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Car rental advice in the Netherlands

Posted by (TX, US) on

My wife and I are planning a 7-day trip in the Netherlands, end of April thru the first of May, the plan is to make a circuit starting from Lisse/Keukenhof, Delft, The Hague, Dordrecht, maybe Ultrecht and finally ending up in and around Amsterdam and vicinity for the last 3 days.

We obviously would not have a car when in Amsterdam, but would a car rental make sense for the first 4 days to transport us from town to town? Online, 4 days of rental including tax but w/o insurance is about 80 euros.

I wouldn’t consider us heavy packers, but we are not backpackers either. We also probably don’t plan to use the car much once we get to our lodging.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Posted by
2829 posts

All these cities have train service except Lisse.
Don't miss on Rotterdam and Kinderdijk.

Posted by
2487 posts

The Keukenhof has an excellent bus service (Keukenhof Express) from the railway stations Schiphol Airport and Leiden. Lisse itself is of less than medium interest.
You are just a few days too early to take the river ferry Waterbus from Rotterdam to Kinderdijk, continuing to Dordrecht, but there is an direct bus service from the railway station Dordrecht.
Use the public transport planner 9292 for all your connections. The TripKey will come handy: it's valid on all public transport.

Posted by
1005 posts

I agree with the other posters. Don't rent a car. The Netherlands has excellent public transportation. The Tripkey card works for all buses, trams, and trains.

Posted by
143 posts

Just a small warning about Tripkey. Tripkey seems to have some problems with the pickup locations. On Tripadvisor several people have complained that no cards were available at pick up locations. So if you choose Tripkey, you better have a backup plan.

Posted by
7256 posts

Unless you are going to the eastern border of the Netherlands, the car will be a hindrance for the stated itinerary. Find a hotel you like, maybe in Amsterdam and in den Haag or Rotterdam, and enjoy easy daytrips on unreserved commuter trains. Consider adding Leiden.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you for all the advise thus far.

I guess my only concern with taking public transport is that initial stop. If our first stop let's say is Keukenhof directly from Schipol, what do we do with our bags at Keukenhof? It seems that they don't really have facilities for large luggage storage.

Posted by
7256 posts

I personally would not go direct from the airport to Keukenhof, although that makes sense "geographically." We can't know (since you have omitted your home country from your visible profile) whether you will be jet-lagged on arrival. But I also prefer to get my hotel room and begin sightseeing later. Anyway, the Keukenhof website says that they have luggage storage:

https://keukenhof.nl/en/plan-your-visit/practical-information/

I should add that while public transportation to Keukenhof exists, some people suggest that it isn't trivial. Do you have a plan from the airport yet? Some Amsterdam (I mean, downtown) outings are Round-Trip only. (We had a car for this stop, having driven from Cologne, Germany, over ten days. We were turning in the car before going to Amsterdam, a few nights, and our flight home. Having visited Leiden by train on past visits to Amsterdam, our only "coastal" use of the car was Keukenhof and Alsmeer Flower Auction. Traffic and parking at Keukenhof were slow and muddy!)

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