Last Summer we spent a week with Eurocamp at Duinrell in the Netherlands. We had such a great time that we are going back again this year. As well as spending a lot of time at Duinrell there are plenty of places within easy reach to explore. Day trips from Duinrell include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leiden, The Hague and Delft. I thought I would tell you a little more about these 5 days trips from Duinrell.

Five day trips from Duinrell

Amsterdam

I first visited Amsterdam with my husband (then boyfriend!) over 15 years ago. I fell in love with the Dutch city and couldn’t wait to visit with my family when I knew we would be in easy distance from it. Duinrell is a great base to explore the Netherlands and we drove to Leiden and took a direct train to Amsterdam which took about 35 minutes. The children loved the double decker trains and enjoyed watching the Dutch landscape as we travelled north to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands and famous for it’s heritage and canals. We did all the usual tourist things, including a guided boat ride on the canals. We looked around the tourist shops, buying lots of delicious cheese, as well as bulbs to take home and plant. Amsterdam is fun to explore in a day and we made sure to stop and find a cafe selling pancakes so we could sit and people watch too.

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands. We didn’t actually visit on our first trip to the Netherlands so it’s top of our list of places to visit this summer. After being almost completely destroyed during the Second World War, today Rotterdam is known for its contemporary architecture. We are hoping to spend a day exploring Rotterdam so we can visit the famous Cube House and take the lift up Euromast to see the view.

Leiden

Leiden is a pretty Dutch city, famous for its University (which is the oldest in the Netherlands, founded in 1575) and being the birthplace of Rembrandt. It’s the perfect size to explore in a day, full of historical buildings and lovely canals. The children loved stopping off for a drink at Happi Tosti, a little sandwich shop we found with swings for seats!

The Hague

We managed The Hague and Delft in a day, with a quick stop to see the beach at Scheveningen too. Some places are pretty close together and driving in the Netherlands was simple thanks to good road signs.

To be honest The Hague is not my favourite place. For some reason a lot of the car parks were closed and we drove around for ages trying to find somewhere to park! Eventually we did and explored The Hague. First stop was the Binnenhof which is among the oldest Parliament buildings in the world still in use.  It houses the meeting place of both houses of the States General of the Netherlands, as well as the Ministry of General Affairs and the office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and it’s free to walk through.

Parts of The Hague were quite pretty and we discovered a gorgeous covered arcade called The Passage, as well as the best chips we’ve ever tasted at Frites Atelier.

Delft

Delft is a short drive away from both Duinrell and The Hague and is well worth a visit. It’s a gorgeous little city full of canals, with a wonderful central market square, perfect for stopping off to enjoy Dutch treats and people watch. Today it’s famous for Delftware, hand-painted blue-and-white pottery, as well as the birthplace of the painter Johannes Vermeer.

We loved exploring these Dutch cities. The children were generally happy to go on a boat ride and explore by foot as long as we stopped off for ice cream or pancakes! I challenged them both to take photos when we were out and about and there was plenty of street art to appreciate in every city.

Have you ever visited this part of the Netherlands before? I would love to hear if you have any recommendations for our next visit.