Amsterdam and day trips

Utrecht as a daytrip from Amsterdam makes sense as it’s southeast of Amsterdam and not on the way to Belgium. Den Haag is only ten minutes from Delft and fifteen minutes or so from Leiden. I’ve used Leiden as a base for visiting Delft and Den Haag.
Leiden also is a good place to stay the night before flying out of Schipol- it’s a fifteen-minute ride.

Amsterdam is very well situated for daytrips. Fast, cheap, unreserved local trains make it possible to visit many interesting smaller cities, more than ten. I even did two in one day, but that's not ideal. It is completely unnecessary to change hotels. There is usually no reason you could not have an early dinner in your daytrip town, as long as you check the train schedule. Don't think of it as a half-day. Note that Leiden and Utrecht, as well as den Haag, have more than you can possibly do in a day.

Just like going to the theater at home, maybe you have to tell your waiter to bring the check "Now!" (In Europe, many waiters will assume that you are going to spend most of the evening at the restaurant, not like "turning the table" in the US.)

Are you flying home from Brussels/BRU?

Really, Amsterdam or someplace like Leiden (my personal favorite) would suit you well as a base for day trips.

A lot really depends on whether you prefer staying in cities or small towns. So I would think about that and then go from, there. If it were me, I'd probably base myself in Leiden, but that's me. :-)

We stayed 4 nights in Leiden and were really glad we opted for that and not Amsterdam. We went to Amsterdam for a day but it was so much busier and more crowded. Leiden was the perfect location for us for day trips and just the right size.

Thank you for the recommendations! We are considering another day trip option to Kinderdijk to see the windmills. We are interested in the history of the windmills and are excited to see that these windmills are in their original location. The trek to get there, however, seems tricky. Would you have any thoughts on this? We are willing to relocate to another city for this stop or take a day trip out of Amsterdam. Alternatively, we could go to Edam, which we understand has one windmill in its original location. Thanks in advance for your ideas!

It was easy from Leiden. So it would be the same but a bit further coming from Amsterdam. We took the train to Rotterdam and then you get a tram from the train station to a drop off point where you walk to the water bus which takes you to Kinderjik. The tourist info in the train station will tell you which tram to get. Public transportation in the Netherlands was fantastic and easy to use.

All over the Netherlands you can find windmills in their original location. In Amsterdam for instance, you can visit the Molen van Sloten. In Leiden Molen de Valk, right in the city center, can be visited too.

Depending on where you are, Amsterdam doesn't feel like the large city that it is because you can walk to just about everything. I would first look at what you want to see in Amsterdam itself and any reservations that are required/available, as this will impact how you plan your days. One of the highlights of my visits has been an evening canal tour with Those Dam Boat Guys. This might not be possible to do if you're not staying in the city. OTOH, it might be just the relaxing thing after a day trip. Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

Assuming you may mean the Eurostar by fast train. Not sure why you’d want to do that when the distance is so close. We took a direct train from Rotterdam to Antwerp. It was a little over an hour. We were staying in Delft at the time. Loved Delft! Very easy to take day trips from there. The train station is modern and easy.