Amsterdam is an excellent base for the wider Netherlands — the train and bus network puts most of the country within an easy day's reach.
Haarlem is just 20 minutes by train, with a beautiful old centre and less than a tenth of Amsterdam's tourist traffic. North of the city, the open-air museum of De Zaanse Schans preserves working windmills half an hour away, while the old Zuiderzee fishing towns of Volendam and Edam — the latter famous for its cheese — sit a short bus ride to the northeast. Further north, Hoorn and Enkhuizen anchor the "Historic Triangle", linked in summer by heritage steam train and vintage boat.
South of Amsterdam lie the Golden Age cities: Leiden with its canals and university, Delft of the blue-and-white pottery, the seat of government at The Hague, and the canal-laced cathedral city of Utrecht, all under 45 minutes away. In spring, the tulip gardens of Keukenhof near Lisse (late March to mid-May) are worth the trip.
