Day trips from AMS in Dec - Delft? Haarlem? Hague?

Have you been to the Aalsmeer flower auction? It would be a half-day trip or at least it was for us. We loved it. I think even someone who didn't like flowers would be fascinated by how it all works and just the spectacle of it.

We also enjoyed our day trip by train to Enkhuizen, including the Zuiderzeemuseum.

The Hague and Delft are easy to do in one day from Amsterdam, although the latter is a great place to spend a night too. If you are a fan of Vermeer, the The Hague has three of his masterpieces (including the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring). And Delft was his home town. I love walking through Delft and there are a couple of wonderful museums there—including the Vermeer Centrum Delft, Museum Prinsenhof Delft and a couple of museums dedicated to Delft pottery. The Nieuwe Kerk ("New Church," 14th century) is also a must see.

“ We love to try new food, walking to see sights, history, etc. ”

This applies to basically every city in the Netherlands. We can help you better if you provide a bit more details about what it is you’re interested in.
If you want to explore more, I would suggest to look beyond the cities in the densely populated area in the western part of our country. The Netherlands is more than that. Look for instance at cities like Den Bosch, Maastricht, Zwolle, Groningen, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Deventer etc.

Personally I wouldn’t go to Enkhuizen in December. The Zuiderzeemuseum mentioned by Nancy, is an open air museum and consists of an indoor and outdoor part. The outdoor part of the museum is very interesting, but it’s only open in spring, summer and early autumn and is therefore closed in December.

Also will you be here on NYE? If so, there are some things you need to be aware of, so please let us know.

We really enjoyed time in Haarlem I think maybe 30 minutes or less by train. Especially the Ten Boom house not to be missed in my opinion. If you are going there and can see The Hiding place movie now in some theaters don't miss it.

Delft and The Hague work well together as they are connected by a shuttle. Both are wonderful to explore, so much history.We enjoyed our week in Leiden, using it as a base to explore the area. We spent a week in Amsterdam on an earlier trip.

Thank you all for suggestions. We're definitely going to do more day trips. Also wondering about going the Dutch Resistance Museum?

@ Dutch_Traveler - no we won't be there for NYE, we're flying back to US on 12/26.

Also wondering about going the Dutch Resistance Museum?

I loved the Dutch Resistance Museum! It was one of the best places I went to in Amsterdam. So thought provoking and really interesting. I highly recommend it.

Ditto on the Dutch Resistance Museum. But it has changed significantly from several years ago. I still like it, but it definitely feels a little more apologetic towards the Dutch who worked with the Germans. Maybe "apologetic" isn't the best word. But "rationalizing" might be.