Joe

We will be in Amsterdam in early April. We only have two days in which to take day trips from Amsterdam. Since our hotel reservations have been made for the entire time in Amsterdam, we would take 2 seperate trips that would return us back to Amsterdam in the evening. We definitely want to see Keukenhof Gardens and thought we could combine that with a trip to Delft and/or ?? Another thought might be Zaandam, Marken, Volendam and/or ?? My question concerns not only these areas a potential places to spend our only two days but also how is the transportation to and within these areas. We can rent a car, but we keep hearing the bus and train systems are excellent. Is it feasible to take public transportation? Thanks.

wes fowler

Joe,
The transportation system in the Netherlands is excellent. You should have no difficulty at all in finding ways to get to places of interest. Here are a couple of suggestions you might consider. For an early morning venture from Amsterdam, consider Aalsmeer, accessible by bus from Amsterdam's central station. In Aalsmeer you'll find the weekday flower auction of well over a million cut flowers. Housed in the world's largest commercial building, the logistics of moving millions of flowers from loading docks to staging areas to auction halls and again to loading docks is a fascinating sight. Check the website
www.vba-aalsmeer.nl/english/index.html

Rather than Maarken or Volendam, consider Enkhuisen and its indoor and outdoor museums dealing with the Zuider Zee. Truly fascinating and enlightening.

Rex

Edam.
Maastricht.
Aachen (Germany).

Christina

I visited Delft on a day trip from Amsterdam and liked it very much. It's a pleasant little town, walkable, nice church and shops. I'm a little fuzzy as it was quite a while ago but I do remember being glad I went and enjoying it. It is right on the train line and then walkable from the station, so you do not need a car. I also went to Alkmaar for the famous cheese market not flowers, which was quite a sight. (see http://www.noord-holland-tourist.nl/...s/welcome.html for info on the cheese market and other stuff). That market starts in early April and goes until early September. As I recall the town was nothing special aside from that market, but okay for a stroll, there were lots of shops for tourists as I recall, I remember buying some clothing very cheap. That is very close to Amsterdam and easily reachable by train.

April

You can get a day pass at the train station and make as many stops as you like. Their system is so swift that we never had to wait long at any station. It's a great way to get around the country. We didn't know what we were doing but had no trouble taking public transportation from the train station out to Madurodam. Your choices sound good to me, but I think you can't go wrong in the Netherlands.

Joe

Wes, I may take your advice on Enkhuisen as I have read some other things on it since your post. Thanks to everyone else as well. I appreciate your advice.