Kinderdijk

This is a major location, which has a website for research on hours and transportation.

It is near Rotterdam, not Amsterdam. So I would expect only commercial tour companies to offer bus trips from Amsterdam. We went by car, but I saw a municipal bus stop well within walking distance. It might be better to combine this with a stop in Rotterdam or Delft or Den Haag, all significant tourist cities. Utrecht is close enough that you might be able to get to it from there. Kinderdijk is directly on a major bicycle trail, BTW.

Thanks Tim. We arrive in Amsterdam from the US and will stay three nights. In my original itinerary, we'd rent a car in Amsterdam and drive to Hoge Veluwe National Park on our way to two nights in Utrecht before driving to Delft for two nights. Originally, I planned to stop at Kinderdijk on the way to Delft. If instead, we do Kinderdijk as a day trip from Amsterdam, we may be able to skip the rental car plus see as many windmills turning as possible! In RS ' 8th ed Amsterdam book its 40 minutes to Rotterdam. IIRC, there are both buses and boats from there to Kinderdijk. Any input would be helpful.

jim, Kinderdijk is an amazing place. It is not far from the place I live here, and well worth a visit. It is much more expansive and open than Zaanse Schans (where windmills were transported to, instead of preserved in place), so you will walk a lot.

Reaching Kinderdijk without a car (the most convenient way) is possible in different ways:

• trains to Rotterdam Lombadijen, Dordrecht or Utrecht + bus (the exact route depends on your departure time, check 9292.nl for exact info near the day of your trip). Best schedules take 1h52min travel time.

• train to Rotterdam + subway/tram to boat terminal + fast boat + shuttle across the Lek river. It is a different way to reach Kinderdijk by public transportation with boats instead of nasty buses. There are just a few viable departure times per day, check Waterbus.

However, if you are planning on having a car, I highly recommend you to take it to your day out in Kinderdijk. The place is easily accessible and, more importantly, since you like windmills there are several more of them in the polder where Kinderdijk is located! You cannot properly explore the area without a car if you want to branch out to nearby villages and some "lost windmills" like the ones located here http://goo.gl/maps/RxNrw

Thanks for the input Andre. I've found several sites now indicating that all 19 mills are in operation only on Saturdays in July and August so there's no need to endure 4 hrs of public transportation. I'll stick with the original plan and drive to Kinderdijk from Utrecht and explore the area.

National Windmill Day, when many throughout the country will be open and many working, is always the 2nd Saturday in May; the 9th of May this year.

With a car:
West of Utrecht lies Castle de Haar with cute village Haarzuilens. Heading further to Kinderdijk you can drive through typical Dutch country-side. Places like Linschoten, Oudewater, Schoonhoven etc. are worth a stop or a short visit. You have to cross the river Lek by ferry. Little well preserved Nieuwpoort before heading further to Kinderdijk is also worth a look as Gouda on the way back to Utrecht. You can combine this trip with Andre´s "lost windmills".

Thanks Nigel and Wil. Unfortunately we won't be in the Nederlands on May 9th for National Windmill Day. We look forward to exploring the country-side between Utrecht and Delft on our drive.

jim - Many windmills are run by volunteers mostly during weekends if there is ofcourse enough wind. If it runs and there is a blue flag outside the mill will be open for visitors.

Dutch wind and also water mills are listed in www.molendatabase.nl . You can select the English version for searching the mills per province on the map. Zoom in and click on the “mill” symbol, click further for a picture and info about the selected mill. However further information remains in Dutch, but with a bit of luck the link to the mill´s website is showed. Under “contact (en route)” or under “openingstijden” you can find opening times and sometimes also an e-mail address. Local TI´s can also be of help.

Kinderdijk by car: When approaching Kinderdijk from Rotterdam, I should have set our GPS to Avoidances: Ferries. Kinderdijk is, in fact, extremely accessible by land, and there was a long line for the small ferry the GPS led us to. So unless you are interested in waiting for a ferry, check that setting on your GPS.