Choice of places

I did a day trip to Hoorn and Edam. I traveled by bus. Enjoyed both towns quite a bit, but didn't feel like I needed to go anywhere else.

With a private driver you can probably hit a few more places easily enough, but since I didn't visit any of the other towns on your list, I can't offer any other suggestions.

You can see my photos from Hoorn and Edam if you want: https://goo.gl/photos/ULaBL9pssioKdk5x9

Are you planning to go to Broek in Waterland and/or Broek op Langedijk? In the latter, you can visit an 19th century vegetable “sail-through” auction: https://broekerveiling.nl/en.

Broek in waterland but also thinking of adding Leiden which I understand is very nice

Leiden would merit a day trip on its own. You can get there easily by train from Amsterdam. I would not combine Leiden with a tour of Waterland and West Friesland on the same day. Leiden is a university town with interesting museums, a hortus botanicus and a well preserved 17th century center with canals. It would be a different experience from villages in Waterland and the West Frisian towns. It would depend on what kind of experience you are looking for.. Squeezing both in one day would not do credit to these places.

Broek in waterland but also thinking of adding Leiden which I understand is very nice

What's your overall itinerary in the Netherlands looking like - ie time there and home base(s)? And what are your interests while traveling - museums, nature, adventure, culture, shopping, architecture, etc.?

Leiden is lovely, but so are many Dutch towns and cities across the country. And Broek in Waterland was lovely too - we rode our bikes through it a couple of times and it was quite a cute town. You'd definitely have completely different experiences in Leiden vs Broek in Waterland (and Leiden is not a substitute for BiW or vice versa), but BiW makes a reasonable addition to Volendam et al, so maybe a nice add-on to your mix that day. But it is probably a lot for one day especially if you add Schermer/Alkmaar area too. I've never been to Schemer or Alkmaar, but I do see Alkmaar mentioned a bit here. Marken is also often grouped with Volendam and Edam, but that also would be a busy day with Schermer/Alkmaar, so if you're not feeling it, Marken can be skipped. Hoorn also often gets tossed into the mix with heading up towards those other towns.

With a driver and spreading the day from early AM to later in the PM (assuming longer summer daylight), you could definitely pace things to pack the day. I'd lay it all out so you can keep it all streamlined. Distances are pretty short in the Netherlands, but not sure how easy it is navigating (time-wise) a car into and out of Amsterdam, but your driver should at least take the driving and parking headaches from you.

Be aware that if your travel dates are the week of June 22nd, there will be massive delays on the motorways between Amsterdam and Leiden/The Hague because of the NATO summit: https://www.government.nl/topics/nato-summit-2025/accessibility-2025-nato-summit. If you planning to visit Leiden, your travel time most likely will be impacted.

Thanks everyone! Going in mid May 2026. Due to missing tulip season would really like to at least see the windmills so that’s why I put shermer in there. Maybe leave out Leiden and keep Broek and orhers. Is Volendam worth it. Doing this outside the city is more about scenery, quaint villages, maybe cheese tasting, chocolate tasting, leaving the museums while have daytime in Amsterdam itself.