Netherlands - 3-4 days outside Amsterdam

[drcam]

Going to make my second visit to Netherlands in early June next year.
Having explored Amsterdam in winter on my previous visit, I would like to visit some of the nearby towns.
Leiden, Haarlem, den Haag, Rotterdam, Utrecht come to mind.
But l only have time to visit two, three at most. Any suggestions?

And have any of you tried Indonesian food in Holland? Whenever I travel in the West I do crave for normal food, or at least "near normal" food.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Indonesian food is great in the netherlands, with many indonesian cooks and chefs across traditional canal-side bars (pubs) and restaurants. There’s a long history with indonesia.

The Hague is a good choice, but as for the others… there’s no consensus on which ones are ‘must do’, or that you should do in preference to others.

There are dozens of ‘three city’ recommendations on google… it depends what you’re interested in. Rotterdam is architecture, but if that’s not your thing, not much point in going when you could be visiting Delft or Gouda or Edam, etc.

 

[zainman]

This guy is a Canadian lives in Netherlands

he has cool videos on Amsterdam and some surrounding cool areas

Not Just Bikes

Stories of great urban planning & urban experiences. There are a lot of reasons why Dutch cities are so great; it's not just bikes. Want to support the channel? Sign up to Nebula! https://go.nebula.tv/notjustbikes Contact Not Just Bikes: https://contact.notjustbikes.com Podcast (YouTube)...

www.youtube.com

 

[Captain Halliday]

Going to make my second visit to Netherlands in early June next year.
Having explored Amsterdam in winter on my previous visit, I would like to visit some of the nearby towns.
Leiden, Haarlem, den Haag, Rotterdam, Utrecht come to mind.
But l only have time to visit two, three at most. Any suggestions?

And have any of you tried Indonesian food in Holland? Whenever I travel in the West I do crave for normal food, or at least "near normal" food.

You can read some of my experiences in Amsterdam including Den Haag and Rotterdam starting from post 57 in this thread.

 

[tassie6]

A mate lives in Haarlem and have visited, its great!

 

[MARTINE]

Indonesian food is great in the netherlands, with many indonesian cooks and chefs across traditional canal-side bars (pubs) and restaurants. There’s a long history with indonesia.

The Hague is a good choice, but as for the others… there’s no consensus on which ones are ‘must do’, or that you should do in preference to others.

There are dozens of ‘three city’ recommendations on google… it depends what you’re interested in. Rotterdam is architecture, but if that’s not your thing, not much point in going when you could be visiting Delft or Gouda or Edam, etc.

Agree
Eaten here many times - very good.
Don’t let the term Gastro Bar put you off!!

Homepage

Each Ron Gastrobar offers a different atmosphere and is unique in its own way. Discover the restaurants in Amsterdam, Ouderkerk and Laren.

rongastrobar.nl

 

[drcam]

@drron maybe you might like Ron Gastrobar.

 

[I love to travel]

You can read some of my experiences in Amsterdam including Den Haag and Rotterdam starting from post 57 in this thread.

That will come in handy for my visit next week thanks

 

[SCM]

I would recommend Haarlem and Utrecht and then Leiden and Delft.

Skip Rotterdam, but that's just my bias. It looks horrible and is essentially where all of Europe's drugs come from, so it's pretty rough.

 

[prozac]

Going to make my second visit to Netherlands in early June next year.
Having explored Amsterdam in winter on my previous visit, I would like to visit some of the nearby towns.
Leiden, Haarlem, den Haag, Rotterdam, Utrecht come to mind.
But l only have time to visit two, three at most. Any suggestions?

And have any of you tried Indonesian food in Holland? Whenever I travel in the West I do crave for normal food, or at least "near normal" food.

I would recommend Haarlem and Utrecht and then Leiden and Delft.

Skip Rotterdam, but that's just my bias. It looks horrible and is essentially where all of Europe's drugs come from, so it's pretty rough.

This is an old thread but info might help others so here goes.

Haarlem and Utrecht definitely. They say the best dutch accent comes from the region around Haarlem. If you can hire bikes cysle out to Zandvoort a beach location and where the race track is, right behind the beach. Utrecht is lovely with it's canal culture. You could skip AMS in favour of Utrecht and not miss anything. North of AMS is the VOC maritime town of Eenkhuizen. Great for maritime buffs with a terrific museum. These area is also worth checking for Gouda, and Deflziel.

If you only have limited time to escape AMS then think about Weesp which is almost an outer suburb. Muiderberg and Muiden and nearby castle Muiderslot. www.muiderslot.nl/en

 

[prozac]

Not too expensive accomodation in good location in AMS is Boutique Hotel View just near the Leidseplein. www.boutiquehotelview.nl/en

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Eenkhuizen is a great idea

You can also drive out towards Gronningen and visit the great WW2 museum nearby.

 

[prozac]

Eenkhuizen is a great idea

You can also drive out towards Gronningen and visit the great WW2 museum nearby.

I am not familiar with that one: do you mean the Westerbork Transit Camp near Assen. It is a good one if you do not want the whole death camp experience. If travelling by auto Groningen to Assen go via the old horse trading town of Zuidlaren where they have held horse markets since the 1500s.

Groningen is one of my favourite NL cities and just a 2hr train ride from AMS. The train station is beautiful and has a good restoration. There is also a good (small) maritime museum in Griningen. Groningen is a vibrant university town and has a terrific market square (Grote Markt). www.visitgroningen.nl/en/locations/city/grote-markt. If you've gone that far might as well head west to Leeuwarden, capital of Friesland. www.leeuwarden.nl/
Driving Gronigen to Leeuwarden stop at historic city of Dokkum where Saint Boniface was murdered in the 700's whilst on a mission to convert the Frisians to Christianity. The Frissians weren't having any of it. Leaving Leeuwarden stop at Franeker and visit the Eise Eisenga planetarium. This farmer developed astrology theories and built some of the very best telescope glass in the world. Eisenga managed to build a planetarium into the ceiling of his living room and have 6 children at the same time. The planetarium was finished in 1781 and driven by wooden gears, pins and cogs has never stopped running since! His calculations have kept the planets in their perfect positions for over 2 centuries!.
Leaving Franeker, drive across the Afsluitdijk and stop in Enkhuizen, Gouda then back in AMS.

If you don't have that much time, drive AMS-Lelystad and cross the small Houtribdijk cough to Enhkhuizen. Hoorn, Gouda and AMS.
ViaMichelin maps are good for mapping your route.