Day Trip from Amsterdam?
 

Mrs. jacknyoc and I are spending about a week in Amsterdam in late April. We've rented a car for a day (Saturday)...Sixt agency adjacent to Centraal Station...to visit a few places in the countryside.

Our thinking was to drive first to the Lisse area to see some of the tulip fields; then on to Haarlem for a late lunch and some walking around town/site seeing (including the Corrie ten Boom House); then onto the Zaandam area later in the day to see the windmills.

We definitely want to see the ten Boom house, as well as tulip fields and windmills (but those could be elsewhere if there are better options). We don't want to spend all day just driving, though, and none of these seem particularly far apart.

Any additional thoughts on sites along the way or better options than those I've noted above? thank you for your assistance.

Your trip sounds good to me, and I haven't got much to add.

If you don't mind venturing a bit further then a good place for windmills is Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam - 19 windmills all next to each other. See www.kinderdijk.com

The Keukenhof garden will be open and in bloom. It's fantastic, way more stunning than the tulip fields (which in all cases can be seen from the mill at the end of the garden)

To save some money and improve convenience, you might also consider using the Dutch public transport system. Driving in Dutch cities is not pleasant. And road signs are not in English.

In the Amsterdam main train station, across from the station hall is a tourist office called VVV. They can supply you with a lot of free information, and even, if you insist, driving information.

Good luck with the weather - it's freezing (literally) here now!

Thank you for the input. I'm hopeful the weather will improve by late April.

I would like use public transportation, but would also like the flexibility to stop when and where we want. Given the highlights in my initial plan, is public transit even a viable option? If we stay with a car, would it make more sense to rent it at AMS to avoid driving in Amsterdam city?

thank you very much for the assistance.

Thanks for that input. I had read about Kinderdijk, but was concerned about the additional distance and didn't want to add too much more time to our day's travel. any thoughts about that? thank you.

Nothing you mentioned is that far away.... all easily driven to from AMS in less then 1 hour. Traffic in Amsterdam itself can delay you a bit though, so renting from AMS Airport might not be such a bad option, it's adjacent the freeway.

I wouldn't take the car to Haarlem. Parking is costly and Haarlem is an easy stop by train or bus. The Keukenhof is also a direct bus trip from AMS Schiphol airport (combi-tickets are available) or even Haarlem. Going here by car is easy as well.

So if you have a car you might be better of really driving through the countryside......especially if the weather is nice.

Thank you.

Picking up and dropping off the car at AMS is a possible option.

I may stay with my current plan, though. I'm not uncomfortable driving in large cities...we live near LA...and I have driven in other parts of Europe as well. I'm not interested in driving in Amsterdam central city, per se, but I believe I can make it out of and back into the city fairly well.

The rental car is on Prins Hendrikkade across from the Centraal Station. I would anticipate driving north/west on the main streets and connecting with Haarlemmerweg/S103 to head towards Haarlem and the Lisse area. In Haarlem, I had anticipated parking at the Centraal Station and walking from there to avoid driving in the central city.

Returning to Amsterdam after visiting Zaandam, I would anticipate taking the N203 heading south and connecting to the Nieuwe Hemweg/S203 back to the Centraal Station and the car drop-off.

This appears to be a fairly direct way with minimum city driving.

Am I correct in my thinking? Am I missing something and underestimating how bad the driving will be given the route I'm thinking about?

Thank you for your help.

The driving really isn't bad..... And even better if you use some navigation since a lot of the streets are one-way. But no problem whatsoever, it just can be a little crowded at rush-hour. I commute to AMS almost everyday :-).

But I also feel that for a visit to Haarlem from Amsterdam a car is about your worst option. The train lands you right where you want to be, in 15-20 minutes, about the time you would need to just find a parking space.

The rest no problem..... Just count on €4 an hour to park :-(.

RTW1,

Thank you.

Regarding parking in Haarlem, are you suggesting that parking at the large public lot at the Haarlem Centraal Train Station will also be difficult, even on a Saturday? I agree it would be ideal not to worry about a car and parking, but it will certainly make it easier for our countryside travels and especially since we want to stop there in between Lisse and Zaandam. I understand it will be costly to park for a couple of hours. But, I'm prepared to do that in this case.

