We had a fabulous time in the Netherlands. Amsterdam was a bit too much. Too many tourists but the Van Gogh Museum was excellent and was the Dutch Resistance Museum. Highly recommend both. The Anne Frank House was underwhelming and far too crowded to enjoy.
Utrecht and Leiden were both wonderful little cities. University towns with tons of nice young people riding around on bikes. Beautfiul canals. Lovely bakeries. We took a great bike tour along the River Vecht (sp?).
Rotterdam was disappointing. Too much like a US city with broad avenues. The Markhat buiilding was pretty cool though. It was pouring rain that day so that probably dampened our view of Rotterdam.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7290 posts
I enjoyed my one-night visit in Leiden, also. I must return to try out the bakeries! : ). I did have a nice coffee & treat in a coffee shop and loved the atmosphere of the town, also.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
13943 posts
Sounds like you had an interesting time.
Rotterdam was not my favorite BUT it’s because it had the heck bombed out if it in May 1940 and the city center rebuilt in the 50’s/60’s.
Happy you enjoyed Van Gogh! It’s an awesome museum.
Posted by
San Diego, California
4707 posts
Thanks for sharing, as we are going in April. I was conflicted about the Anne Frank house, I appreciate your honest comments, We are staying in Leiden, not Amsterdam.
Safe future travels!
Posted by
Snohomish, WA
2027 posts
Thank you for sharing. I would love to hear more such as other sites, restaurants etc. as we are headed there in early February.
Posted by
11159 posts
Your comments about the Anne Frank House really surprise me. It tells a very tragic story. Why was it underwhelming? I thought the story of the house was handled very well.
We stayed in Leiden for a week and really enjoyed it. It is well located for visiting many other towns such as Delft, The Hague.
Rotterdam was bombed by the Nazis in 1940
thus it is a newer reconstructed city. Did you take a river boat from Rotterdam to Kinderdijk? That is a big favorite of ours, seeing the 19 historic windmills in their original locations.
Posted by
OP
48 posts
My disappointment with the Anne Frank House.
It was really crowded despite buying tickets well in advance.
The House did not add anything to the miniseries we watched called "A Small Light" -- which focused on Miep Gies. So maybe that was part of my disappointment.
Posted by
Snohomish, WA
2027 posts
Suki--I would love to hear more about the riverboat please:)
Posted by
The Netherlands
1307 posts
It’s a shame you didn’t come to this forum for advice before your visit to Rotterdam. From your description it seems you only visited the core of the city center which was heavily bombed in May 1940 at the start of WW2. There are however lots of parts of Rotterdam that weren’t bombed. The neighborhood of Delfshaven for instance. A beautiful historical part of Rotterdam with strong links to the Pilgrims.