Small Ship Cruise Embarkation Port Tips: Amsterdam

By Ted Scull.

Here is the first of what will be a series of short articles that encourage you to broaden your horizons by staying on a few extra days in the port city where your small-ship cruise starts or ends.

Handsome residential and commercial landscapes parallel miles of Amsterdam’s canals. * Photo: Ted Scull

A few years ago, my wife and I booked a one-week Rhine River cruise embarking in Amsterdam and ending just across the German border in Basel, Switzerland. Because we had flown all the way across the Atlantic, we decided to add another dimension to the voyage by spending a few days based in Amsterdam, dividing it between the city’s well-known sights — all those amazing museums and canals! — and less familiar destinations beyond. The trip would involve unpacking once ashore in our Amsterdam hotel and then once aboard; for convenience we chose a hotel located within walking distance of Amsterdam’s Central Station.

A pretty lighted canal bridge. * Photo: Ted Scull

Amsterdam Highlights

Amsterdam is a port city and river cruises and small cruise ships leave from near the city’s gorgeous 19th-century Central Station, a hub for the city’s and the country’s extensive rail network.

Peddle propulsion is a common sight. * Photo: Ted Scull

Easily accessible by foot, bicycle, canal boat or tram, Amsterdam is world famous for many things:

• Museums – Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, Anne Frank, Rembrandt House, Maritime
• Churches
• Canals
• Cafés & Restaurants
• Nightlife
• Red Light District

Taking the Train

The Netherlands, or Holland, is a small country (twice the size of New Jersey and half the size of South Carolina), and for those not familiar with riding public transport at home, this country may just be one of the easiest places in Europe (maybe even the whole world) to explore by train.

Traveling by train is a way of life in the Netherlands. * Photo: Ted Scull

Many nearby destinations are just 30 minutes to one hour away from Amsterdam’s Central Station. Through the train windows, enjoy the rural countryside laced with canals and peppered with tiny villages.

• Most Dutch speak English, the trains are numerous and frequent, and in many cases, operate on memory schedules — leaving regularly at so many minutes after the hour throughout the day.
• Buy a HOLLAND TRAVEL TICKET that’s valid on trains, trams, buses and metro throughout the country for a specific number of days. You have your ticket to ride and soon you will feel the freedom and spontaneity to adjust your timing or change your route. Go out and back, make a triangle trip with two destinations or a loop with three.
• With your ticket in hand, you simply check in and check out when boarding and departing. One restriction is that the lowest price does not allow travel until after 9am; for most, an early enough start to the day.

Sample Outings From Amsterdam

Aside from exploring the many excellent museums in Amsterdam and strolling (or cycling or boating) along its famous flower- and houseboat-framed canals, here are some must-see treasures just outside of the city.

Delft, Delft and more Delft. * Photo: Ted Scull

• Perhaps begin with something familiar sounding by hopping the train from Amsterdam Central Station for DELFT, home to the beautiful Dutch blue pottery. At the station, walk ahead over the arched canal bridge into a charming medieval city.
• If you like cheese and it is a Friday, it’s a 35-minute train ride to AALKMAAR where the indoor-outdoor cheese market has been thriving since 1365. The medieval city is charmer.
• Just 40 minutes from Amsterdam is THE HAGUE, the Netherland’s seat of government (though Amsterdam is the official capital), where a tram from the main station takes you to MADURODAM. Here, see a miniature 1:25 scale model featuring replicas of a Dutch village; the Port of Rotterdam; the famous Rijksmuseum; rural landscapes of tulip fields, windmills, and trains; and cars going about their business.
  

  Here’s one tiny village – Madurodam, located near The Hague. * Photo: Ted Scull

• After Madurodam, hop a tram for the short ride to SCHEVENINGEN, a seaside resort with a broad sandy beach, its esplanade lined with both Victorian and modern architecture and leading to a long pier jutting into the North Sea. The same tram will take you directly back to the station for Amsterdam.
• If you have already seen the Port of Rotterdam in miniature, then head to ROTTERDAM Central Station, about 40 minutes from Amsterdam Central Station, to see it in life size. Enjoy some of the best modern architecture in the country as well as the classic 1950s Holland America liner Rotterdam, permanently docked and open for tours and a meal.
• For something unusual, take an hour’s ride to ENKHUIZEN, a former port city that rose with the fortunes of the mighty Dutch East India Company. Today, it’s a village that faces the Ijsselmeer (formerly Zuider Zee), a large enclosed body of water used for recreation. Enjoy a ferry ride to the opposite shore, the medieval origins, and check out a creative museum housing 1,000 ships-in-bottles.

Next time, we will pick another European city that is well situated as a base for some independent travel before or after your cruise.

Care to tag along? * Photo: Suellyn Scull

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