Hello - I'd like to visit the museum on my first full day in Europe. Arriving late morning at Frankfurt from USA. I'll take the train north through Koln and onwards. Where do you suggest I stay for the night? I'd like to hit the ground running for a full day at the museum. Perhaps Arnhem? (though my understanding is it lacks charm?)
Thanks
You could stay in the little town of Otterlo, just outside the park. Take the 105 bus from Arnhem Centraal. In Otterlo, you have to change to the 106 bus to the Museum, This place looks nice.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g652238-d640233-Reviews-T_Witte_Hoes-Otterlo_Ede_Gelderland_Province.html
One of my favorite museums in the world. Weather permitting, make sure you leave enough time for the outdoor sculptures - we didn't and realized too late how much was to be seen.
We arrived by train from the Eastern part of Holland and stopped in Arnhem. The bus station is right outside the train station and we took 1 or 2 buses (cannot remember) to Otterlo - the bus driver dropped us at the closest stop to the park entry.
Otterlo being the closest town, I'd stay there, as suggested above.
I am not saying that there is anything wrong with your plan, but I want to mention our own itinerary. When we planned to drive from Venlo to Amsterdam over two weeks, we flew to Cologne from NYC. Our United code-share with Lufthansa landed in Frankfurt, where for something like ten dollars more, we had a flight to Cologne, where we spent three nights. Especially because you like museums, I can't say enough good things about Cologne.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/can-i-see-enough-of-cologne
We walked over past the far side of the HBF, to a hotel with a car rental agency, to pick up our car. (Back then, second-country drop-offs just weren't that expensive. But it can't be that hard to train to Netherlands from Cologne.) So we didn't even have to drive right in Downtown Cologne. I'm not sure if it was on this trip, but we might have used the car to go to Monschau on the way. In the Netherlands, we stayed in business hotels on the edges of cities, to ease parking.
I think we visited Het Loo, Deventer, and Kroller-Muller and its park from 3 nights in the NK Rijnhotel, Onderlangs 10, Arnhem.
It is not absolutely necessary to have a car to see the Kroller-Muller or the vast park around it. But it doesn't have the annoyances of a car in a big city. While I consider myself "a professional museum-goer" (!), I would not say that the size of the Kroller-Muller, even including the excellent outdoor sculpture garden, requires a full day. With the free white bicycles, I would certainly allocate a full day for the outing (and maybe a nice lunch, probably with reservation), but not for the interior of the museum. AFAIR, it's comparable in size to the Worcester (MA) Museum of Art, or the Baltimore (MD) Museum of Art.
You did not say if this is your first trip to Europe - just thinking of jet-lag, for instance.
We enjoyed our stay at the Hotel de Sterrenberg when we visited a couple of years ago. It is sleek, modern design with restaurant and indoor pool. Somehow we managed to miss our stop on the small bus we rode from the station and when I spoke to the driver, he essentially turned the bus around and dropped us at the hotel door. The staff were helpful. It was very convenient to visit the K-M and the very nearby national park where we took advantage of the free bicycles; the park entrance was just a few minutes walk away. It was less than a 10 minute walk into the small town of Otterlo where we had dinner. We also visited the Arnhem Open Air museum another day. Safe travels.
Thanks for the valuable information. I’ll look at Otterlo.
