I will be studying abroad in the Netherlands (Den Bosch) for the month of June (May 31-June 26). We have all of our weekends off from Thursday around 4:00PM until Monday at 9:00AM and I am looking for reasonable places to travel to. Would Switzerland be completely out of the question? I would love to see the Alps and I honestly do not know if I will ever make it back again. Other weekend plans include Paris and Germany. Does anybody have any suggestions for day trips from Den Bosch? (other than Amsterdam of course!) Thanks in advance :)
Posted by
Delft, Netherlands
242 posts
We have been taking day trips and long weekend trips out of Delft for the past 10 months now. The Netherlands is a wonderfully central location and perfect for the type of travel you are looking talking about.
Get familiar with the ns.nl and nshighspeed.nl websites for train tickets. We purchased very inexpensive tickets to Berlin, Koln, Paris, London, and Munich and spent a long weekend or two in each place.
We flew EasyJet to Geneva and spent a long weekend in the Alps. It was easy and wonderful.
Other places that are an easy (and cheap) plane ride out of Eindhoven, Rotterdam, or Amsterdam that we have gone for long weekends are Prague, London, Dublin, Milan, Edinburgh, and (soon) Vienna. The possibilities are really endless.
As for day trips within the Netherlands:
Take a bike ride from Gouda to Kinderdijk and back
Utrecht is wonderful, underrated town with nice museums, restaurants, and parks
Domburg is a nice place to get away and spend time at the beach - the dunes are beautiful and the beaches are nice - you can even stay in a hostel that is in a castle
National Park Hoge Veluwe outside of Arnhem and Apledoorn is a wonderful place to spend a day biking and the is a great museum in the middle of the park
-Maastricht and Limburg are a different side of the Netherlands and definitely worth the trip
If you plan to go to a few museums in the Netherlands consider purchasing the Museum Card. It is only 38 Euros and gets you into most museums for free for a year. It is a great deal considering if you visit the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Muiderslot, and the Frans Hals museum it has already paid for itself.
Please feel free to PM me with specific questions.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
You would probably have time for a brief Alpine visit. If cost is a issue, consider the French or Bavarian Alps instead of Switzerland, which is VERY expensive (although probably slightly closer to the Netherlands).
You can also easily reach most of Belgium for a quick trip.