Delft or Leiden? Hoorn?

What’s best depends on your interests. But first of all; when will you be making this trip? Next week? Next summer? What kind of museums do you want to see? How many days will you spend in Amsterdam? What do you plan to do while there? A bit more details will help us help you better.

will you be there at tulip time or steam train time or neither?

More specifics: we're traveling in just a month (early October). We visited Amsterdam a few years ago and will be there for a couple of days this time around. Interested in European art (so the Rijksmuseum is already reserved) along with any other unique or local history. Would want no more than 1 or 2 other major museums but fun, small local museums would be interesting to add. Mostly, we like wandering and exploring, maybe add in a bike rental or local walking tour.

This entire trip came about because our eldest begins @ Cambridge next month so we decided to have a bit of a wander before heading to see her there.

If you like European art, the Mauritshuis in The Hague is an obvious museum to visit.
I don’t know what you mean by fun, local small museums. Each city you mention has museums, some big and some small.
You don’t mention how many days you’re staying in Amsterdam, but you can take a day trip to Hoorn and/or Haarlem from Amsterdam.
You can visit Delft, Leiden and The Hague from each of these 3 cities.

congratulations on daughter going to Cambridge (which College?)

When you arrive in the Netherlands I'm afraid that the steam train from Hoorn will have finished daily service and only be going on weekends until half-term later in the month. https://www.stoomtram.nl/ If you had been able to do that, with the Zuidersee Museum and museum ship, on the Golden Triangle, it would be unique and very enjoyable.

I'm a little confused on your timings. Do you land in Brussels and then immediately have 3 days (is that 4 nights or 3?) and then another reservation in Amsterdam for 2 days (again, is that 3 nights for 2 full days?) and then going to Cambridge?

I focussed on your mention of Hoorn but it sounds like you will be south of Amsterdam? Do you maybe want a little time in Belgium before Amsterdam? Maybe Bruges/Ghent/Antwerp? Or do you want to move twice in the general Amsterdam area? I tend to think that everything from Rotterdam to Hoorn is easy day trips from anywhere in the area. I usually stay in Haarlem but my place is now no more.

It is unnecessary to change bedrooms in the Amsterdam vicinity, but it could be said that Rotterdam, Den Haag, and Amsterdam are big enough to wake up in for multiple days and repeat nothing. Unless you dislike big cities, I prefer Amsterdam, good for a week by itself. Leiden is good for at least two days, and could be said to be more centrally located. The exceptions for that centrality would be Utrecht (also can't be seen in one day) and Amersfoort.

So I'm saying your list of visits comes before selecting a base. Month of year?

Because the historic center of Delft is so small, it is (to me anyway) naive to believe you will be in a B&B down the street from some old masters painter-mansion. If you are daytripping, you want train access anyway. You are going to be in a postwar masonry building in a sprawling new-town.

I have not been to Hoorn, but the time when Imperialist (!) ferry ports were central to European transport is long past.

I appreciate you all trying to sort out what we're doing and I'm sorry to not have realized how many specifics were helpful from the start.

We will have been in Germany, traveling up to Brussels, where we'll stay for a couple of nights and then have 3 days before our reservation in Amsterdam. We have 2 nights booked in Amsterdam but weren't planning to stay longer as we've been there before but we haven't been to other towns or sights outside of Amsterdam. We've been to Bruges on a past trip. So I thought we could make the most of those 3 days by exploring the towns both large and small between Brussels and Amsterdam. (I know Hoorn is in the other direction but if it was really worth going to, it's not that far).

If all of that info suggests new or different advice, I'd love to hear your thoughts. thanks.

Some fast trains to Amsterdam leave from Antwerp, which I prefer visiting, to Brussels. Brussels art museums are pretty important but Antwerp KMSKA reopens this month after ten years of renovation

Some people with civil engineering interest want to see the Delta Works, easier by car.

I personally am very fond of Belgium, so I might visit Mechelen or Leuven before, say, Amersfoort. You may benefit by deciding what you mean by "small towns." All the thatched roofs you will see are modern replicas by high-end suburban developers ... ... These are prosperous postwar welfare states.

