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| *Travel Tips>>>Netherlands Travel Tips |
Travel suggestions for Noord Nederlands? |
Travel Info How cold is the water? We live in California, just curious as to whether a beach trip should be included or forgotten about. Also, instead of staying at regular hotels - I noticed there is Best Western over there, ick! Anything more traditional as a choice? Traveling with my 3 teenagers. Not interested in Amsterdam except for Ann Frank's house. Prefer family oriented ideas please.... Travel Tips When the weather is nice you'll find Dutch beaches packed with sunbathers, swimmers, windsurfers, boogieboarders, etc... The water is a lot warmer than American water at the same latitude because of the gulfstream... You can find many hotels at http://www.hotels.nl just enter the name of the city you're interested in... You'll find places like http://www.dewitteklok.nl/logementen/eng... and http://en.klinze.nl/index.php I think they look nice, I've never been there though... Not quite sure if you're also asking suggestions on places to go... If so, what area? Noord-Holland (Amsterdam, Haarlem, Hoorn, Den Helder) or North-Netherlands (Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe) or the general Leeuwarden area? Also, it would really help if you could be a bit more specific about what kind of stuff you'd like to do and roughly how much you want to spend/travel... UPDATE The Klinze hotel has an English website too, I didn't see that at first,I changed the link UPDATE #2 I live in the west of the Netherlands and have only been to the North a few times a long time ago so I'll leave the advice on where to go up north to the locals... I think Lizzy and pffff have given you some great advice... The only thing I'd like to add is http://us.holland.com/ I only discovered this just now, I think it's just what you were looking for... Others If you only want to stay in the North of the Netherlands, you are missing out on a lot. I am not sure why you don't want to to Amsterdam, because ithas a worse reputation than what it is actually about. I lived there and moved to the USA and so many people have wrong conceptions about, they think it's all about pot and hookers, well, that's the tiniest part ofit. It has a rich cultural backround, great art museums to check out, nice for you teens aswell to educate them. Other places to go are Nijmegen or Maastricht, both cities have a rich Roman empire history. Arnhem, the city of the movie a bridge too far, with the airborne musuem, which tells you about the Americans in the Dutch occupations by the germans in the WW II. If you go to the province of Drenthe check the Hunebedden. It has a history of the stone age. Very interesting. In Arnhem there is also Burger's zoo, a great zoo to be checked out. Something else is the Dutch wadden islands. My parents took me to Schiermonnikoog, a car free island. I took my American husband there, he loved it. If you like bunkers, there are many and one you can go inside. Plus it has the longest beach from shore to sea. If you want to go to an amusment park, go to Walibi, it used to be six flags holland, with many rollercoasters to try. Also you could go to Rotterdam, it has the largest harbor of the world and you can take a boat that tours you past all the container ships, which I always liked. I hope it will help. The beaches are nice in the summer for sunbathing and it has many oppertunities to drink and have lunch, but even when it's windy I liked to stroll there. The north of the Netherlands has a lot to offer. Groningen is a student town, a lot of people are coming to visit the town. There are nice pubs, restaurants but also a few different musea. The most famous one is the Groninger museum, in a very beautiful building just in front of the station. info on http://www.groningermuseum.nl/ Groningen has a nice market, on friday and on saturday and the town center is worth to visit, also for shopping with teenagers. tourist info Groningen on; http://toerisme.groningen.nl/ Friesland is a province with a lot of lakes. It's nice to book a boat trip or to rent a boat. There are also a few nice old towns near the lake (IJselmeer), visit Hindeloopen, Stavoren, Franeker or Harlingen. They have a train connection with Leeuwarden. tourist info Friesland on; http://www.beleeffriesland.nl/ Franeker is also famous becaus of its planetarium. http://www.planetarium-friesland.nl/... (lDown left you can click for an English version of this site) It's also possible to take a boat from Stavoren to Enkhuizen, on the other site of the lake. Probably the cheapest way to take a boat trip and sea the other ships on the lake. Enkhuizen is nice to visit. info on http://www.veerboot.info/ Near Stavoren there is a forrest area called Gaasterland. The islands are something special and worth visiting if you like nature. Texel is real big, for me a bit to big. Vlieland and Schiermonnikoog are the smallest, They both have only one village and on both those islands only the locals are allowed to travel by car. You can rent a bike and tour around the island. It's worth a day trip but you can also stay overnight. I sometimes take a boat to Schiemonnikoog, a bus to the only village and rent a bike. or take the bus to the beach, start walking and after a long walk end up in the village and go to one of the restaurants before i go back to the boat. Make sure you know wen the last boat is going. There is also a lot of forest on the islands. From Groningen you can buy a bus, boat , bus return ticket to Schiermonnikoog. The trip to Schiermonnikoog is the cheapest. Take the first boat to the island and the last boat back. There is a direct train between Groningen and Leeuwarden. To Vlieland or Terschelling you can take a train to Harlingen harbor(last stop from that train), and buy a ticket to Vlieland or Terschelling on the boat terminal. On walking distance from the train. Boat tickets are return tickets. Info over the islands on Or stay a few nights on one of the islands, your kids wil love the pubs. http://www.wadden.nl/ Terschelling has also a festival in 15 - 24 June. Couldn't find info in English. Lots of theatre programs in Dutch, but also in other language or street theatre for free and the island is worth to visit. During Oerol it's possible that they run out of rental bikes. It's a bit crowded in all the small villages on the island during Oerol, but the atmosfer is nice. http://www.oerol.nl/programma/index.htm... The water is a lot colder than in California. Depends also in which period you are planning your visit. On the North sea beaches on the islands its nice to take a walk or to swim. The sea between the islands and the coast is on most of the places to dangerous. But just under the Harlingen harbor train station there is a small beach were you can go for a swim. On a sunny day its nice to go for a swim. Enjoy your stay. I'm Dutch, live in the north of the Netherlands |
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