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Where to base near Amsterdam a few nights

Where to base near Amsterdam a few nights

Old May 19th, 2022, 08:16 AM
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Where to base near Amsterdam a few nights

I have a question for those of you in the Netherlands or folks who know the Netherlands well. We will be leaving from AMS in mid-November and will probably be driving from France with a car since we will have a leased car using the Open Europe program with Peugeot. Since it will be late fall we don't expect great weather of course, so probably wouldn't head to a beach for instance.

We have a friend who lives near the Oud Zeid district in Amsterdam who we will want to see, but other than that we don't necessarily want to base in Amsterdam for the 3-4 nights we will have there before our flight out since we have visited Amsterdam before to see many of the city sights. So, we thought we might base in either another city we haven’t visited before or somewhere that is more suburban or rural not too far from Schipol. We probably will spend our final night at a hotel in or near Schipol so we can return our car the night before our flight. Our flight to London leaves around 8AM, so we will want to probably check in fairly early in the morning without the stress of driving to Schipol and having to deal with car return. So also I would love ideas for the easiest hotels to stay in or near Schipol for one night. We leave from terminal 3.

So I am looking at places not too far from the airport. For instance, there is a nice rental in a place near Roelofarendsveen. Would that be a good place to base to maybe go into Amsterdam for a day and then get to Schipol on the day before our flight?

But we also might be interested in renting in or near other charming towns or cities we haven’t visited before. We might even invite our friend to spend the weekend with us just get a short work break away from Amsterdam. Here are some areas that come up when you just google the topic of charming day trips from Amsterdam:

Haarlem
Leiden
Naarden
Broek in Waterland
Hoorn

Thanks for any help or advice. I have many months to plan, but planning is half the fun
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Old May 19th, 2022, 02:41 PM
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I would possibly pick Haarlem. People commute into Amsterdam from Haarlem and it's easy access to the airport from there. But it's no less urban than Amsterdam, just smaller and a little less crowded. Naarden might be interesting too - it has a star-shaped fortress, which is actually not unheard of in the Netherlands (tiny Bourtange near Groningen has, or rather is, a pentacle-shaped fortress). But I don't know how easy access it is, you probably want Menachem, hetismij2 or Tulips to comment on which of your cities are easiest access. Hoorn seems a bit far and a bit isolated out there on the peninsula.

Lavandula
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Old May 19th, 2022, 04:50 PM
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Thanks so much. And I am very open to other ideas. We did spend time in Groningen when we drove back to France a few years back from Denmark, so I at least have a sense of what a smaller university town sort of feels like there.

may end up making the decision based on the kind of rental properties we find. If we stay further out from Schipol, we will probably get closer to Schipol the night before and return the car and use a hotel shuttle the next morning. But if we find something in a suburb that isn't too far from the airport we might just return our car before the flight as long as the leasing office can accommodate us in terms of an early return time. Our flight is a KLM flight to London to catch our connecting transatlantic flight on Virgin. Does anyone have a sense of what time we need to be at terminal 3 with our bags checked in for a 8:35AM flight? Is 7AM reasonable to plan for or do we to be there earlier?
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Old May 20th, 2022, 06:55 AM
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We spent two wonderful weeks in charming Leiden which has excellent train connections to many excellent day trips.
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Old May 20th, 2022, 10:40 AM
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I was impressed and delighted at my last Schiphol departure (from outside to the non-Schengen area). They used to do secondary searches of nearly every bag, pulling out bizarre items to finger through - - now you don't take ANYthing out of your bag - - not even laptop. I had a bottle of mineral water and was looking to toss it but was told it can go through no problem(!). Passport control also well equipped with chip-reading lanes - - everything fast and easy. Allowed three hours and had at least two to spend at the lounge.

I stayed near Museumsplein and hopped on the 394 bus. This is way better than counting on an airport hotel shuttle - - runs every 7 minutes to Schiphol - - no problems with reserving a shuttle, or a limited schedule, or it being suddenly cancelled - - plus, you have a night in Amsterdam. Other than that Utrecht is my favorite city in Holland - - lively, very Dutch (nary a tourist), and super pretty (what people think Amsterdam will be like, but AMS can be grotty and overrun). Leiden is nice too. If it were me, with a car, I would think about finding an Airbnb or B&B at a city outskirts right at a public transportation stop for easy trips into town.
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Old May 20th, 2022, 04:37 PM
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Originally Posted by dfourh
If it were me, with a car, I would think about finding an Airbnb or B&B at a city outskirts right at a public transportation stop for easy trips into town.
Yes, that is kind of what I am thinking as well. Here is a link of a house not too far from Schipol itself but I am not sure of this area. That is the area called Roelofarendsveen

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3112965...8-f0216f6ab7cd


I have heard nice things about Utrecht, so I will check it out because it might be fun to stay near another city completely.
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Old May 20th, 2022, 05:10 PM
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We visited Utrecht a few years ago and at the time I was looking (probably too late before our trip), it was eye-wateringly expensive, so we stayed at a property outside of Utrecht (in Maarssen) and went in by car. Utrecht is really pretty, definitely worth a visit. If I went back I would stay on the canal in one of the apartments that lies below ground height.

