The Netherlands Travel Questions

I've not been to these places, but my Dutch friends celebrated a wedding anniversary in Mastricht. Ad and Annamiek live just outside of Amsterdam and had fun exploring it. I'll see if they can give me any specifics on what they liked. Pam

We were in Maastricht 3 yrs ago for one of home town boy Andre Rieu's outdoor concerts, absolutely wonderful! The city is very pretty and worth a day. We toured the caves outside of the city, easily accessed by an enjoyable short boat trip up the river. The TI does a very informative old town walk in English. Excellent restaurants.

Number one, you are traveling during a peak time. Be sure to have reservations intact. I stayed in Maastricht. My lodging was the Red Lion. It was close to the train station and very reasonable. It was about a 10-15 minute walk to the square across the bridge of the Maas. There are mega activity avenues that are very family oriented. The main thing is a proximity to Valkenburg and in Germany Aschen. For a beer lover Maastricht is outstanding because of the variety available that are unparallel by the breweries in the U S. When I was there I witnessed a Big marathon with world class runners. There were carnival booths all around with beer and fast Dutch food available for cheap. If there is a grand event, beware to encounter big crowds. I would defo repeat visit if I could. There is so much I missed.
Holland tour for me would include: Old Deft, Den Haag, Alkmaar, and Zandvoort aan Zee. Haarlem is overrated to me though it is surrounded by beautiful fields of tulips that would not be in bloom will you are there.

Groningen, if my memory is right (and if not its in the vicinity) has what may be one of the best resistance and occupation museums anywhere. There is, a warning, not a lot of English, or at least not when we were there a few years ago. This is not a foreign tourist place but a place for the Dutch and their neighbors to come to an understanding of what happened. The difference in the museum is that it makes no judgement of right or wrong, only choices. It shows the sort of decisions that people on all sides faced, what influenced those decisions, and what the consequences. Now, about the lack of English. I have a little Dutch, can speak extremely poorly in it, but have found that by sounding out exhibits to my self they make plenty of sense. We certainly understood what was being said, and the points made. A fantastic place. Maastricht is in the heights of the Dutch Mountains, very close to Aachen in Germany (Aachen well worth seeing, not least for the Printen). Maastricht has a nice centre and after years of flat Netherlands it is so neat to see the mountains. We enjoyed it, but up against Utrecht or Den Haag I would pick them, unless I were going to also hit Thermae 2000, the spa equidistant from Liege, Maastricht and Aachen; or Aachen. It really is quite a long way out of the way to go to Maastricht on the way to Amsterdam from Ghent, unless you are stopping in, say, Arnhem. Happy planning....

Thanks everyone! Yes, we know we are going in high season and want to make our hotel reservations by the end of this month. Right now we only have Amsterdam covered. Still working on the itinerary for everything else. Any other feedback on the national park as a day trip? Thanks!

In Rick's Amsterdam book he explains various transportation links on how to get to the park from Amsterdam for a day trip. When I went to the park I was staying nearby with a car and just stumbled upon it. The day I spent exploring the Hoge Veluwe was really magical--there is so much to see and do in the park. Riding the free bikes on gently rolling paths through forests, meadows, grasslands, and sand dunes was really fun. It's surprising to experience such a varied expanse of nature in the Netherlands--a good way to balance out the time spent in the cities. With the museum, the visitor's center (interpretive exhibit & restaurant) , the hunting lodge on a lake & more--a day here is both relaxing and interesting. It's worth the effort to get there.

Maastricht is a nice, typical Dutch town (but without canals or windmills). For a town of its rather small size, it has a very large pedestrian shopping area, a very expansive Grote Markt, an impressive Stadthuis and two decent cathedrals. That being said, it´s pretty far out of your way for a stop between Ghent and Amsterdam. And compared to the architechural flourishes you´ll see in Ghent, Maastricht may seem rather plain vanilla. Substitute cities that lie more in your direction of travel include Breda, Delft, Dordrecht and Utrecht. Utrecht is probably my favorite city in the Netherlands.

Delft is worth a visit- you can walk to the Delft factory with (self guided) tours. The town has a large main square with cafes, canals and a reasonably cute town centre

I heard back from my friends and they did a walking tour that they picked up at the Tourist Info office. It was a map with information included and walks you through the main sights. It's available in English and Dutch (and likely other languages!) We did a similar walking tour in Haarlem and really enjoyed seeing the city and learning about the different buildings. Pam

thank you everyone for your input. We are still working on the itinerary. Definitely will be seeing Den Haag, Utrecht and Delft. Just trying to figure out a couple days we have between leaving Ghent and arriving in Amsterdam. Has anyone been to the Zeeland area?

If you go to Groningen consider stopping at the little village of Giethoorn. It is a neat place with no roads and a very picturesque setting and most of the houses have thatch roofs. You can walk around or rent a boat to tour the village. Just get one with the electric motor rather than using one with a pole. Much easier. You can google Giethoorn if you want to learn more. If you are interested in the resistance in WWII and since your husbands grandfather was born in Groningen there is a book entitled "Quiet Heroes". It is true stories of seven families who hid Jews during the war and one of the families was located in Groningen. Five of the other families are in that northen part of The Netherlands fairly close to Groningen. It gives a detailed account of the risks that these people exposed themselves to and their harrowing experiences. I bought this book in 1998 while visiting Arnhem. It is still available on Amazon I believe. Author is Andre Stein, himself a surviror of the Holocaust. I found it interesting that six of the families did not stay in The Netherlands after the war. Their world would never have been the same there. They eventually moved to Canada and it was the Canadians who liberated them in 1945.