Having lived here for 5 years now, I’ve gotten asked to help plan a trip to the Netherlands many times. So here is my advice for all my visiting friends, family, colleagues, and now you! Here is a map that shows where the suggestions I describe below are. Click here to get my free 3 day Amsterdam itinerary that summarizes all of this into one ready to go plan!
Are you going to be in the Netherlands for more time? Here’s my 5 day itinerary (including an extra day all about tulips!). Do you get to spend a whole week in the Netherlands? Here’s my 8 day itinerary, including tulips and suggestions for up to 11 days. These PDFs with clickable links have all the suggestions below summarized into an hour-by-hour plan!
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When to go to the Netherlands
If you’re able to choose your timing, plan your trip to the Netherlands mid- April to mid-May, when the tulips are in full bloom! Going to Keukenhof and biking through the tulip fields is an unforgettable experience. You can rent bikes right in front of Keukenhof and the bike rental company has maps and routes through the tulip fields all the way to the dunes and beach. It’s gorgeous!
Summer and early fall (through September) is also lovely for a trip to the Netherlands, with long evenings, more sunny weather, terraces open and everyone outside. Fall and winter can be very rainy and gray. March and April are unpredictable, but can be gorgeous with flowers in bloom or rainy and even with snow or hail!
What do you need to plan ahead of time for your trip to the Netherlands
- First, book your tickets for the Anne Frank Museum as soon as you know your dates! It’s a tiny space, so very few tickets are available- they often sell out months in advance. It’s an incredibly moving, powerful experience. I’d highly recommend for everyone over 13. Tickets are timed and an audio guide will move you through, so your schedule will work around what tickets you can get.
- Next, book a ticket for the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum in advance as well, though just two weeks should be enough. In July and August, book three weeks ahead of time just in case. The Van Gogh audio guide is fantastic- you really get to know who Van Gogh was. The Rijksmuseum has 1 hour tours of the major highlights, which can be helpful in such a large museum, or you could just focus on the Gallery of Honor, where the most famous paintings like Rembrandt’s Night Watch are to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
- If you’re going during tulip time (late March, April, and early May), then book your tickets to Keukenhof and your bike rental when you know your dates and location. They can sell out a week or two beforehand, so you might not be able to wait to know the weather.
- Before arriving, decide if you want to sleep every night in Amsterdam, or whether you might want to spend 1 or 2 nights in a smaller town in South Holland, like Leiden or Delft. If you spend a couple of nights in Leiden or Delft, it’s a very short train ride to explore Rotterdam or The Hague from there, and you get a small town experience different from Amsterdam. Then book places to sleep. Since I live here I don’t have recommendations I’ve stayed in myself, but I wrote an article about how to find good accommodations wherever you go here.
What to do when you’re here in the Netherlands
- Click here to get my free 3 day Amsterdam itinerary! It takes all the details below into one simple page plan of where to go and when. More time? Here’s my 5 day Amsterdam itinerary, and my 8 day itinerary covering the highlights of all of the Netherlands!
- A boat tour! I always take my friends and family on a boat- it’s such a fun way to see any city in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, I’ve enjoyed Those Dam Boat Guys and Floating Amsterdam. In Leiden, I’ve done a private boat tour with this organization: Leiden Water Tours. Wherever you stay, it’s a fun day out for everyone. Of course book this as close to your tour date as possible so you know the weather will be okay! If it’s winter, Floating Amsterdam does an excellent Amsterdam Light Tour- with blankets.
- Walk through the Albert Cuypstraat market, eating a fresh stroopwafel, watching them make poffertjes, trying a raw herring, having fried fish (kibbeling), and buying any souvenirs you need to (stroopwafels in pretty Delft-inspired containers, everything tulip-themed, cheese, etc.)
- Do the Rick Steves free walking tours! Download the Rick Steves Audio Guide free app, and listen to his audio guide take you on a walking tour of the Amsterdam city center, the Jordaan (cute neighborhood with lots of great shops in Amsterdam), and the Red Light District: Rick Steves’ Amsterdam tours
- Whether or not you sleep there, go outside of Amsterdam to see more of the Netherlands. Use the Rick Steves guidebook (Rick Steves’ store) for walking tours of Delft, Haarlem, Leiden, Utrecht, Rotterdam, and The Hague
- For more museums, depending on your interests:
- The Mauritshuis in The Hague is a very small museum you can easily see in two hours, but every item they have is super famous and beautiful, like Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earing.
- Museum Speelklok in Utrecht is a fun music museum with self-playing instruments they’ll play for you on a guided tour every hour.
- Royal Delft lets you see master delftware painters at work in Delft.
- Zaanse Schans lets you see many historic windmills doing their old jobs, like chopping wood, grinding wheat to make flour, making dyes, etc., as well as other traditional work like clogmaking. A fun and easy day trip from Amsterdam, especially on a nice day (outdoors).
- Go to the Kroller Muller Museum and spend a night there. We’ve stayed at Hotel de Sterrenburg and had a wonderful time. It has a lovely restaurant, sauna, steam bath, hot tub and pool. You could also look for any airbnbs or other places on booking.com in the area. The Kroller Muller Museum has the 2nd largest Van Gogh collection in the world, after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, a giant outdoor sculpture garden, and it’s in the middle of a national park. So you can see all the wildlife the Netherlands has to offer (bighorn sheep- moeflon in Dutch, deer, rabbits, maybe a fox or wolf), and best of all, the national park has free white bikes at all the entrances, and bike parking spots at all the sights! You can bike from the entrance of the national park to the Kroller Muller Museum, around a castle and lakes, through the dunes, and all around for free. They even have plenty of bikes with seats for young children, and you can book wheelchair-accessible bikes as well. The museum itself is world-class, but not so big as to be overwhelming- you can see it leisurely in just a few hours. It’s a lovely day out. You’d probably need a rental car or bring a good book for a long day of public transportation. You can also rent bikes at every train station for just a couple of euros, if that’s easier. Google maps works perfectly for public transport and bike directions.
