Keukenhof 2027: Opening Dates, Timed Tickets and the Best Day Trip From Amsterdam

Two windmill days

De Zaanse Schans is a cluster of dark green and white timber houses on the Zaan riverbank, with tarred smock mills behind them. The lanes and the outsides of the mills are free; you pay to go in. A single mill is €7.50 for adults and €3.75 for children 4 to 17. For €15, or €7.50 for children, you get all the open mills plus the windmill museum. The €29.50 Zaanse Schans Card adds the museums and the audio tour. The mills run 09:00 or 09:30 to 16:30, and the oil mill only opens Thursday to Sunday, March to October. Go early: the coaches fill the village by midday.

Werelderfgoed Kinderdijk is the water system at full size, and still working. Two long lines of thatched brick mills stand along dead-straight dykes, with water either side of the path. The paths between the mills are free to walk. A ticket is €21 for adults and €9 for children 4 to 12, covering the museum mills, the pumping stations and the exhibitions. Booking online takes 10% off. It opens 10:30 to 16:00 until the end of December, then shuts completely from 4 to 21 January. Take an Intercity to Rotterdam Centraal, then the WaterShuttle from the Erasmus Bridge, under 30 minutes on a separate ticket. In winter that boat sails Friday to Sunday only, so go at a weekend or leave it for another trip.

Vermeer and Van Gogh

The Mauritshuis is a small sandstone palace on the Hofvijver lake, hanging Dutch masters in dark-panelled rooms at close range. Girl with a Pearl Earring is back on the wall after a loan to Osaka. Tickets are €21 and free for everyone under 19, and the last two hours of any day cost €4. It opens 10:00 to 18:00, Tuesday to Sunday, and from 13:00 on Mondays. 'Masters from Madrid' is on until 17 January.

The Kröller-Müller Museum sits low in pine and heather woodland inside a national park. There's a sculpture garden outside, and free white bicycles between the park gates and the door. 'Van Gogh, All Our Paintings' puts the whole collection up together until 3 January, on a free timed ticket on top of your entry. The combined museum and park day ticket is €27.75 for adults and €6.95 for ages 6 to 12. They take no cash, here or at the park entrances. It opens 10:00 to 17:00, Tuesday to Sunday, with extra Mondays on 21 and 28 December. Take an Intercity to Arnhem Centraal or Apeldoorn, then two buses, and allow a full day.

Castles and winter lights

Rijksmuseum Muiderslot is the closest proper castle to Amsterdam: square red brick, four round towers, a drawbridge where the Vecht meets the IJmeer. Adults pay €19.50 and children 4 to 11 €7.50, and entry is free on a Museumkaart or I amsterdam City Card. The audio tour in Dutch and English is included. It opens 10:00 to 17:00, but the ticket office shuts at 16:30 and nobody is let in after that. Until the end of March it closes on Mondays. Train to Weesp, bus 110 to Muiden Centrum, then about 10 minutes on foot.

Kasteel de Haar at Haarzuilens, between Utrecht and Amsterdam, is the theatrical one: a moated neo-Gothic castle of turrets and rose gardens. Castle and gardens together are €21.50 for adults and €13.50 for children 4 to 12; the gardens alone are €8 in winter. De Lumineuze Nachten lights the place from 4 December to 3 January. On those days the castle closes at 16:00, last entry 15:15, and the gardens at 15:30. Those hours don't apply on 25 and 26 December; everything is closed on 31 December and 1 January. Visits run on time slots, so book online. Allow 20 minutes to walk up from the car park.

Villages you reach by boat

Bus 316 from the IJ side of Amsterdam Centraal reaches Volendam in 30 to 35 minutes, every 15 minutes. From the harbour the Volendam Marken Express crosses the Gouwzee to Marken in around 30 minutes, with boats every 30 to 45 minutes from 11:00 to 17:30. It's €10 one way and €16.50 return, €5 and €8.25 for children 4 to 11, and a bike costs €2. The I amsterdam City Card covers one crossing. A hard frost has stopped the boat for days at a time, and without it you loop back inland, so check it's sailing.

Smit Giethoorn rents whisper boats, small electric boats you drive yourself with no licence. The village has no cars: thatched farmhouses sit on little islands joined by high wooden bridges. An eight-person boat starts at €20 an hour and a seat on the canal cruise at €12.50. The marked routes run two to five hours. The base opens at 09:00 daily and closes at 17:00 early in the week, 21:00 from Friday to Sunday. Giethoorn is 120 km out, about 1 hour 25 minutes by car and at least 2.5 hours each way by train and bus.

Rotterdam harbour and Delft blue

FENIX is a converted dockside warehouse on the Katendrecht quay in Rotterdam. A polished steel staircase called the Tornado twists through the roof to a platform above the harbour. Tickets are €15 for adults, €7.50 at 19 to 25 and free for everyone 18 and under, timed and sold online only. The Museumkaart isn't valid here, and it opens 10:00 to 17:00, Tuesday to Sunday. Metro from Rotterdam Centraal to Rijnhaven, then a walk; the water taxi brings you back into the centre.

At Royal Delft you watch painters lay cobalt-blue brushstrokes onto white blanks by hand. The audio tour is included and the main route takes 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Doors open at 09:30 and close at 17:00, with last admission at 16:00. Adults pay €17.50 and children 7 to 12 €7.50. It's busier on days when the Keukenhof is open, so arrive at opening in spring.

Days out with children

Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden has a mounted Tyrannosaurus rex called Trix rearing over a dim dinosaur gallery. It's €18 for anyone aged 4 and up, free below that, and everyone needs a timed online booking, Museumkaart holders included. It opens 10:00 to 17:00 daily and closes on Christmas Day. Leiden Centraal is 37 minutes by Intercity, and the museum is a walk from the station. The Rexperience add-on is shut with a technical fault, so don't promise it to anyone.

Efteling is the biggest park in the country, and winter is when it's at its best. There are lit woods, an outdoor ice rink and a 20-minute acrobatic show in a mirrored tent. Winter Efteling runs from 16 November to 31 January. Day tickets are €40 to €56 and tied to one date. The park opens by 11:00 and runs to 18:00 or 19:00, later over the Christmas holidays. From 21 December to 3 January, except 31 December, a €33 evening ticket gets you in from 16:00. It's a train to Tilburg then a bus, around two hours each way.

Utrecht and Haarlem

The Domtoren is the tallest church tower in the country. The only way up is a guided tour, 465 steps, in Dutch and English. Adults pay €13.50, and children 4 to 12, students and over-65s €8.50. Tours leave from Domplein 9 and last about an hour. Slots fill at weekends and in Dutch school holidays, so book.

Teylers Museum on the Spaarne is the oldest museum in the Netherlands. Its book-lined Oval Room and its cases of brass instruments and fossils are lit by daylight alone. Pick a bright day. Adults are €18.50 and children 6 to 17 €2.50, and it opens 10:00 to 17:00, Tuesday to Sunday. There's a direct train from Amsterdam Centraal, then a walk through the old town.

Before you book

Mondays thin the list: the Mauritshuis opens late, and Teylers, FENIX, the Kröller-Müller and, in winter, the Muiderslot are closed. Check the Kinderdijk and Volendam boats are sailing before you build a day around either. See the Amsterdam guide and the Amsterdam hotel search.