day tour to Keukenhof, so don't know about that.... the tulips are only in bloom around mid-April to end of May, but I think the gardens are open beyond that..

You can put 'routes' into the rail website (www.ns.nl) and see how long a ride is to any towns you want to visit. Some places are more accessible by bus, but we haven't tried that.

Larry

I just checked www.gvb.nl ...it's the official transportation company site and it takes 11 minutes mid day from Leidseplein to Centraal Station on the #5 or #2 tram. Museumplein is 3 more minutes. You can buy strippen, a card with multiple tickets on it. It takes 2 tickets from Centraal Station to just about anywhere in Amsterdam a tourist might go. One strippenkaart can be used by multiple people, the conductor will stamp two strips for each person. You can buy strippen at the train ticket windows- the largest has 45 strips and costs EUR 19.20 making a two strip ride cost roughly EUR 0.85 There's also 8 and 15 strip cards that cost just slightly more per ride. For a rough rule of thumb it takes about one third the time on the tram versus walking.The trams are real frequent from Museumplein- counting both the 2 and 5 lines there's 12 to 15 trams per hour to Centraal Station midday. Even as late as 11PM there's 8 trams/hour

maryanne1

Thanks for me also. I needed this advice concerning the trams.

Travelnut

An Amsterdam tram is the only place I have been pickpocketed in 11 trips. It was very crowded, and I had to stand up, holding onto a pole as the tram rounded the curves... the one and only time I had put on my jacket, then my handbag (instead of going under the jacket), someone took out my coin purse, which had about 30€ in it. So, not intended to warn anyone off trams, but just to emphasize the necessity of precautions...

Husband also 'lost' his passport from front jeans pocket. He asserts that it was inadvertently pulled out when he took out his gloves... but he now wears a leg-stash pouch for passport and credit card...