Day trips out of the city

Delft 

For a nice long day trip, instead of an organized tour, take the train from Amsterdam Central Station to Delft (approx 20 Euros adult) and you can stop and sightsee Leiden, Den Haag (the Hague) and Haarlem on the way back.  There are tourist map kiosks in or near each station where you can get maps with information on what to see and do in each town, if the tourist centers are not open.  The train passes by windmills, canals, nice homes, farms, fields of flowers, horses, pigs and cows grazing, etc.  Give yourself at least 8 hours to enjoy this trip and see each town.  An organized bus tour is approx 40 Euros and you mostly pass by the sites that you want to go into. The train ride to Delft is less than an hour and approx 15 minutes between each of the other towns on the way back.

Holysloot

When you really want to have a feel of the authentic Dutch landscape and villages, go on a nice day trip biking and boating in the typical Dutch landscape just a few miles outside of Amsterdam in the authentic village "Holysloot ."First start out by buying a nice ordinary map of Amsterdam (not only the center), and go to the back of the Central Station (left of the central station is a bicycle path which takes you underneath and around the station).

Take the (free) ferry (nice view on Amsterdam from the water) across the "IJ" , the lake-like thing behind the station, to Amsterdam North (Amsterdam Noord). Take the Meeuwenlaan until you arrive at the Nieuwendammerdijk follow this dyke (stop for coffee at the nice "café het Sluisje," which is also the favorite bar of the Dutch democratic party-leader Wouter Bos). You can also go through the "Vliegenbos" which is park-like. Then continue this dyke  ("dijk" in Dutch) until it becomes "Schellingwouderdijk" in the direction of Schellingwoude. Keep on following the Dyke all the way through Schellingwoude. Follow signs to Holysloot, (the bike signs are the small white signs with the red letters).

Search for the boat renting shop in Holysloot (pass behind the church)  *(a tiny but beautifull village with typical Dutch farmhouses), you can have a drink there and rent a canoe or a kayak or a "whisperboat" in Dutch "fluisterboot" with a tiny electrical motor. And go through the typical Dutch landscape (6 meters below sea level, so there's water and dykes everywhere)  where in the cold winters everybody goes iceskating.  (NOTE: This place is only open after the weather warms up, around mid April and later...so no food or boat/kayak rentals.  Bring a picnic of some sort just to be safe.  Great day trip.).

Back on your bikes; go to the village of "Durgerdam" with its beautiful old small houses looking over the "Zuiderzee" (the Southern Sea), which is now actually a huge lake, but used to be the sea. Follow the signs back to Amsterdam, where you can arrive in the city from a completely different angle, just follow the signs to Artis (the zoo) and the center and ask around and you'll  be fine.

When it's not a nice sunny spring day; beware of the wind and wear gloves etc. It takes you approx 90 minutes to get there (with stops). It's a really calm road and not more then 7 kilometres from Amsterdam to Holysloot. If you wish, you can go by car as well.....but not with the ferry though.

Keukenhof

A trip to Amsterdam in April or May must include a day trip to the Keukenhof, a huge bulb garden that burst into color in April and continues through May.  You can even purchase bulbs to bring home for a colorful reminder of your vacation.  Keukenhof is a feast for the senses and not expensive.

Zaanse Schans

Zaanse Schans is a village on the banks of the river Zaan where you will find windmills and barns. The village is characterised by it's wooden green houses and the traditional crafts like wooden clogs. There are small museums like Bakery Museum, Albert Heijn Museumshop which replicates their first shop in the 19th century, and the Zaans Museum which tells the history of the area Zaanse. The village is accessible by bus or train from Amsterdam Central Station in half an hour (Train stop: Koog-Zaandijk, Euros 5.6 return if bought from a ticket machine). There is a 10-15 mins walk from the station. The village is open to everyone but most museums cost around 3 Euros to visit. If you have an afternoon to spend and would like to see traditional Dutch crafts, this is not a place to miss.