Amsterdam or the Hague?

The Hague has some very famous museums, as well as walking attractions. I think either Leiden or Utrecht would be much livelier, especially at night. It's also true that The Hague is immediately adjacent to Delft, and not that far from Rotterdam and Kinderdijk. The Netherlands have excellent daytime commuter trains for easy daytrips. Amsterdam is a great place to daytrip from, if you do not feel that you have completely exhausted the city. Note that someone who was 11 the last time they were there may be ready for other museums and the Red Light district. Did you go to the Resistance Musem, the Portuguese Synagogue, the Colonial (I forget the new, politically correct name) Museum, the Botanical Gardens, and the Schouwberg? (I've been to Amsterdam three times.)

Tim, Does Leiden and Utrecht have enough to do for 3 days? What night options are there? This is the last leg of our trip and we don't want to travel daily. Amsterdam is still an option, but the accommodations are pricey at that time and we thought we'd see something else works. Thanks.

There's a lot you didn't provide, like whether you're in Amsterdam to fly out, and what else you're seeing in the Netherlands. Where will you have been just before and after the three days in question? Are you flying across the Atlantic? Do you like art museums? When you say night, do you mean formal plays and opera, nightclubs, bars, live small bands, or just restaurants? I think you know most tourist sites close before dinner.

We had a great time driving from Venlo to Amsterdam over two weeks. There's a lot to do. As for not wanting to travel daily, I don't see a big difference between taking the tram for 20 minutes and taking a commuter train for 40 minutes to get to a city I've never been in. But you said you don't want to make daytrips. Our host here, Rick, loves Haarlem. Have you ever been there? Personally, I'd rather be in Utrecht or Leiden. But I only went to those two places for the day, from Amsterdam. I liked Amersfoort so much I went there twice from Amsterdam, on different trips to Europe. But I would never tell anyone to sleep in Amersfort. There's "not enough to do."

It's not a very good comparison, but the Hague is more like Washington D.C., and Leiden is more like Baltimore or Philadelphia. I guess that means Amsterdam would be like Boston. But those are dumb comparisons. They don't actually roll up the sidewalks in The Hague. (I have slept three nights in the Hague.) But it's an institutional town. With fantastic paintings.

Lisa,

I would consider staying in Delft, as opposed to The Hague. We have stayed in Delft 3 times and really enjoy it, as it has a lot more charm compared to The Hague (in our opinion at least). While I have never stayed in The Hague, Delft is just a short tram ride away. You could get to The Hague in 20 minutes by bike as well. If in The Hague, Mauritshuis Picture gallery should not be missed. Scheveningen, the Dutch Coney Island is interesting as well if you have a nice day. Combining Delft and The Hague, you will not run out of things to do.

Jay

Leiden is a pleasant and interesting city, but it won't keep you busy for three days. As noted above, distances to other cities around are short and the train connections are excellent (several trains per hour, not only in daytime). You won't regret using it as a base and have day trips to The Hague (20 mins by train) or Haarlem (30 mins).

Tim,
You're right - I should have added some things. The week before, my husband will will have finished a 1 week, 85 mile walking holiday in England while my teen and I spend the week in London. (*We have not made plans yet to get from England to NL either, if you guys have ideas there.*) We can leave London late on 6/8 and leave AMS on 6/12. We are flying out of AMS back to the U.S. because it was cheaper and we thought we'd see someplace else. Hubby would like to keep it simple after his hike, but of course, a 20 or 30 travel time anywhere would be fine. We'd like some fun things to do at night. For example, last year in Scandinavia we saw " How to become Swedish in one hour" and visited Tivoli Gardens. Fun things, nothing heavy. We'd rather go to markets than museums and like to people watch. Thanks to everyone and please pile on the ideas!

Helpful additional info. Will you investigate all 3 London airports for bargain airlines with annoying luggage fees to Amsterdam, or use the train (prices soon to rise three months out?) Hard to train to Amsterdam, easy to Brussels or Antwerp or Paris. Good nightlife in Antwerp, if too much drinking.

I remain puzzled that you chose a big city you don't really care to visit again. BRU ia also a hub. Have you been to Paris?

The reason I mentioned Washington DC is that many garages there don't bother to stay open at night! I'm a bit afraid you're going to tell me the obsolete shibboleth that the Frogs don't want you in Paris. Amsterdam has much more than you can see in three days. How about Bath, Stonhenge, and Cardiff, with a flight (Bristol?) to AMS to get home? Cardiff actually has had problems with too much night life.

We're taking the train from London back to AMS for our trip home. It's a lot less stressful than flying, we don't need to worry about the lower allowable weight of bags if we pick up souvenirs. We get to some more of England before it goes through the Tunnel and then Brussels with time to pick up some Belgian chocolate and then drops us right at AMS. We're spending the night at an airport hotel for ease in catching the plane the next day.

Our trip begins in AMS and we're staying in Haarlem (very close to the train station) because of the lower cost, the ease to get there from AMS and the large selection of day trips.

On my last visit to the Netherlands, I stayed in The Hague and was very happy with the choice. I stayed at the 4-star Mercure for significantly less than I would have paid in A'dam for a 3-star. Getting to/from Schiphol is just as easy from one city as the other (AMS is between them), just a few minutes more on the train from The Hague. I took the local tram to Delft for the better part of a day and felt I'd seen/done everything there. I spent a day at Madurodam. There are fine art museums in The Hague. The Escher and the Mesdag are "different" and I enjoyed both. After the seeing the Mesdag, I went out to Scheveningin and it looks remarkably the same. I toured the Dutch Parliament. In hindsight, I would have skipped it but do walk around the outside of the building, including the courtyard.

I also did a day trip to A'dam, started at the Maritime Museum (great), the Portuguese Synagogue and Jewish Museum, the Dutch Resistance Museum and the Hermitage (special Impressionist exhibition) and still had the evening free. One thing that struck me was how dirty/seamy A'dam is around the train station.

I loved Delft. There's not a museum around every corner, but it was a wonderful place to relax and see how Dutch people live. I wandered everywhere, sat on the town square drinking coffee and listened to the carillon bells, enjoyed the Saturday morning market, followed the canal out to the old town gate ... things like that. As others have said, The Hague is a short tram ride away. If you expect you'll want to be very active, The Hague is probably a better choice; if you might want to kick back a bit, Delft would be excellent.

Thanks for all you comments. I think we will take the train. Does anyone have any nighttime activities ideas in any of these towns or dining suggestions?

Thanks for all you comments. Goog idea Terri - I think we will take the train.
Does anyone have any nighttime activities ideas in any of these towns or dining suggestions? What if we stay in Haarlem?

Being Dutch, I may have some helpful tips.

Amsterdam has a lot of sights to see but fortunately there is more see in to the Netherlands. Den Haag is a lively city with a lot of history, the sea (scheveningen for the tourists and Kijkduin for the locals), shopping and it houses our parliament. It depends on what you want to do at night but there are a lot of bar and cafe's.

Also, remember that The Netherlands is very compact so if you stay in Den Haag you can easily visit other cities with a max of 20-30 min travel time. You can visit quaint places like Delft of Leiden (lots of history) but also Rotterdam is around the corner. It's actually the 2nd city (after Amsterdam) and is currently modernizing. Great sights to see (some examples below), bussling nightlife, biggest seaport of Europe and great buildings to see. There was actually talk of Madonna owning an penthouse in the city!

Some information about Rotterdam: https://en.rotterdam.info. To easily plan trips with public transport you can open 9292.nl. This combines bus, train, metro etc.

Have fun visiting the Netherlands. Just let me know if you need any more tips.