Do you have a day trip bus tour from Amsterdam to recommend?

No suggestions on tours but try to book directly with the vendor. Viator is often mentioned but it's a 3rd party reseller of tours owned by Trip Advisor. They do not run the tours themselves and charge 20-25% to the small companies for listing. If you look on Viator each listing shows the vendor so pretty easy to book direct.

Hi Cat and Greg, I would recommend a day trip on the train from Amsterdam to the Zuiderzee museum in Enkhuizen. The museum consists of both and outdoor exhibits. The outdoor museum opens April 1st for the season.
It takes about 1 hour to get there from Amsterdam Centraal and then a short walk from the train station to the museum. I had a very enjoyable and memorable day there.

Highly recommend doing Haarlem.by yourself a short train trip from Main train station. Lovely church and if a nice day great huge outdoor space to sit and enjoy a glass of wine and enjoy the view. Highlight was visit to the Ten Boom museum.

We did a go at your own pace bus trip north of Amsterdam a few years ago with this local service. We chose Route number 3 to connect Edam, Marken and Volendam. https://localbus.nl/

EDIT: Last week the above link was active. Today I was going to share it with another person on the forum and the link is gone. They are either having a web issue or no longer offer this service. Sorry but check back if you are interested to see if it is perhaps just a glitch.

Highly recommend doing Haarlem.by yourself a short train trip from Main train station.

Absolutely agree. Last time we went to the Netherlands we based ourselves in Haarlem and then did day trips to Amsterdam. Haarlem has the best working windmill we saw in Netherlands/Belgium. It was amazing to be out on the deck with the blades rushing past. Incredible whooshing sound and the whole building shaking - https://www.molenadriaan.nl/en/

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies. I do love Haarlem! I think I'm looking for a sit-down day, where all will be taken care of. Thanks for the tip about Viator; I think something they offer may appeal to my friend and I. Again, many thanks.

If you do.decide on Haalem.and the Ten Boom museum try to read the book The Hiding Place about the Ten Boom.family who hid Jews during the Holocaust. There is another book out about the family and and how they rescued about 100 Jewish babies. Such courage

We were back in Amsterdam last year and took the excellent bus service from Centraal Station to Marken. Great way to spend a day.

We purchased the Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket at Schipol when we landed. Excellent value at €13.50 per day if you purchase the 3 day pass. (We'll be back this summer and plan to purchase it again.) Check out this link for more info on the transit passes: https://www.amsterdamtips.com/transport-tickets

Thank you all for your replies! I appreciate it.

One could easily just take the train to Zaanse Schans and spend most of the day there.

Or, like you are with Hague, take a day trip via train to another of the magically charming Dutch towns. Hoorn would be my choice but the list there is endless.

Since you plan to visit The Hague, add charming Delft as it is not far from there.

If going to Haarlem, prebook the Corrine Ten Boom museum.

We enjoyed the bus day trip to Giethoorn. We took the train for a day trip to Delft and also did a day trip by train to Haarlem.

We did a great day tour of Windmills and villages on the Zyder Zee that was nice. Tour left from the main train station.