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Itinerary Feedback and Transportation Advice

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This is our first time visiting The Netherlands/Belgium and I’m hoping you can help me figure out how to spend our time. We are there mid April and will be traveling from Canada. Our accommodations and flights are booked. All of our accommodations have kitchenette facilities except the first one in Lisse so we plan to have breakfast in every morning. We are a couple in our forties and enjoy sightseeing in both historic and natural areas. We love to be near water. Here is the itinerary so far. It’s pretty skimpy.

Day 1 - arrive Schipol 1pm, head to bed and breakfast in Lisse. (base for 2 nights)
Day 2 - Keukenhof and biking around the tulip fields, maybe the sea?
Day 3 - travel to Delft (base for 3 nights)
Day 4 - The Hague and Scheveningen?
Day 5 - ?
Day 6 - travel to Brugge (base for 3 nights)
Day 7 - ?
Day 8 - ?
Day 9 - travel to Amsterdam (Jordaan area base for 3 nights)
Day 10 - museums
Day 11 - day trip?
Day 12 - Anne Frank House first thing in the am.
Fly home @ 3pm from Schipol

What is the best way to get around? Is there a transportation card that I should be using. Tripkey looked great but it seems like it doesn’t exist anymore.
Thanks in advance for any help and advice! We are excited for this trip.

Posted by
2487 posts

Public transport will bring you everywhere you want. Use the 9292 planner for the Netherlands and the NMBS/SNCB site for Belgium. Both do train, metro, tram and bus.
For the Netherlands you can use the OV Chipkaart for all your public transport, but with the few trips you'll make I think you will be better off with buying separate tickets. For Amsterdam you can consider a GVB multi-day pass. With cash payment being phased from them, make sure you have a working credit or debit card when buying tickets on buses and trams.
If the weather is inviting, you could consider a day-trip to Kinderdijk on day 5. Take the train to Dordrecht, get there the ferry to Kinderdijk, and after visiting a ferry to Rotterdam, where you can pick up the train back to Delft. For a more relaxed trip you can visit undervisited Schiedam, less then 10 mins from Delft.
For day 11 consider Enkhuizen, easily reached by direct trains, running twice an hour, and taking around 1 hr.

Posted by
22 posts

I am following along as I am working on our plans also. Great suggestions. Is the trip through Dordrecht to Kinderdijk easier than from Rotterdam? I hadn’t considered it. Thanks.

Posted by
2487 posts

Is the trip through Dordrecht to Kinderdijk easier than from Rotterdam?
From the Dordrecht railway station it is a pleasant 20-min walk through the historical centre to the ferry terminal. In Rotterdam you almost need to take the tram, which makes it more complicated. That's not such a problem on the way back, but is when you have to get to the ferry in time.

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