Best Locations to Day Trip From

Other places are just a plane ride away, so distance may not be a concern, but England/Scotland/Wales are right between the Republic of Ireland and Netherlands. Lots to do and see just in and around London for 7 days, but you could pick another base.

Or Belgium, where you can return to Amsterdam via ground transportation. French speaking part of Belgium is east, Dutch speaking part is west, with Brussels right in between. Belgium will have a lot of English speakers, either way.

We’ve actually ruled out the UK (long story). We’ve considered Belgium but hubby and I have seen Brussels and Bruges, and while it’s beautiful, I’m not sure there’s enough to fill up 6 nights since we’ve done the big stuff.

It’s a hard question since we’ve been to a lot but I didn’t want to list out every place we’ve seen. We love Tuscany/Andalusia (but want something different) and how you can just pick a homebase and travel to all the towns around it.

Do the 6ish nights have to be in the same area? If not then howabout Denmark and northern Germany. 4 nights in Copenhagen and 2 (or 3 if possible) nights in Hamburg will let you see interesting cities with plenty of opportunities for day trips, as well not travelling too far from Amsterdam.

Regarding Germany, you could go to Berlin. There are several interesting daytrips, but also enough to see in Berlin to keep you busy for a month.

They don’t have to be in the same place but our friends are inexperienced travelers who aren’t keen on only seeing big cities/crowds. We’ve been to Copenhagen and it was nice, but expensive. I’d love to do Berlin but I know they wouldn’t like it as much. We also have some health issues (one of the friends) that make it harder to do long days, so being in an area where she could just enjoy the scenery from the room (maybe on a balcony) to give her rest time would be ideal.

How about Garmisch Partenkirchen, germany in Bavaria as a base? The scenery in that area is spectacularly beautiful. Daytrips can include Oberammergau, Mittenwald, Innsbruk, Munich, Fussen (if interested in seeing in seeing Neuschwanstein castle). Or base yourself in Munich , from there you could still go south to Garmisch or Oberammergau, or northward to see Augsberg, Nuremberg or even Bamburg. Or divide half time in Munich and half time in Salzburg, an easy train ride away. Both of those cities have lots to keep you busy.

We had 2 weeks in mainland Greece in April 2018, and 2 weeks on just Crete in September 2019. A bit farther travel from Ireland than are many other countries, and an additional time zone east of Italy/Spain/Germany/Denmark, etc.

Crete has a few cities along the north coast, none of them huge, and many charming towns and villages throughout. Would you be renting a car? Easy to connect places, but some of the 2-lane highways are twisty, climbing xx and descending scenic mountains. Buses are available as public transportation, but we only used one once, to come back to Iraklio from Knossos, the big historical sight.

Knossos was the central palace of the Minoans, the civilization that thrived 2,000 years ago, and there are many smaller Minoan sites all over the island, some with museums, some impressive archaeological ruins.

A place many seem to miss is the Lasithi Plateau, a serene place in between peaks, with a countryside vibe, olive and fruit fields, and away from the beachgoing atmosphere in some towns. Our stay in Tzermiado was one of our favorites. Some places in Crete have elevators, but some are just stairs, if they’re not just single-level. Are some stairs going to be a problem?

If you have concerns about big cities and being on the move too much with this inexperienced couple I’d add all of the nights to your two countries you’ve already identified. After flying into Amsterdam in May I’d head to Leiden or Haarlem to relax and do day trips from there. The tulips will still be in bloom in that part of Holland and I can’t imagine a more relaxing place to soak up the feeling of being in Europe—flowers, art, windmills, beautiful architecture, sand dunes, sea, etc. There are a lot of day trips you can do from either of those small cities by train including zipping into Amsterdam for sightseeing.

After Holland I’d fly into Shannon and tour the western and southern part of Ireland for the remainder of your time, ending in Dublin. From Dublin fly back to Amsterdam the night before for your flight home.

If you haven’t already purchased airfare you can do these flights much more efficiently by purchasing an open jaw ticket from your home airport to Amsterdam and a return flight from Dublin to your home airport. To get from Amsterdam to Shannon you just need an inexpensive one way inter European flight. I’d do the trip in this order to be in Holland during the bulb flower time. Enjoy your planning!

We’ve been to Munich but not the rest of the area. Would you say that area is better than the area between Frankfurt and Stuttgart? I’d love to see Berchtesgaden and Salzburg but thought maybe the Mannheim/Heidelberg area would be better if we did Germany?

If they and you would like some downtime to enjoy scenery and have some interesting places to explore, I would suggest Mallorca. I found sitting on the terrace and enjoying the beauty was quite wonderful. And Palma has lots to see.

If your friends haven’t been to Europe, they may want a hub larger than Zamora, Spain. Day trips could possibly include Leon, Segovia, Salamanca, Avila, Burgos, Oviedo, or possibly Lugo, if traveling by train. If driving and your hub was Zamora, day trips might include Astorga (cathedral, museum), Ponferrada (castle, clock tower), Tordesillas (Convent of Santa Clara), Alba de Torres (crypt and relics of Santa Teresa de Avila), castles at Coca, Medina Del Campo, Cuellar, Valencia de Dan Juan, and Portillo. It’s really what you and your friends like to do. What’s nice about Zamora is it is a smaller city, very relaxed, and not on most tourists radar. By itself, it’s worth 2 days at most.

Add more time to Ireland and Amsterdam rather than jumping around Europe wasting precious time.
If your friends don’t like urban settings, then stay outside of Amsterdam on the train line, Haarlem, Delft, Leiden, all wonderful places to visit as day trips. Stay in one, visit the others. We did this a few years ago on our second trip to The Netherlands.

I think Mona gave you suggestions that you might seriously consider. Too much jumping around with an inexperienced traveler with health issues seems to be a recipe for an unpleasant trip. If one person is unhappy, everyone is unhappy. Also, 17 nights on the ground isn’t that much time. Don’t forget the time and effort it takes to change locations.

Since you mention Germany a couple of times, we spent two weeks or so in the north-west last year. We were touring around, but you could definitely construct a six plus day visit involving Hamburg as a base and taking day-trips. It's true Hamburg is a big city, but the layout with distinct districts, low rise buildings, lakes and the river means it doesn't feel as oppressively large as some major cities. Based in Hamburg, simple day trips include Lubeck, Luneburg, Heligoland (by boat), and many others.

Just to add to Jaimeelsabio's suggestion of Zamora, whilst it is a delightful small city, I'm not sure the public transport links are great so that might restrict you for day trips without a car. An alternative might be Valladolid - it's not Spain's most interesting city, but okay and a good central base for day trips by public transport around Castilla y Leon region. Probably the best city in this area is Salamanca. It isn't quite so central, but there are options for simple day trips by rail or coach and if you like Sevilla then I think you'll also like Salamanca.