It's great you've already been to Bruges and Amsterdam. I don't care for it but Haarlem is a popular bedroom on this newsboard. I can't endorse sleeping in a tiny place like Lier or Amersfoort because I want to have local options if it's rainy or cold when I wake up. I can't see sleeping in Haarlem if you can afford Amsterdam. Opinion.

Month of year?

Leiden or The Hague would be good places to stay. Visit Delft from either of them. Do not miss the Mauritshaus Museum in The Hague, small but holds the Royal Collection.

I just spent 3 nights in Delft and loved it. Took a daytrip to The Hague and visited the Mauritshuis museum. Delft is not large but not tiny either and had a great bustling energy due to the university.

@Suki; I’m not sure why you keep insisting on spreading incorrect information. In several posts already, I’ve tried to explain to you that the Mauritshuis doesn’t have a German name and that it doesn’t hold the Royal collection.
In the Netherlands we speak Dutch, not German. So it’s MauritsHUIS not haus. The art in the Mauritshuis is owned by the Dutch state, not by the Royal family.

I will drop in here my standard advocacy for Den Bosch. It's a fantastic looking little city with fun, interesting tourist sites (the Hieronymus Bosch museum is just awesome, as is the underground canal tour) and cheery, vibrant, upscale social amenities (restaurants cafes markets etc). It's surrounded by lovely countryside and forests. Most of the visitors are in the know Dutch doing long weekends.

I like Delft a lot as well. It's probably the best and most archetypally Dutch looking little city core in the Netherlands. And it also has good amenities. But it's pretty small, and by and large it is not surrounded by agriculture and nature, but rather suburbs and industry. It's worth a visit for a day or a night or two.

I'm not a big fan of Leiden anymore. There's nothing major wrong with Leiden. I do think it is slightly less good looking overall as a city than Amsterdam, Delft, Den Bosch, Amersfoort, Harlem, etc. Because of the size of the university, the street life skews very young. It feels like 3/4 of the people in the city are under 27. I have no problem per se with a college scene - I'm a college professor. But the past few times I was in Leiden it was summer. This last time the University was in session, and as a person in my mid-50s it was hard to find places to go out that weren't completely dominated by a college crowd. I didn't feel unwelcome necessarily, but rather a bit like I was being tolerated. Which is fine - this town belongs to its students. But on vacation I'd rather get away from them since they are all I see most of the time anyway.

I've eaten in probably 10 Leiden restaurants, and they've all been somewhat average. Not bad at all but nothing special.

And this might be a minor heresy, but Leiden has some pretty thinky and high culture museums and the sort, which I found to be a little bit boring. I'm not so much of a history geek, tend to prefer exciting visual arts (get me a room full of Baroque masters ...).

But all of the above is to some extent hair splitting. I really do love the Netherlands, currently I think it's my favorite country on the planet :). You're not really going to go wrong anywhere.

We were just in Delft for 3 days, after Amsterdam, and found Delft to be beautiful, historic, fun and easy to navigate. A good relaxing city after the hustle of Amsterdam. Delft is an easy train ride from Amsterdam. After Delft we visited Bruges.

I loved Leiden and found it absolutely charming. It's a beautiful university city with lots to see and do. It's packed with well-preserved historical sights and yet is ideal for strolling through enchanting cobblestone streets filled with colorful blooms. I went for a day trip but wish I would have stayed overnight.

Hoorn is also pretty amazing and totally different than the more southern cities. It's a lovely fishing village right on the water with boats galore and the wonderful Westfries Museum. My friend, who lives in the Netherlands, and I were able to arrange a quick boat ride through the harbor, then had a delicious lunch there. I would definitely go there again.

I wonder what you decided to do? We live in a small village just outside Delft (for the past 4 years) and I would really recommend visiting Delft. It's not so big as Amsterdam or Rotterdam but the centre is beautiful with lovely facades and there is plenty to see and visit for 1 or 2 days. I went to the university in Leiden but I don't really like that city that much. I would recommend Delft, Den Haag and Scheveningen (walking along the beach). You have the house of Corrie ten Boom in Haarlem which is interesting to see (if you are interested in history). I loved seeing Marken, Zaansche Schans which is also very close to Amsterdam. Those are the ones I would recommend in this area.