Amsterdam Day Trips: 4 Day Itinerary
Four days is where this itinerary earns a genuine fourth windmill-or-tulip day on top of the 3-day spine : Zaandam and Zaanse Schans, Haarlem, Marken and Volendam, then a fourth day that is either Keukenhof or Kinderdijk depending on your dates. The 5-day version fits both of those windmill-and-tulip days in; this one asks you to pick.
Book these before you go
- Keukenhof entry , the lead booking on this trip if any of your four days fall inside 19 March to 10 May 2026. Outside that window, skip straight past this one.
- A Zaanse Schans windmill tour for Day 1.
- A combined Volendam and Marken tour for Day 3.
- Where to stay in Amsterdam , your base for all four nights; none of these are overnight trips.
| Day | Focus | Travel time from Amsterdam |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Zaandam and Zaanse Schans | ~11 min train, then one more stop (~6 min) |
| Day 2 | Haarlem | ~15-16 min train |
| Day 3 | Marken and Volendam | ~34 min bus, +30 min ferry (seasonal) |
| Day 4 | Keukenhof (in season) or Kinderdijk | ~45 min shuttle, or ~40 min train + ~30 min shuttle via Rotterdam |
Day 1: Zaandam and Zaanse Schans
The NS train from Centraal reaches Zaandam in about 11 minutes, roughly EUR 3.50. Stop first for the Inntel Hotel’s stacked green-house facade and the Czaar Peterhuisje, the cottage where Peter the Great lodged in 1697 to study shipbuilding under an assumed name; an hour to ninety minutes covers both. One more stop, about 6 minutes on, is Zaandijk Zaanse Schans. The open-air village is free to enter; individual mills, the cheese demonstration, and the clog workshop each charge a few euros. Arrive before 10:30am, ahead of the tour buses. dezaanseschans.nl lists which mills are actually turning, since it depends on wind rather than a fixed timetable.
Day 2: Haarlem
Haarlem is 15 to 16 minutes away, about EUR 5-6 one-way, on one of the country’s busiest rail lines (roughly 148 trains a day). It is the cheapest and fastest trip on this itinerary and needs only half a day: the Grote Kerk, home to the Müller organ a ten-year-old Mozart once played, and the Frans Hals Museum , with the Grote Markt around both for lunch. Do not schedule a full day here; it does not have one’s worth of sights.
Day 3: Marken and Volendam
Skip Volendam alone; on its own it is a run of souvenir shops selling the same wooden shoes and cheese wheels. Paired with Marken, a former-island fishing village of green wooden houses on artificial mounds, the day is worth it. Bus 316 leaves from behind Centraal (platform level, IJ side) roughly every 15 minutes, reaches Volendam in about 34 minutes, EUR 5.80. From late March through October, the Volendam-Marken passenger ferry crosses about every 45 minutes, a 30-minute ride, EUR 10 one-way or EUR 16.50 return; outside that season, bus 315 via Monnickendam is the only route to Marken, adding roughly 30 minutes each way. Check iamsterdam.com for the current season before you plan the crossing.
Day 4: Keukenhof or Kinderdijk
This day depends entirely on your calendar. If your trip falls inside 19 March to 10 May 2026, book Keukenhof ahead (the ticket link is above): about EUR 20.50 for online entry, or EUR 35-38.50 for a shuttle-and-entry combo running roughly 45 minutes each way. Confirm exact hours and the closing date on keukenhof.nl ; weekend slots in peak bloom, mid-April, sell out two to three weeks ahead.
Outside that six-week window, spend Day 4 at Kinderdijk instead, a UNESCO-listed network of 19 windmills built to drain the polder. Take an Intercity train to Rotterdam (about 40 minutes, a connection point only) and then the WaterShuttle (Friday to Sunday, about 30 minutes from Willemskade) or the daily Waterbus. Entry runs roughly EUR 18 on weekdays, EUR 19.50 on weekends, with combo tickets covering transport at EUR 30-35.
Do I do both Keukenhof and Kinderdijk on a four-day trip?
Not on this version. Four days gives you one fourth day, and Keukenhof only exists as an option 19 March to 10 May 2026, so the choice usually makes itself: take Keukenhof if your dates land inside that window, Kinderdijk if they do not. Both fit into a 5-day trip instead.
Is Kinderdijk the same as Zaanse Schans?
No. Zaanse Schans, visited on Day 1, is a curated open-air village close to Amsterdam; Kinderdijk is a larger, more remote UNESCO-listed windmill network reached via Rotterdam. Treat them as two different windmill trips, not one repeated with a longer commute.
Buy every train, bus, and ferry fare across these four days with the same contactless card tapped on the OVpay readers; mixing payment methods is the most common way people overpay by accident on Dutch regional transit.