| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | |
4 days out of Amsterdam - suggestions? +Tips on good flea markets!Country forums / Western Europe / Netherlands | ||
Hi there, it looks like I & my husband (DINK couple in our early 30's) will be spending a long weekend out of Amsterdam in mid/late October. We have visited Amsterdam several times and love it, but now thought it would be time to get out of the city and do some exploring of the rest of the country and/or neighbouring countries. The plan is to rent a car at Schiphol and find some nice spots on perhaps a 200-250 km radius of Amsterdam for our 4 nights. Either base ourselves somewhere nice and make day trips, or travel around. We are interested in the following; We are NOT particularly interested in nightlife, tourist traps such as the typical tulip & windmill packages, or museums. Could anyone recommend a good itinerary for us? Places that seem to get mentioned a lot are Haarlem, Leiden, Maastricht, Ghent or Bruges in Belgium. Would any of these match our requirements? And what about perhaps some more rural alternatives for accomodation, especially since we will be travelling by car. Also any practical advice on flea/antiques markets, as well as on accomodation with that "something special" (boutique/design hotels or similar) is highly appreciated! Thank you all beforehand, | ||
Towns are a good choice, you could also consider Antwerpen or Dordrecht. Maastricht is nice but takes half a day extra driving. | 1 | |
Enkhuizen/Texel in the north, Haarlem/Leiden/Bruges ... good ideas, but you may also go the less travelled road and head to Zeeland (scroll down). Domburg, where the youth hostel is+ a castle, the ever so quaint and lovely Veere (born in the 12th century!!!), the typical and quiet town of Zierikzee on a market day, Middelburg ... | 2 | |
Try visiting Naarden on your way in or out of Amsterdam. It's a great little old fortified town very near to Amsterdam but hardly visited by foreign tourists. Buy the Michelin map(s) for The Netherlands, avoid the highways and follow their "green routes". They really are very scenic. Edited by: takeaway | 3 | |
If you only have 4 days in Amsterdam, I wouldn't leave the country. The Belgian cities are worth a visit, but I wouldn't combine that with Amsterdam. You could spend your entire trip in the Dutch capital, unless you really want to visit Belgium as well. (If you have to: Antwerpen is closest, easy to reach by train and a nice city to go shopping, dining, etc.) For The Netherlands: A good way to explore Amsterdam is by boat or by bike. There are several boat companies offering tours. You may feel like the real tourist, but it's worth it! It usually takes about one hour and you will have a good first impression of the city. You'll find a good bike rental in the Damstraat, around the corner of the Dam Square. If you want to get away from the mass tourism, the coffee shops, plastic tulips and red light district, make sure you stay away from the Dam Square and surroundings. In the Southern part of the city there's a real Dutch market, called Albert Cuyp, which is really worth a visit. Even though you're not looking for museums, I still recommend the Anne Frank House (and there's a good pancake place around the corner). Take a d-tour to visit the "Negen Straatjes" (nine streets) with cute and strange privately owned shops. There's even a tooth brush store! I could go on and on, but just talk to locals in Amsterdam and ask them for their favourite places. I hope you'll enjoy your trip! | 4 | |
...ah this is still a much beter advice than my earlier posting. | 5 | |
It would be a good idea to first read the OP's post carefully though: We have visited Amsterdam several times and love it, but now thought it would be time to get out of the city Den Bosch is also a worthwhile city to visit with one of the nicer churches in The Netherlands. Edited by: takeaway | 6 | |
Oh, very sorry! I read it too quickly. -shame-on-me- Maastricht in the south of Holland is also very nice! It's close to the Belgian border and only 1,5 to 2 hours to get from Maastricht to Brussels by car. You'll find it very different from cities in the northern part of the country. A warm, more southern atmosphere and a lot of tasty pastry ("vlaai")! | 7 | |
I'm also looking for suggestions for stuff to do in the Netherlands, but (and this is the hard part) I'm not interested in visiting any towns or cities. I'll be based in Utrecht, for two weeks (visiting a friend), with no plans thus far. Any response is much appreciated. | 8 | |
#8 | 9 | |
not sure if you need teh car. most of the Netherlands is easily reached by public transport. The best thing i can suggest to somebody who has a few days in Holland or Amsterdam is a visit to [L=The Hoge Veluwe National Park]http://www.hogeveluwe.nl/default.asp?language=2[/L]. It is really a unique place. You can easily go there as a day trip from Amsterdam, taking the train to Ede Wageningen or Apeldoorn and then the bus. In the park there is a number of attractions. apart from the nature, wild deer, a castle, etc there is an outstanding sculpture garden. And the park also contains one of the netherlands' best museums, [L=the Kroller Muller Museum]http://www.hogeveluwe.nl/page.asp?id=4[/L]. This has, after the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, the largest collection of Van Goghs in the world. Transport around the park is by bike- there are free bikes all over the park and you just pick one up wherever you go- they don;t have locks, you don;t rent them, they're free and there's plenty of them. So it is really a combination of nature, art, outdoor excercise and culture- i would say one of the best things you can do on a short visit to the netherlands- and a welcome break after seeing a number of towns. another one of my favourites is to visit the area North of amsterdam- for thsi a car is handy. town to head for are Hoorn and Enkhuizen,, as well as the countryside in general- flat, with many a canal, farms, and perhaps a few clog-wearing farmers. | 10 | |
I second the Hoge Veluwe park. If you stay in that area why not visit Burgers Zoo, a beautiful Zoo in Arnhem | 11 | |
