The Netherlands
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Christmas in The Hague
I’ve just returned from the most wonderful weekend in The Hague celebrating the opening of the Royal Christmas Fair which is one of the largest and most beautiful Christmas markets in The Netherlands. The visit really got me into the festive spirit and I hope you will enjoy following in my footsteps around this enchanting…
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Park Plaza Vondelpark, Amsterdam
Hotel Review Location: The Park Plaza hotel is located on a tree lined quiet street in the upscale Oud-Zuid district of Amsterdam, just steps away from the beautiful Vondelpark. Tram 2 serves the hotel making it easy to get around as it takes just 20 minutes to Central Station passing many of the city’s attractions…
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Zaanse Schans Windmills, Amsterdam
Located 15 km north of Amsterdam in a picturesque setting you will discover a wonderful historic village on the banks of the River Zaan. The area is delightful with its row of windmills, craft workshops and excellent museums. The site is free to visit, however most of the museums charge an individual entrance fee so…
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Vesting Hotel, Naarden, The Netherlands
Hotel Review Location: Naarden is a UNESCO World Heritage star shaped fortress which was built to protect the city from attack and is one of the best preserved medieval fortified towns in Europe. This unique town is approximately 30 minutes from Amsterdam by car and by train 25 minutes from Amsterdam Central Station to Naarden-Bussum. From…
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Muiderslot Castle & Singer Laren Museum, Amsterdam
We’d slept like logs in our comfortable bed at the Vesting Hotel, Naarden and what a treat there was in store for us down in the restaurant. Rather than a buffet, guests are served their own breakfast platters complete with freshly baked bread and pastries. The boiled eggs were deliciously soft, the cappuccinos brewed to perfection…
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Amsterdam and Naarden Fortress
After enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the Park Plaza Vondelpark’s restaurant, we checked out of the hotel leaving our luggage to collect later. We’d decided on a morning’s sightseeing and felt we couldn’t visit Amsterdam without taking a canal cruise. We therefore took a tram to Westermarkt, close to Anne Frank’s House on the Prinsengracht canal…
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Zuiderzee Open Air Museum & Volendam, The Netherlands
After a delicious breakfast in the Park Plaza Vondelpark’s restaurant we set off bright and early to visit some interesting places outside of the city. After taking Tram line 2 to Central Station we caught a train to Enkhuizen one hour away. Standard single fares are €13.20 each but by purchasing online tickets we saved €1…
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Exploring Keukenhof Gardens & Vondelpark, Amsterdam
Amsterdam is one of my favourite European cities, famous for its canals and tulips and somewhere I always enjoy visiting. The city centre is absolutely gorgeous with its scenic canals, quaint architecture and world renowned museums but did you know that there are lots of idyllic places to visit further afield that are easily accessible…
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Day 1. Amsterdam city break
We needed to be up at 03.15 a.m. for our early morning flight to Amsterdam from Leeds Bradford Airport. Deciding to drive, we left our car at the Sentinel long stay car park, managing to find a discount code to reduce the price slightly. Our flight with the Dutch national carrier KLM on an Embraer…
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Day 2. Keukenhof Gardens and visiting Edam
Breakfast was not included in the room rate and at €15 per person we thought quite expensive, especially as it’s actually taken in the building opposite. Instead, we decided to nip out to the Spar supermarket a couple of minutes walk away and buy some croissants, ham, eggs and yoghurt ourselves as our studio had…
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Day 3. Haarlem and Zaanse Schans Windmills
Our morning was going to start with a short train journey to Haarlem but noticing the train terminated less than ten minutes later at the seaside town of Zandvoort, we thought we’d head there first before returning down the line to visit Haarlem. Unusually for us, we hadn’t researched Zandvoort, otherwise I doubt we would…
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Day 4. Marken and Volendam
Our plan for the morning was to take the train into Amsterdam Central and then travel from there by bus to the village of Marken. Buses run half hourly (No.315) and depart from behind the railway station, this journey being included in the regional travel ticket. It was a pleasant ride out to Marken, the…
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Day 5. Lelystad and Amsterdam canal walk
A slower start to our final day in Amsterdam staying around the hotel until our 11.00 a.m. checkout time. Hotel 2 Stay had been a good choice, spacious studio rooms coupled with maid service and only a 6 minute train journey from Amsterdam Central with trains departing every few minutes. Sloterdijk is described as an up…
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