Hi! My partner and I are flying into Munich and out of Amsterdam in April and below is the itinerary we are thinking of doing. Please give me any recommendations on if I should change how many night I spend in each place. I worry 3 nights in Amsterdam is not enough, especially considering I know we want to go see tulips one of the days.
Any advice is more than welcome. Thanks!
Slow morning. This is the question that always drives me nuts as to how to respond. Three nights is generally two full days and you can get a decent overview of most places in two days. But the question is what is enough? It depends ---- Over the past 50 years we have spent a month or more in Rome, London, Paris, plus dozens of other lesser know places. Is it a enough ?? For us it is never enough as we always return and see other things. I think it is your attitude. Some are very satisfied with a drive by -- Ya, we saw that. -- We have always follow the idea that we will see that the next time so we never push to see everything in a short period of time. We have been to Amsterdam three times for about ten days. But there is always more to see. So -- to answer your question -- Is 3 enough for Amsterdam. Yes and No. Much better than one but a week might be better. Do what your schedule allows and come back next year. Good luck with my non-answer.
Hi Traveler,
We did 3 nights two years ago and felt like we were able to see/do a lot. But we did leave feeling like we want to come again as there were things we missed. Hope this is helpful!
Like Frank, we have been to Amsterdam 3 times. And we will be back again next fall for a few more days. Is 3 days enough? Maybe; maybe not. It depends on what your interests are. When we visited Keukenhof we spent from opening to mid afternoon there. Other people might be satisfied with 2-3 hours. We go to the Rijksmuseum every time, and that's a mandatory half day right there ( but that's just me- and I've never felt the need to visit the Van Gogh museum). You can definitely fill 3 or 4 days without going near the red light district or the bars and 'coffeeshops'. Or you could fill a week just by adding a daytrip or 2. Someone on another of your threads recommended a Rick Steves tip - make a list of everything you want to see and do. Put an estimated time needed for each one. Then prioritize them and eliminate until you get to an acceptable number of days. But dont pack in too much and end up exhausted and/or frustrated. We aim for no more than 3 sites or activities per day.
Three nights is fine, as long as you set your expectations realistically. In your schedule, it really does not make sense to steal a night from another spot, with the exception of Boppard, if you are talking early April (you don't say).
My reasoning? Weather can still be quite dreary, so a boat ride may be a bit subdued, the boats only start running usually after the first week of April, and the area will not yet be in "tourism" mode. Not a bad time to go, but not as lively as your other destinations.
I would not drop Boppard, you need a stop between Salzburg and Amsterdam to avoid an all day long train ride, I might consider Cologne as an alternate, but that is me.
Three nights (2 full days) is totally fine. I feel like on most itineraries 4 nights ends up being your max, while 3 is kind of the sweet spot. Even with a day trip to the tulips, you’ll have plenty of time to get a feel for Amsterdam. As with any bigger city, you’re bound to leave something on the table regardless. At least with a hub city like Amsterdam, it’s easy to envision a return through here in the future versus a place like Boppard.
How interested are you in art museums? Historical museums? If you mainly want to walk around part of the historical center, maybe take a canal-boat tour, and take your day trip, you might be OK with 3 nights. A visit of that length to a major city like Amsterdam would drive me nuts; I spent two weeks in the city earlier this year.