I suppose we could take the train from Amsterdam to Haarlem, do our touring, back-track back to AMS Schipole to pick up the car and leave for Lisse and Zaandam from there. But that doesn't seem very convenient and would likely add quiet a bit of time.

Please let me know if I am missing something or am misunderstanding what you are trying to advise me to do. Thank you.

There is only a parking garage close to Haarlem Central Station, but there is a free public parking lot at Haarlem Spaarnewoude station (east of the city).

If you want to travel on Saturday that will make it a bit easier since there is less traffic. Only not in the center of town, people will be shopping. So expect it to take you a while to get to one of the parking garages and there's always the (small) risk of it being full, so you have to wait for someone to leave.

It's still a doable trip, only I feel it's so much easier and quicker going by train :-). But if you include it with other destinations a car might be your best option....

If you want to fill your day you might also consider stopping at a few more places like Zandvoort (to walk along the sea) and Volendam (a quirky touristy place). And if the weather is nice a ride through the area around Loosdrecht is really beautiful. Al within 30min from Amsterdam.

The Dutch countryside is mostly open fields of farms (especially in the northern part of the country, where Amsterdam is located). What do you expect to stop to see? The interesting places to see here are the parks and nature preserves (no cars) and the very old cities (like Haarlem, Amsterdam and Utrecht). The open farm fields here are probably not much different from open farm fields in the US or anywhere else.

You can easily ride through the open countryside by bus and stop either in the countryside or in villages. But, perhaps more interesting and fun for you, is to do it the "Dutch way." Rent a bike and go where you want. You can rent bikes at most larger train stations (operated by the railway), including Haarlem and Amsterdam. There are zero fuel costs (auto fuel is currently €1.83 per liter, on average) and the rental costs are much lower than for an auto.

Also, the northern part of the country is very famous for being flat. In the southern part of the country, there are some small hills. They are called the "Dutch Alps".

Additionally, bicycles routes here are not on the auto routes. Special paths have been built only for bicycles and sometime also for walking. For an example of this, look here: http://www.fietseropuit.nl/fietsrout...and/heemstede/

The green lines are bike paths, the numbers are on signs so that you can follow a route. If you look for Lisse on this map, you can see Keukenhof (it is where the black and white icon of a bike is).

If the weather is nice, a bike trip to Keukenhof and around some of the old villages is something you will remember long after you have forgotten about another auto trip you have taken.

Thank you, RTW1 and MichaelBrighton

Your comments and suggestions are very helpful.

TRW1, I appreciate the additional suggestions for places to visit. I'll do some additional research into them. I'll also consider the bike rental idea; that might actually be a fun way to explore some of the areas.

MichaelBrighton, I appreciate your comments and questions. I should have been more clear in my comments. When I mention countryside, I'm not necessarily talking about farmland, I'm thinking about less developed areas, smaller roads and small villages and towns to visit. They don't need to be tourist sites or have any special event. We just like to explore very local places. I apologize for any confusion.

Thank you. I appreciate your input and the time you are devoting to this exchange of information.

jacknyoc, thanks for your kind message.

The Netherlands has one of the highest population densities in Europe. Other than farmland, which there is a lot of, there is only the coast, which there is also a lot of, and villages and towns.

Many of the cities and towns here were developed during the Middle Ages and are still not changed very much. Which is another reason that an auto will not help you (you cannot drive into some of these small towns).

If you stayed in Amsterdam, there are a number of places to see that are quite close and could easily be reached by bicycle, bus or train. Aside from the places already mentioned, there is Naarden-Vesting (an old fort town), Muiderslot (a medieval castle: http://www.muiderslot.nl/english), Monnickendam (a small old fishing village on the water) and Broek in Waterland (a beautiful small village).

All of these would, I think, meet the description you gave and be very enjoyable besides.

It's not that "bad".... but we managed to keep a few of the historical town centers relatively intact.
It's hard to know what things are of specific interest... but some of that "farmland" can be quite nice and is substantially different than in most places. The area around Loosdrecht is one.... lot's of water as well.

But I also vote for your bike idea. That's a nice way to see some sights. At least when the wetter is nice and your bike doesn't get stolen :-).