I had a look at your property in Roelofarendsveen - beautiful aspect on the lake! I don't know that area at all, but I checked out access to Amsterdam - 26 minutes from Stationstraat (bus, foot, train from Schiphol to Amsterdam South), so that works. Also close to Leiden, not a bad thing at all. TBH if you have found a property you love, and if the transportation is convenient enough, it will work out for you.

Which Hoorn did you mean? Hoorn in North Holland or Hoorn just south of Roelofarendsveen, just noticed it!

Lavandula
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Old May 21st, 2022, 07:30 AM
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It is the Hoorn north of Amsterdam. While it might be more convenient to stay south of Amsterdam, I don't want to rule out the north or east of Amsterdam since distances are pretty short and we will probably get rid of our car on the night before our flight and stay either close to Schiphol anyway, or in town close the airport express bus stop or take an uber the day of our flight. So I figure we can really stay anywhere. As usual, the hard part is choosing
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Old May 21st, 2022, 03:32 PM
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Well, I guess the only issue you might have with Roelofarendsveen is you don't know how far you have to go to get to Stationsstraat to get the bus to other locations, since you don't yet know the address of the property. But perhaps you can take the car in to other cities and park in commuter parking on the outskirts. I think I would want to have a car. I don't know if you would see this as cumbersome and I don't know how you would find this if you wanted a night event in a bigger city. But otherwise it's an awesome property, and maybe you would not really have a holiday in Amsterdam, you would have a lake holiday with excursions on the side. That lake might overtake some of those excursions, especially if you took time to explore the lake. As long as you budget time for that it would be OK.

Lavandula
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Old May 22nd, 2022, 06:59 AM
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Yes that is one reason I prefer to use booking versus airbnb since they show you the address so you plot out nearest transportation. If we stayed at the property in Roelofarendsveen we would for sure keep the car and either just visit the area or as you say try to use commuter parking to go into cities. Truthfully we don't do that many evening events anyway, we usually eat out at lunches and then have meals at night at the property we are staying in, so not being in the city at evenings wouldn't probably matter too much.
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Old May 22nd, 2022, 09:03 AM
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Originally Posted by jpie
Yes, that is kind of what I am thinking as well. Here is a link of a house not too far from Schipol itself but I am not sure of this area. That is the area called Roelofarendsveen

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3112965...8-f0216f6ab7cd


I have heard nice things about Utrecht, so I will check it out because it might be fun to stay near another city completely.
Roelofarendsveen is super rural and not well served with public transport (Alphen a/d Rijn is the nearest "biggish" town by bus). I think Leiden would be more convenient. Still small scale and rural, yet you can be at Schiphol from Leiden in about 15 minutes.
Utrecht is great. Direct train to Schiphol from Utrecht CS, takes about 30 minutes.
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Old May 22nd, 2022, 09:05 AM
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Originally Posted by lavandula
Well, I guess the only issue you might have with Roelofarendsveen is you don't know how far you have to go to get to Stationsstraat to get the bus to other locations, since you don't yet know the address of the property. But perhaps you can take the car in to other cities and park in commuter parking on the outskirts. I think I would want to have a car. I don't know if you would see this as cumbersome and I don't know how you would find this if you wanted a night event in a bigger city. But otherwise it's an awesome property, and maybe you would not really have a holiday in Amsterdam, you would have a lake holiday with excursions on the side. That lake might overtake some of those excursions, especially if you took time to explore the lake. As long as you budget time for that it would be OK.

Lavandula
I know that area fairly well, because I cycle there a lot and because my ship is in the next village, Woubrugge. I would never willingly book something in Roelofarendsveen. It's too out of the way for me.
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Old May 22nd, 2022, 01:32 PM
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So it would be a holiday in Roelofsarendsveen, not a holiday between the cities ...?

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Old May 22nd, 2022, 04:53 PM
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Originally Posted by menachem
I know that area fairly well, because I cycle there a lot and because my ship is in the next village, Woubrugge. I would never willingly book something in Roelofarendsveen. It's too out of the way for me.
Yeah I suspect you are right and in addition given that it will be November, I think it could be dreary. The property itself looks great but I suspect it is nicer as a weekend away in the summer when you can kayak and canoe.

I am going to take a look at both Leiden and Utrecht.
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Old May 22nd, 2022, 08:40 PM
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Have to agree about November - I didn't take that in when I read your original post (skating on the lake, anyone?). We did Utrecht in winter, and it is big enough that there is a lot happening even on New Year's Day, but small enough that you won't feel lost or touristed out. I don't think you could go wrong with it, unless you were looking to base in a bit closer. I don't know Leiden unfortunately so can't comment on suitability but it might be a better base if that is the case.

Good luck!

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Old May 23rd, 2022, 01:36 AM
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Absolutely zero chance of skating on a lake in November, even before climate change hit.
Utrecht is a nice city, but there is a lot of expansion and new building going on, and a pain with a car.
What about Amersfoort? Easy access to Amsterdam by train, lovely woodlands all around it, even a few hills nearby, but a bit further out. However you can get on the motorway easily to get to Schiphol.
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Old May 23rd, 2022, 06:39 AM
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I will take a look at Amersfoort-thanks for the suggestion. I did book something that is fully cancelable just south of Haarlem. I went ahead and reserved it because booking has so few properties that are actually full apartments, and everything they have in the "great Amsterdam area has very expensive parking prices, like 30 euros a day. Since this has free parking that is helpful. I may change it as we get closer, but we will see.
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