Hi, we will be finishing up a Irish tour and spending our last five nights in the Netherlands before flying home from Amsterdam. Do you guys think we should spend all five nights in Amsterdam or should we break it up between a couple of other cities. Not sure if the hordes of tourists in Amsterdam will be unbearable for five straight days or not. I've heard Harlem may be a viable place to stay where we could day trip to Amsterdam? Any recommendations on maybe another city?
Posted by
11614 posts
We prefer, in addition to Amsterdam, staying in The Hague, Delft and Leiden. We didn’t care for Harlem.
Posted by
San Diego, California
5652 posts
We loved Haarlem. I have attached my spring, 2024 Trip Report.
We loved all of the NL! Amsterdam was not our favorite, but we also had bad weather. But Haarlem, Leiden, and so many other Dutch cities have canal and windmill charm, on a smaller scale. If you could get to Kinderdijk, I'd highly recommend the experience. It was one of our highlights! Safe travels.
Posted by
979 posts
Exactly what Pat said, except we had good weather.
Posted by
Washington, DC USA
515 posts
I was in Amsterdam in early October of last year and enjoyed 5 nights there. I never felt affected by nordes of tourists. But I like the energy and variety of major cities. Sure, the major museums require advance reservations but that also limits crowding at any given time. I also spent a few nights in Leiden and did day trips from there. I would say that if you like big cities and are interested in a number of the Amsterdam museums and cites, then October is a great time to stay in Amsterdam and do maybe one day trip, perhaps to Delft. But if you are not a big city person and want a quieter home base, then stay some or all nights in Leiden or Haarlem and day trip into Amsterdam and elsewhere as others have suggested.
Posted by
Canada
113 posts
We have traveled to Amsterdam 10 times, its a great city.
So are some other Holland towns that we have visited,
Our favs are:
Utrecht, awesome canal town,, if you go,, take time to travel out to Kastel de Haar, largest castle in Holland
takes a whole morning at least to get there and see.
Delft, very nice, smallish town, Liked it a lot, Thursday is market day,
to the north:
Hoorn, awesome old fishing town, one of the places we have been to twice, great market day,, great squares
Posted by
NJ, USA
61 posts
Hi, my partner and I just returned from 4 nights in Amsterdam (stayed at The Banks Mansion) September 3-7, and did not find the city to be overly crowded at any time. Restaurants do book with reservations, so make sure to secure a table prior to going (you can always cancel if needed), but we walked up to the Royal Palace and bought tickets there to enter; did the same at the Rembrandt House; we already had our Anne Frank tickets (acquired 6 wks out). Amsterdam is a beautiful city with friendly people and great food! Enjoy!
Posted by
1 posts
The Hague!!, government center since 16th century, beautiful and diverse museums, historical quarters as well as modern architecture, city of Spinoza. Many parks, beach nearby, parks, canals incl. tour boat. (Parliament buildings not accessible due to renovations). Highly recommended: visit the Peace Palace and hear the Residentie Orchestra in the new concert hall Amare - amazing acoustics. The Hague is home to many expats because of all the international organizations, ngo’s, embassies etc. This explains the enormous variety in restaurants. But when in Den Haag one must of course experience the “Indonesian rice table’. The city is classy, vibrant,, multicultural, welcoming and relaxed. Also it is very easy to visit Delft and Leiden (in opposite directions of DH), 20 minutes by public transport (best way to travel). Or Rotterdam if you want to experience a completely different vibe (much of Rotterdam was bombed and destroyed by the Nazi’s in May 1940).