Amsterdam 3 1/2 days

Just need some help with the first 4 days inAmsterdam. We have a
museum card. We will travel by trains/public transportation. We are
staying in Leiden.

Confused- are you staying in Amsterdam or in Leiden?

We are staying in Leiden.

I’m confused too. Your topic title says “Amsterdam 3 1/2 days” but it appears you stay in Leiden and your list of things to see contains both sights in Amsterdam as well as other cities located away from Amsterdam.
We’re more than happy to help, but I’m not really sure what it is you’re asking.

I'll also be in Amsterdam for 3 1/2 days (mid April), here's my planned itinerary:

Arriving Amsterdam Centraal around noon:
Tuesday Afternoon - Basilica of St. Nicholas … Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder … De Oude Kerk (all close to each other)
Wednesday - Keukenhof (morning and early afternoon) ... Dam Square / Royal Palace (afternoon) ... maybe an evening canal cruise
Thursday - Van Gogh museum ... Rijksmuseum … Anne Frank House
Friday - Aalsmeer Flower Market ... drive around Bollenstreek flower fields ... Flower light parade (Noordwijkerhout)

Saturday we go to the Flower Parade in Sassenheim then off for about 3 weeks around lower Netherlands (including The Hague, Delft, Rotterdam, Kinderdjik and the Delta Works) and Belgium.

If the weather is bad for Keukenhof on Wednesday, will swap with Thursday and do museums Wednesday and hope for better weather for Keukenhof Thursday.

Will use Museumkaart for Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder, De Oude Kerk (or Rijksmeseum if needed), Van Gogh, Anne Frank and Mauritshuis ... I have Vermeer tickets but may need to get a Friends Pass if I need to swap days around.

We did a week in Amsterdam that you plan to see in half the time. Good Luck, your plan is just too compressed.

We did the Riksmusem and spent a little over 3 hours there, just walking there from our hotel added another hour (coming and going).
Then, the next day we did the Van Gogh Museum, no way was I going to spend all morning in a museum and then do another three hours in another museum. Sorry, that is just too much museum.

Now you plan to do both of these and the Anne Frank House in the same day. It is another museum!! I don't think so.

You will have to book all of these museums in advance and the timing of your entrance may not allow you even doing TWO in one day.

The Anne Frank House is about a mile and a half from the other two museums.

We did the Windmills and trip to the Zyder Zee for a day trip, it took about 2.3 of a day.

We did a week in Amsterdam that you plan to see in half the time. Good Luck, your plan is just too compressed.

@Geova, this all goes to your personal style of travel ... some like to take it slow, maybe get up late, visit a site then sit in a cafe and watch the world go by, leisurely dinner, etc... others like to keep moving and keep their day full ... we fall into the second category ... works just fine for us, thanks for the good luck wishes anyway ... to each their own.

Now you plan to do both of these and the Anne Frank House in the same day. It is another museum!! I don't think so.

Three museums in 1 day, not a problem for me, that's how I roll ...

You will have to book all of these museums in advance and the timing of your entrance may not allow you even doing TWO in one day.

Already have tickets except for Anne Frank which I can't get until early March ... timing works out perfect

The Anne Frank House is about a mile and a half from the other two museums.

There are several trams that go from the area around the Van Gogh and Rijks to a stop about a 8-9 min walk to Anne Frank ... nice little 15 min rest

We're staying in Leiden cause that's where our friends in Maastricht suggested and others as well. We have 3 1/2 days the first week and 2-3 the 3rd week. We're not trying to see EVERYTHING I posted or asked about in those 3 days. I just was trying to get bearings and ideas from others. For instance, we want to go to Kinderjilk - will that be an all day trip? Can we combine it with something in that area? Thats more what I was looking for. I've been to London and put 22,000 steps on my Fitbit in a day so I'm used to go go go. When we are with our friends we will slow down more.

I would suggest you make a list of places/things you want to experience (you have a good start with what you have mentioned already), prioritize the list, then build your plan based on your style of travel ('go go go' or 'go with the flow') ... this is what I do for my travel style (maybe only a 2 go and not a 3 go like your 22k step London day ... we haven't broken the 20k step mark but a day Paris and another in Rome came close) but it might not work for those who have a more 'go with the flow' travel style ... Kinderjilk could be an all day trip if you leave late, like to take your time looking around, stop for a leisurely lunch, etc... or could be a half day trip if you get there early, spend several hours, then move on to other sites you want to see ... when we go somewhere, we don't have to see everything (nor can we), but we do like to make good use of our time seeing items we have prioritized ... hope you have a great trip!

Is is very ambitious to try to see the Anne Frank House , Van Gogh museum and the Rijks all in one day.
We did the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh museum in one day which is very doable. You can spend the entire day in the Rijks museum and still not see all of it.

We are not big arties so maybe 2 hours at Van Gogh in the morning, lunch, then 3 hours at Rijks in the afternoon to see Vermeer and other paintings I want to see is enough for me ... tram to Anne Frank House around 4-5 pm (I read somewhere this is about a 1-2 hour visit, it's not that big) ... then dinner and back to hotel ... will be a full day for sure but not an issue.

3 hours at Rijks...to see Vermeer

If you don't already have tickets to the Rijksmuseum for Vermeer in April, you are probably too late.

Walk through Vondel park, continue throught Leidseplein, spui, across all the canals,and into the downtown core (Dam Square).
museums-Rikjs is a must, best Museum in Ams, buy tickets online, none at the door..

Take the train, from a train station anywhere in Ams, To Utrecht, great town.
or a train to Weesp, and get the bus out to Muiden, and walk to see Muiderslot castle.

If you don't already have tickets to the Rijksmuseum for Vermeer in April, you are probably too late.

Had them for a while now so all set ... I saw they put more on sale a few days ago with most all days available at either 9:00 or 9:30am (I must have looked right after they added them), checked back a few hours later and all gone ... now I see the ticket option for Vermeer is gone AND they are not selling anymore Friends passes until further notice ... wonder what tickets are selling for on the secondary market?

We figured we would not get Vermeer tickets. We had a change of plans and weren't planning on being in the Netherlands. Nevertheless we will enjoy museums and all of the Netherlands!