If not Amsterdam........where?
After some fine tuning on my itinerary, I have decided that Amsterdam is not in the cards for my July trip. However, I still would like a taste of The Netherlands during my stay in Europe Any suggestions on other Dutch cities for day trips would be welcomed. We will be based in Brussels.
Bill
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma USA 3/4/13
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I stayed in The Hague last July and enjoyed it a lot. It's an easy tram ride to Delft, or hop a train to other Dutch towns for day trips - even Amsterdam.
Thank you, Chani. I've been considering Delft. I should clarify that it's nothing personal against Amsterdam but I have enough big cities with Brussels, Antwerp, and Paris in my mix. I was looking at Leiden, Utrecht, Maastricht as well as Delft for a smaller feel. The Hague intrigues me as well.
Bill, if it's important to hit another country, it doesn't matter what I say. But I want to observe that at one time in the distant past, the current Netherlands and the current Belgium were indistinguishable.
Today, I much prefer Belgium, and I wonder if you need to spend the time traveling to the Netherlands this time - especially since you plan to base in Amsterdam on a future trip. We drove across the Netherlands in 2012, so I feel I'm entitled to this opinion.
Don't get me wrong, I've greatly enjoyed Delft, Leiden, Keukenhof, Utrecht, Amersfoort, De Hoge Veluwe, and other places in the Netherlands - and have spent almost three weeks total in Amsterdam. But why not hump around Belgium instead, making sure you get to some of the places in our previous discussions here. For example, the Bokrijk Open Air museum is a little out of the way for Brussels, but there are some nice medieval towns around it.
A trip that doesn't have days in Amsterdam in it should have days in Antwerp in it!
Amen and you are right. Thanks for the input