- Go to the local parks! Vondelpark is the biggest park in Amsterdam, and is lots of fun to bike and walk around, but there are also many others. In Amsterdam, Beatrixpark is a beautiful little oasis by Station Zuid, a major train station you might be using anyway. Saphartipark is a tiny little park conveniently by the best gelato at Massimo’s and near the Albert Cuypstraat market. In Leiden and Utrecht, walking around the canals that encircle the old towns are peaceful paths with photogenic views.
- Go to a concert at the Concertgebouw! The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is always one of the best in the world, and they have a huge variety of concerts every week, from special concerts for children to popular 1 hour concerts to longer evening concerts. Most concerts include a free drink- wine/juice/water in the evenings, and coffee/tea in the mornings. They have free rehearsals during lunch some weekdays as well. See if there’s something you’d like to see while you’re there!
What to eat in the Netherlands
- Appeltaart at Winkel 43– the best apple pie ever! Convenient if you’re seeing Anne Frank or doing the Jordaan Rick Steves walking tour.
- Poffertjes and stroopwafels- get them freshly made at the Albert Cuypmarkt
- Pancakes! The Dutch eat pancakes for dinner! Get into the mood at tiny Upstairs Pannenkoeken in Amsterdam (book ahead of time!) or at any place that says pannenkoeken around the country
- Traditional Dutch food at Moeder’s (Mother’s): book ahead of time!
- Indonesian food! Indonesia was a Dutch colony for 400 years…it only got its independence in the 1940s. There are Indonesian “toko’s” all over the country, little Indonesian markets where you can get Asian ingredients and Indonesian take away cheaply. I’d definitely recommend trying an Indonesian “rijsttafel” (rice table) at least once on your trip: you’ll get about 20 different dishes to try! In Amsterdam, my favorite is Kartika, which is fabulous quality, really kind hosts, and affordable prices, but any Indonesian restaurant that has rijsttafel on the menu and Google reviews of at least 4.5 should be good.
- Local tip: To make a reservation at Kartika, call at least a week ahead of time, but not during business hours (they’re too busy, as it’s a small family-owned restaurant!). Instead, call in the afternoon, like 1pm-4:30pm, before they have guests but while they’re at the restaurant getting ready for dinner.
- Twice a month, go to the open air market called Pure Markt to try some local street food and get some artisan goods.
- There are a number of Michelin-starred restaurants in Amsterdam, if you want something fancier. Two I’ve been to and can recommend for local ingredients are De Kas, which is inside of a greenhouse that grows some of food you eat, and the restaurant of the Rijksmuseum, Rijks Restaurant.
- If you’re in Amsterdam for more than a few days and want to try some food that’s not Dutch:
- Best high tea, sandwiches, and picnic boxes to go: De Bakkerswinkel
- Best quick, affordable food: Lebanese food at Sajeria and falafels at Maoz all over the city
- Best variety: Foodhallen and Market 33- many different restaurants in one happening space, Foodhallen is not too far from Vondelpark and the 9 streets and Market 33 is right by the train station Zuid (South).
- Best Mexican: Rosario
- Best pizza: Mangiancora
- Best Indian: Taj Indian
- Best cookies: Van Stapele
- Best bakery for cakes, sticky buns, brownies, cinnamon rolls, and tarts: Britton’s Bakery
Photo credit: Erika
Ready to plan your trip to the Netherlands and where to sleep?
Things to do now to plan your trip to the Netherlands:
- Book your flight– 3 to 6 months in advance is helpful, and look on Google Flights and Kayak for the best results. Being flexible with when you fly in and out will make it more affordable- some days of the week are cheaper than others!
- Book your Anne Frank Museum tickets
- Book your accommodation. Where to sleep? In Amsterdam, I’d recommend the Museumkwartier (museum quarter) by the Rijksmuseum to be close to the major museums, the concert hall and Vondelpark, and a short walk to the city center in a quiet and beautiful neighborhood. I live in de Pijp, a walkable neighborhood with lots of good food about a 20 minute walk to the city center. You could also find a place in the Jordaan on the canals, near the adorable shopping streets called Nine Streets. Renting a houseboat in that area would be fun. If you’re in the real city center, like by the Red Lights district, it will be very loud on Friday and Saturday nights with drunk tourists…but you’ll be a very short walk to everything. That’s the area by Central Station.
- Book Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum tickets, especially if they have a special exhibit going on that you’d like to see.
- Book Keukenhof and bike rentals 1 or 2 weeks before should be enough.
- Decide if you’d like to stay 1 or 2 nights somewhere outside of Amsterdam. If so, by the Kroller Muller Museum would be relaxing and rural, or a smaller town like Leiden or Delft would be convenient if you want to spend some time exploring those two towns and/or The Hague and Rotterdam.
- Have fun! Please leave a comment or send me a message if you’d like any further advice. If you want to check out all my detailed itineraries, including my 8 day, 5 day, and 3 day Amsterdam itineraries, click here. Happy travels!
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8 Day Amsterdam Itinerary$8.00 -
5 Day Amsterdam Itinerary$5.00
