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Day Trips to Small Towns - from Utrecht or Rotterdam

Hello fellow travelers. I will be in the Netherlands with my husband and my son (6 years old) for about 50 nights this summer from June 6 - August 3 (we're taking a trip to Copenhagen and Stockholm for 10 nights in the middle). At the end of our trip, we are basing in Utrecht (11 nights) and Rotterdam (12 nights). Since we have such a long time in those cities, we are looking for recommendations of nearby small towns that would make good day trips from either of those cities.

We're looking for cities/towns/villages that are less than 1 hour from either Utrecht or Rotterdam by train or bus (although closer is certainly better), and not listed in the RS Amsterdam and Netherlands guidebook.

I like art and history museums, my husband likes sitting at a café with a coffee or glass or wine, our son likes playgrounds and parks, and we all like churches, food markets, food in general, and scenic, historic towns.

For background, during the first part of our trip we will be bouncing around a lot more, and we are staying in: Nijmegen (5 nights), Amersfoort (6 nights), Bergen op Zoom (5 nights), and Wieringerwerf (7 nights, we have rented a car to explore the surrounding areas).

I'd appreciate any tips or destinations you have to share! Thank you all very much!

Posted by
1587 posts

From Utrecht cities like Deventer, Zwolle, ‘s Hertogenbosch, Arnhem etc can all be reached by train in less than 1 hour. But since you also plan to stay in Nijmegen and Amersfoort for a total of 11 days you might have already planned to see these places. Cities like Haarlem, Delft and The Hague are within reach also, but I guess these are mentioned in the guidebook.

If I were you I would pick a different city to stay in. For instance Groningen or Leeuwarden or Zwolle in the north/northeastern part of the country. Or Maastricht in the far south.

Posted by
87 posts

I live in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and if you stay in Utrecht, it’s a nice daytrip from there. I can recommend this: https://dagjedenbosch.com/en/activities/historical-boat-tour-on-the-binnendieze/ . I’ve done this a couple of times and enjoyed it each time. We have a beautiful cathedral. And a very nice historic city centre with loads of small alleys to explore. Loads of opportunities to sit down, have a drink or eat something and watch the world pass by. Also a nice museum: https://www.hetnoordbrabantsmuseum.nl/en/. And this garden in the town centre for your son to play for a bit: https://www.jeroenboschtuin.nl/sfeerimpressie/ontspanning/. There are streetmarkets on Wednesday (9 am to 3 pm) and Saturdays (9am to 5 pm) and a bio/eco streetmarket on Fridays (9am to 1.30 pm) in the city centre.
I guess you already know this but in case you don’t: your son can travel in the trains for € 2,50 a day. The ticket is called railrunner.

Posted by
276 posts

Thank you both for your replies!

@Dutch_traveler, we did look at Maastricht (I actually did a three-month study abroad there back in 2010 and loved it!), but we couldn't find lodging options within our budget that would accommodate three of us. We have plans to visit Haarlem, The Hague, and Delft (which I've visited before, but my husband and son have not). I do have Arnhem and Zwolle on our list to visit from Nijemgen or Amersfoort, but I'll check out Deventer as well. Thank you!

@ajlmv, thank you for all those recommendations! I've added 's-Hertogenbosch to our itinerary for Saturday for the street markets, and I've saved all those links. My son loves all things boats and being on the water, so he'll be thrilled with the boat tour, and I'll be thrilled with the art museum! I also didn't know that about the ticket for my son, so thank you! Planning train travel is something I haven't delved into yet (besides checking the timetables and travel distances between cities) - I appreciate the extra info.

Posted by
26 posts

From Utrecht you can visit Naarden.

From Rotterdam nearby small towns/places to visit include Dordrecht, Kinderdijk, Brielle and Gouda.

Posted by
368 posts

One wonderful little museum in a lovely town I took by bus from Utrecht was Oudewater to visit
Heksenwaag, Witches Weigh House. I remember 2 floors and some kids activities there too. Everyone can get a certificate the are not a witch/sorcerer. Nice outdoor restaurants as well.
Maudurodam is a must see and enjoyed by everyone.
Apenheul was a favorite when kids were little.
Pancake Cruise De Pannenkoekenboot in Amsterdam is fun.
I did finally go into the Peace Palace in The Hague with my Dutch Utrecht born and raised brother in law who had never been inside himself.
Also you could do a long day trip to Disneyland Paris via Thalys.
Been twice, just different than here in the USA.

Posted by
276 posts

@Michel van Kooten - thanks very much! Added to our list.

@Pab - thank you for those recommendations! Oudewater and the Witches Weigh House sounds right up our alley. I'll look into Madurodam as well. For Disneyland Paris, we actually live about 45 minutes from Disney World in Florida, so we go there a fair amount :) We'll probably save DIsneyland Paris for another trip when my son is older and can appreciate the differences. Thanks again!

Posted by
1951 posts

Erin since you'll be right there for an extended time, take you kid to Duinrell amusement park near Waasenaar near Leiden. It has age appropriate rides, the theming is quite Dutch, and there's a lot of other stuff to do. The town of Wassenaar itself is pretty okay too. A bit of a rich suburb. A friend's daughter nannied for the Dutch ambassador to Cyprus - that wealthy family lived in Wassenaar. It's kind of a horsey place in the way the Dutch do horsey.

Posted by
1951 posts

One wonderful little museum in a lovely town I took by bus from
Utrecht was Oudewater to visit Heksenwaag, Witches Weigh House. I
remember 2 floors and some kids activities there too. Everyone can get
a certificate the are not a witch/sorcerer.

+1
Stayed in Oudewater cycle touring once - good little town and the Witches Weigh house was neat too.