Zaanse Schans
The postcard windmills are here, right next to Amsterdam. See the mills from the inside and finish up at the cheese shop.
±20 min by trainWindmills + cheese
Beyond Amsterdam
Day trips
The Netherlands is small and the train sorts it out: you can leave in the morning, see a whole other city and be back for dinner. The times below are rough, starting from Amsterdam.
Utrecht
The country's fourth-biggest city, with unique canals: the werven, wharf terraces and cafés at water level, below the street. The Domtoren, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, towers over the centre.
±30 min by train
Haarlem
Right next to Amsterdam and full of charm: a big Grote Markt lined with cafés and terraces, the Teylers (the country's oldest museum) and good shopping streets. It's a hop from Zandvoort beach.
±20 min by train
Rotterdam
One of the biggest cities in the Netherlands, and it looks nothing like Amsterdam. The Markthal, a food and produce market under a giant arch, faces the famous cube houses.
±40 min by train
Den Haag
The country's administrative city has museums and, surprise, a beach: at Scheveningen, the pier even has a ferris wheel out over the sea.
±50 min by trainBeach + museums
Giethoorn
They call it the Dutch Venice: narrow canals, bridges and fairy-tale architecture. It's further out, but it makes for a whole day of pretty wandering.
±2h to get there
Cube houses (Rotterdam)
They work as a museum and it's cheap to get in — but honestly? They're worth it from the outside alone. They face the Markthal.
Gouda
The cheese town is small, but it has an interactive museum about the history of cheese in the Netherlands. Worth it if you have time to spare.
±55 min by train
Noordwijk
A beach with plenty of bars on the sand, in a very small town. In spring the region's tulip fields (the photo!) are nearby, and then it's really worth it.
Spring = tulips