Best Day Trips from Amsterdam (Ranked, with How to Get There)

By the Klemio team · Updated June 3, 2026

The nice thing about basing yourself in Amsterdam is how little it takes to leave. In under an hour you can trade the canals for working windmills, an old city center, or a village where the streets are water and there are no cars at all. The trains run constantly, so you can be out and back without it ever feeling like an expedition. Here is how to spend a day elsewhere.

Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the national rail operator, runs direct trains to most of the places below, often several an hour, and even the longest trip here is around two hours each way. So none of this needs a car. For each one you will find exactly how to reach it and who it actually suits. One warning about spring, though: the famous tulip gardens have a short season and the bus arrangements keep changing, so read the details before you build a day around them.

1. 1

   Zaanse Schans

   About 17 minutes each way by direct train, then a short walk

   A cluster of working windmills, green timber houses, and old workshops by the river that still grind pigment, press oil, and saw wood. It is the closest thing to a living open-air museum near the city, and at 17 minutes on the train it slots into even a packed day as an easy morning. It does get busy, so the earlier you go the more it feels like a village and the less like a set.

   Getting there: Take a direct NS train from Amsterdam Centraal to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans station, roughly every 30 minutes, then walk about 15 minutes across the river to the site.

   Best for: Anyone with half a morning to spare who wants the postcard Dutch scene without a real journey.

   

2. 2

   Keukenhof gardens

   Spring only, about 35 to 60 minutes each way by bus or train plus bus

   One of the biggest flower gardens on earth, open only for a few weeks in spring when millions of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths come up in carefully planned beds. The crowds are real and the window is short, but at peak it is something you genuinely cannot see at any other time of year. Go for the flowers or skip it; there is not much else to do there.

   Getting there: Keukenhof opens only from mid March to mid May. From the city take the Keukenhof shuttle bus from Amsterdam, or ride a train to Leiden Centraal and connect to the direct Keukenhof bus. Note that for 2026 there is no shuttle from Schiphol Airport due to airport works.

   Best for: Anyone visiting in April who has wanted to stand in a field of tulips and can build the day around the bloom.

   

3. 3

   Giethoorn

   About 2 to 2.5 hours each way by train then bus

   A village in the northeast where a lot of the houses sit on their own little islands, linked by footbridges, with no cars in the old heart of it. Rent a quiet electric boat or just walk the towpaths and it feels a long way from the capital, which is the whole reason people make the haul. And it is a haul: more than two hours each way, so commit to it as the day's one thing.

   Getting there: Take an NS train from Amsterdam Centraal toward Steenwijk or Zwolle, then change to local bus line 70, which drops you near the village for a short final walk. Allow the full two hours plus each way.

   Best for: People who will trade four-plus hours of travel for a few genuinely quiet ones on the water.

   

4. 4

   Rotterdam

   About 40 minutes by the fast Intercity Direct, or about 1 hour 15 by regular Intercity, each way

   Flattened in the war and rebuilt with nerve, Rotterdam is the anti-Amsterdam: cube houses, the swooping Markthal, a wild central station, a working harbor skyline. If a day of canals and gables has you craving modern architecture and straight lines, this is the sharpest contrast you can reach in under an hour. Pay the small supplement for the fast train and you save yourself half the journey.

   Getting there: The fastest option is the Intercity Direct, which reaches Rotterdam Centraal in about 40 minutes (it runs via Amsterdam Zuid and Schiphol and carries a small supplement). Regular Intercity trains from Amsterdam Centraal take about 1 hour 15. Both run frequently.

   Best for: Anyone who has had their fill of gabled houses and wants a day of bold modern buildings instead.

   

5. 5

   Utrecht

   About 25 minutes each way by direct train

   People call it a smaller, calmer Amsterdam, and that is fair: split-level wharf canals lined with cafes, a cathedral tower you can climb for the view, and a student buzz without the tourist crush. The ride is only 25 minutes and the center is easy on the feet, which makes this the most relaxed day on the list. If the crowds at home are wearing on you, come here.

   Getting there: Direct NS trains run from Amsterdam Centraal to Utrecht Centraal roughly every 15 minutes, taking around 25 minutes, with no change needed.

   Best for: Anyone who loves the canals but wants them with fewer crowds and a 25-minute ride home.

   

6. 6

   Haarlem

   About 15 to 20 minutes each way by direct train

   A compact old town with a grand main square, the Grote Kerk, leafy almshouse courtyards tucked behind doorways, and a couple of good museums. The ride is so short it barely counts as a trip, so it works perfectly as a half day, and the unhurried lanes give you a quieter version of classic Dutch city life without the day really leaving Amsterdam behind.

   Getting there: Frequent direct NS trains run from Amsterdam Centraal to Haarlem, taking about 15 to 20 minutes, several times an hour throughout the day.

   Best for: Anyone short on time who wants a real Dutch town and to be back in the city by early afternoon.

   

Thumbnail photos by Zairon (CC BY-SA 4.0), Urdulife (CC BY-SA 4.0), PhotoBobil (CC BY 2.0), Rob Oo (CC BY 2.0), Wil Leeuwis (CC0), Fryslan0109 at English Wikipedia (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

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