Hoge Veluwe national park is indeed a good suggestion, but this is only a small part of the bigger Veluwe area which is very green and even has some hills. :-) In www.weekendjeweg.nl</a> you can do a search for hotels in the area called Veluwe, I am afraid it's all in Dutch though and only bookable with Dutch debit card... but you might find some interesting hotel names and photos and book through other sites. Also check www.hotelletje.nl</a>, you can search for 'romantic' or terms like that. I was personally pleasantly surprised by the lovely countryside in the north of the Netherlands. Especially the parts north and south of a little town called Appelscha are excellent for bike rides. The big LF 9 scenic, signposted (in both directions) bike route takes you through a forest, and beautiful moorland (heath). Also look into the Wadden islands. (especially damoc / poster #8!). Avoid Texel because it doesn't really give you the 'island feel' as much as the other islands do. You do need a couple of days though, it's a bit of a drive from Amsterdam and you need to take a ferry, they don't go until very late at night. The city of Groningen (in the province of Groningen) is a really nice, small, studenty city, hardly ever visited by foreigners. Zeeland is also a lovely area although the landscapes are a bit monotonous. But there are some lovely picturesque small towns like Zierikzee, Goes, Middelburg, Domburg (also look into Bommeljé Hotel) with a beautiful rough beach... and is very easy to combine with Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges. Around Maastricht you will find a lovely hilly countryside which is excellent for walking. And for example visit the jezuit caves if you want to see something interesting. Maastricht has many nice cafes and restaurants, a medieval wall you can walk on, some retro shops, etc. My favourite city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam is Nijmegen. It used to be a left-wing / liberal city with lots of squatters, feminist activists, gays etc. It's more bourgois nowadays but the atmosphere still lingers, and shows through the relatively big amount of arthouse cinemas, women's book shops and gay cafes. It has many great cafes and restaurants, a lovely park, amazing 2000 year old architecture and cobblestone streets, a river, and is surrounded by beautiful countryside with rivers, meadows, farms, and signposted bike routes (for example the Ooij route is a very convenient circular route that takes you on a little ferry across the river and past beautiful meadows). Near Millingen (along that Ooij route) you will find the lovely Millinger Theetuin, a tea garden. It's still open in October. You pay an entrance fee which includes a free drink. If the weather is good this is a nice place to enjoy some pie or soup on one of the various terraces or patios. I don't know any flea markets apart from the one on Waterlooplein in Amsterdam. From what I know small villages may have a yearly or monthly flea market. The Dutch word is vlooienmarkt, this may help you find something through Google. Veel plezier! | 12 | |
Hi everyone and thanks for your absolutely great answers and tips! Having read all of this through and done some additional research I think our itinierary maybe could look something like this; Do you think this sounds feasible? We would probably try to drive some “green routes” and do some small stops on the way as well. Any tips on that, ie between Utrecht and Maastricht (perhaps Nijmegen as recommended by Cecile?) + Maastricht/Köln and Zeeland? Thanks to all of you again, PS. Hestertravels; you nailed it with the Nine Streets and Anne Frank (which is the only museum which has drawn our attention on our previous Amsterdam visits). Love them both! Although of course this time we will not spend time in Amsterdam at all. | 13 | |
You don;t need a car until you get to Maastricht, and even then it is not really required. There are regular direct trains from Schiphol to Utrecht. they are cheap ad you will save time and money. Same applies to Utrecht-Maastricht- the regular intercity is faster than driving and much more relaxing, and probably cheaper too.. | 14 | |
Between Utrecht and Maastricht, Den Bosch (full name 's-Hertogenbosch) would be a more logical stop. Have coffee and the local pastry there: Bossche Bol! Dough filled with sweet whipped cream and entirely dipped in chocolate. In Utrecht I recommend a walk through Amelisweerd park + having pancakes at the restaurant in that park. Your itinerary seems to have become city-oriented after all... but if you drive the car between places you can try to make some stops in greener areas. And / or visit Valkenburg and surroundings from Maastricht. Yes, Bergen op Zoom is quite a nice place to stop en route to Domburg. Or Antwerp?? (Although Belgian roads tend to be less well-maintained than Dutch ones, and traffic signs there can be really confusing.) I do agree with #14 as well... for many of the trips a train would take less time and hassle, what with traffic jams (almost all day long), parking fees, little parking space in cities, and all that. Trains drop you off smack in the middle of a city, and you can read a book, play a game, walk around as you travel... But a car gives you more flexibility when it comes to visiting remote towns (which don't really seem to be in your itinerary though...). | 15 | |
If you're in Utrecht, there are several antique/curiosa/second hand-shops along the Oude Gracht between the city center and de Twijnstraat (if walking towards the Twijnstraat, mostly on the right-hand side of the Oude Gracht). If you're driving: be aware of the heavy traffic around the cities during rush-hour. F.e. I wouldn't want to drive from Schiphol to Utrecht at 5 pm on a weekday. It could take 1.5 hours. By train it's 30 minutes (get the direct connection Schiphol - Eindhoven , or Schiphol - Maastricht). Taking the train from Utrecht to Maastricht is about as fast as driving (by car you'll be about 15 minutes faster, I usually find), but much more comfortable. Köln-Zeeland is really quite far. I think I'd skip that. Köln is worth a visit if only for their amazing museum of mosern art. You could do: if you need specific recommendations for Utrecht, feel free to PM me. I'm also in Maastricht on a regular basis, but I don't live there myself. | 16 | |