Day trips from Delft

Delft is very close to Rotterdam and to The Hague. Both are definitely worth visiting.

If you take the train to Rotterdam, the TI in the station there can provide you a map with an excellent walking tour.

The highlight of The Hague for me was the Mauritshuis. A good guidebook will provide additional suggestions.

Thank you! Yes The Hague was on my list but not Rotterdam. Thanks for the suggestion!

I enjoyed Gouda and Haarlem. Leiden would also work.

And when you get to Rotterdam get a tram from outside train station(?#7) to the
riverfront and take a riverboat to Kinderdijk to see the 19 historic windmills in their original locations. This is one of the best places to visit in The Netherlands.
Delft is very near The Hague, a must see. The Mauritshuis museum, isn’t large and is quite special. There are several of Vermeer’s works there including “ The Girl with the Pearl Earring.”
Also near, is the beautiful university town of Leiden. You can easily get to all these places by train.

“ The Mauritshuis museum, isn’t large and is quite special. There are several of Vermeer’s works there including “ The Girl with the Pearl Earring.””

The Girl with the Pearl earring is currently in the Rijksmuseum together with the other 2 Vermeers. The Girl with the Pearl earring returns to the Mauritshuis early on April 1. The other 2 Vermeers remain in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam until the end of the Vermeer exhibit in June. Apparently the OP is here before the Keukenhof closes which is in mid May. So depending on when exactly they’re visiting there is either only 1 Vermeer in the Mauritshuis or none at all.

To answer the OP’s question; depending on your interests and when exactly you are here, there are lots of places to visit. Several nice places have already been mentioned, but if you tell us more about what kind of things you like to see and do, we may be able to give more specific recommendations.

Thanks to all for these suggestions! I might add a sixth night to my itinerary. I had thought about venturing out farther - to Friesland or other - but I suspect it would require long train rides. In terms of interest, I enjoy learning new languages, taking walking tours, art and history museums, battlefields (WW1 in particular), architecture. I am not a "foodie". This particular trip I hope to enjoy art, history, architecture and (easy) bike rides. I appreciate your letting me know that the Girl with the Pearl Earring will not be in the Vermeer exhibit so I will definitely visit her in Maruithaus. I "met" her at the Frick in New York City of all places!
Dank u wel!!!!!

“ I enjoy learning new languages”
Here is your first lesson. The Dutch word for house is huis. So the Dutch name of the Mauritshuis is in fact Mauritshuis and not Mauritshaus. Haus is the German word for house. Giving German names to Dutch things can be a sensitive thing, maybe not so much in relation to the Mauritshuis but definitely in relation to the Anne Frank huis.

You mention your interested in WW1. Have you considered visiting Belgium, especially the region around Ypres?

With regards to daytrips in the Netherlands, how far are you willing to travel? How long by train? 1 hour? 2 hours?

Thank you!
Yes I misspelled the name of the museum! I do speak some German and I find lots of Dutch words are similar to German.
Yes I have been to Ieper. I took a real interesting tour from there. The museum “In Flanders Fields” is super.
Regarding train, I think two hours each way would be the max. I thought about dipping into Germany or Luxembourg but might be too much traveling and the Ruhr holds no interest.

I love Delft. When we are there, we consider The Hague as a part of Delft due to its close proximity and easy access to Delft. The two cities are so close to one another, you can bike, tram or train it quite easily (I even walked to The Hague from Delft once). I am only mentioning this as I don’t want you to think you need to dedicate a full day trip from Delft to The Hague. Very easy to hop back and forth, as if they are the same city.

I will give you one other day trip option: Antwerpen, Belgium. Inter-city trains take about 75 minutes. Or, if you book ahead of time, you can get to Antwerpen in under an hour with the Thayls train. Antwerpen is a nice contrast to Delft and you get to see firsthand the not always subtle differences between the two nations.

“ I do speak some German and I find lots of Dutch words are similar to German.”
To the untrained ear, Dutch words can indeed sound similar to German words. But in reality we have very few words in common. And the few words that we do have in common, are words that we both borrowed from another language, like computer for instance. In both Dutch and German a computer is called a computer, but the pronunciation is different.

“Regarding train, I think two hours each way would be the max.“
In that case, I suggest you to look into cities like Amersfoort, Zwolle, Breda and/or ‘s Hertogenbosch. All great cities and all within a 2 hour train journey from Delft.

The municipal art museum in den Haage is large and excellent, as well. Has quite a few American artists of the 20th Century, too.

See if the city (land) bus to Kinderdijk might be less trouble than the boat. I don't know.

Wow this is fantastic! So many great suggestions! I thank you all!
I am thinking of visiting Antwerpen on the way from Gent to Delft, using the train station lockers. Well that is one plan. I often will spend one day in a place and if I enjoy it and want more time there, I return and stay a few nights on another trip. This time I decided right off to stay in Delft (never been) and do day trips to other places that will also be new to me. I was in Haarlem many years ago and it was just a place to stay while visiting Amsterdam so it merits a visit this year. Keukenhof is a must! I did visit years ago and it is spectacular.
While in Gent I will likely revisit Brugge. I had thought about staying in Antwerpen but decided to stay in Gent again.
Regarding language, I thought some words in Dutch and German had perhaps common roots from long ago. The two languages do not have similar sounds that I can perceive. I love the sounds of Dutch!
Thank you!!!!! Dank u wel !!!!!

Hello! I was considering Hoorn. Comments anybody?

Hoorn was a place I planned to go on my trip last year but didn't end up going. Someone on the forum (I can't remember who) gave me the idea when they visited and enjoyed it.

If you search "hoorn" in the Netherlands forum you can see quite a few posts about it. Or see if this link works.

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&filter=Travel+Forum&query=hoorn&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Thank you very much!