We are visiting the Netherlands in April and have limited time to see both Aalsmeer & Keukenhof - which is the main point of the trip! So we are trying to do them back to back, starting from Haarlem (our hotel is near Centraal station) to Aalsmeer arriving before 7am. It's a Thursday which means that Aalsmeer will close at 9am. Then we'd head to Keukenhof and stay until we feel like we have seen it all. We will not have a car. My questions are:
1. What's the fastest (and reasonably priced) way to get from Haarlem to Aalsmeer? Since we are trying to arrive by 7am, fast is important as I am not good with early morning.
2. What's the fastest (and ideally reasonably priced) way to get from Aalsmeer to Keukenhof? If we have to bite the bullet and uber/cab to save us a lot of time, we'll do that - again, it's the main point of the trip.
3. What's the easiest way to get from Keukenhof back to Haarlem near Centraal station?
4. Is it just a bad idea to try to do both in 1 day? If so we'll have to give up Aalsmeer as there is no other day we can get there at 7am.
Thanks in advance for your guidance!
Posted by
1184 posts
I can't speak for any of this, as we visited Keukenhof with a RS tour. It's only about 20 minutes by car from Aalsmeer to Keukenhof, but 1-1/2 hours by public transport. That seems like a lot of time trying to get between the two unless you can find a tour of some sort. Perhaps separate days would be more efficient? I'm also trying to imagine what you would do until 7pm at Keukenhof. That's a long time to visit. I'd guess most visits are 3-4 hours max. Maybe you will stay as long as you suspect, but just thinking for planning purposes, that is a long time to spend there.
Posted by
Haarlem, Netherlands
112 posts
You can use the public transport website https://9292.nl/en/ to find travel options.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
6027 posts
That's going to be an exceedingly long day, but possible. Start out by using Google Maps for your travel options. When doing so, don't forget to use your estimated departure time and day, because it matters.
It looks like you can get a bus to Aalsmeer in the early morning. I assume you are going to the flower market.
Aalsmeer to Keukenhof -fastest and reasonably priced won't sit comfortably in the same sentence. Fastest by public transportation will depend on time of day. But likely, busses (more than 1).
Keukenhof back to Haarlem- bus or bus and train, depending on time.
Again, use Google Maps with approximate time for options.
ETA- or use the local website linked above