We will only be in Amsterdam for 3 full days (4 nights) from 17 April - 21 April. Our plan as follow:
**Day 1: Explore the City & 3-4 hour bicycle ride along the Amstel river
Day 2: Zaanse Schans (morning) & Waterland area (afternoon)
Day 3: Keukenhof & Delft**
Is this possible?
Kindly advise the best and most cost effective way to combine Keukenhof and Delft in 1 day.
THANKS
Will you be there in April or May?
Sorry, we will be in Amsterdam from 17 April - 21 April. Arrive at 17:00 on the 17th.
In season the Keukenhof Express bus runs from Schiphol airport to Keukenhof and from Keukenhof to Leiden Centraal station. From Leiden Centraal you can take a direct train to Delft, which takes 20 mins. From Delft back to Amsterdam is also no problem: alternatingly direct trains or one with a change at Leiden, taking 1 hr.
You can stay in Leiden instead of going to Delft. Lovely and lively historical city. Go there on Saturday and visit the market behind the city hall.
In time the Keukenhof website will give you the schedule of the bus, and the NS train planner shows you those of the trains.
You will be arriving for Easter weekend - expect Keukenhof to be bulging at the seams the closer you are to Easter.
If I were doing your trip I would check carefully for what things will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
I would also do Keukenhof as early as possible in your trip, bearing in mind jet lag. Also worth while checking is the weather on the day you want to visit. Keukenhof in the rain gives some pretty nice photos, but it truly isn't nearly as much fun over all as either after the rain or on a clear day.
You have set a very busy schedule for three days. Amsterdam has too many attractions of its own to be seen in one (half!) day. You might want to check seasonal temperature and tree-leafing out prospects before planning a four-hour bike ride.
There is no question that Delft is a special location, but for the sake of wasted time on public transportation, you might want to look into the older and more picturesque sections of Amsterdam (or Haarlem), and accept them as a substitute for the long trip to Delft. Alternatively, if you can incorporate Den Haag into your itinerary, you would not have to return to Amsterdam.
I think you will have to find a road-side bus stop (in the correct direction ... ) in the semi-rural area where Keukenhof is located, to get to Leiden. Then you have to find the rail station and buy tickets to Delft. It's also important to consider that every time you "change" a public-transportation vehicle, you introduce waiting-time. On the other hand, the Keukenhof Express busses are an efficient connection between the bulb show and Amsterdam. I went to Delft (for the entire day) on the train from Amsterdam, which is much faster and more convenient than going by way to Keukenhof.
It's not next door, but you might research whether it's easy enough to get to Kinderdijk from Delft to replace Zaanse Schans with Kinderdijk. (We had a car the day of our Kinderdijk visit, so I can't advise on that.)
Tim presents it much more difficult than justified. The Keukenhof Express bus delivers you at the Keukenhof entrance, from the very same place you get the same bus to Leiden, which stops in front of the railway station. Trains to and from Amsterdam run every fifteen minutes from Leiden and Delft (and everything in between).
