We are going to Amsterdam end of May. Scheduled 5 days at doubletree then we do a week long bike and barge trip. We get off the barge Saturday morning and fly home Monday morning. Right now i have another 2 night reservation in Amsterdam
, but am thinking that might be a great opportunity to do an exursion outside Amsterdam.
Any thoughts on what might fit and be enjoyable?
I enjoyed Leiden, low key and pleasant.
Take a train down to Cologne. It's quite an underrated city, and the Duomo on the town square is beyond an incredible sight.
Delft and/or The Hague
Another vote here for Leiden. Aside from being just a pleasant place to spend a day wandering around there are a couple of American historical connections if you're interested in such things:
When John Adams was the American minister to the Netherlands during the Revolutionary War his son, John Quincy, attended the local college at Leiden University, which you can stroll around and explore to your heart's content.
The American Pilgrim Museum is one of the cutest and most interesting you'll find if you have any interest in the history of Pilgrim settlers of New England in the years before the Mayflower. It's tiny - only 2 rooms - and is located in the 14th century home of one of the members of the company. Artifacts galore, and the docent who guided us around on our visit was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about the Pilgrims in general and their history in Leiden in particular. Turned out that he was a professor at the University and volunteered his time at the museum. It was fascinating for us to listen to his stories about the early history of the town and its American connections. https://leidenamericanpilgrimmuseum.org/en
With a train ticket to for instance Rotterdam you can hop on or off as much as you like, however you can do this only the day the ticket is issued for, no backtracking and following the most direct route. For the ticket to Rotterdam the train calls at Haarlem, Leiden, The Hague HS and Delft. Some trains follow a different route, so always look at the timetables at the railway station which train to board. In Rotterdam you can take the waterbus for instance to the mills of Kinderdijk.
Leiden has my preference too, but places are so close to each other that a detour to Delft shouldn’t be a problem.
Any suggestions on where to stay in Leiden?
The NR22 Bed & Breakfast is a great place facing one of Leiden’s canals and convenient to some of Leiden’s historic sights. Named for its address — Nieuwe Rijn 22– it’s run by a very hospitable Dutch couple.
