Netherlands Vacation - April 2023 Jenny's Trello Site
April 10 - Schiphol Airport to Hotel Volendam
April 11 - Anne Frank House, Pancake Trail, Royal Palace, Van Gogh Museum, and Bols Museum - (Individual Admission Fees)
April 12 - Rijksmuseum, MOCO Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Diamond Museum, and New Church - (Iamsterdam Card)
April 13 - Maritime Museum, Micropia, Botanical Gardens, Willet House, Rembrandt House, & NEMO - (Iamsterdam Card)
April 14 - Muiderslot Castle and Fort Pampus Island - (Iamsterdam Card)
April 15 - Volendam and Marken - (Iamsterdam Card)
April 16 - Zaanferry Tour of Zaan River, Czar Peter's House, Amsterdam Canal Tour, and A'Dam Lookout - (Iamsterdam Card)
April 17 - Keukenhof Gardens and Keukenhof Castle Estate Grounds - (Individual Admission Fees)
April 18 - Zaanze Schrans and the Windmills - (Zaanse Schans Card)
April 19 - De Haar Castle and the Clock Museum - (Individual Admission Fees)
April 20 - Delft Plates Painting - (Individual Admission Fees)
NOTE: If a travel route doesn't display correctly, it's because the date has passed. Put in a future date.
De Haar Castle and Speelklok
Wednesday, April 19,2023
Check out of the Boutique Hotel Zaan
Take the train to the Van Der Valk Hotel Breukelen and drop off luggage.
Take the train and bus to De Haar to visit the castle. Then go into Utrecht to Speelklok Museum. Spend a little time at the Utrecht Central Station (it's a new station). Then back to Hotel Breukelen for the evening.
Use the OV Chipkaart for the Sprinter train trip.
​
7:10 am - Have breakfast at Boutique Hotel Zaan and check out.
7:39 am – Walk with luggage to the Zaandijk, Zaanse Schans the train station.
7:48 am - Take Sprinter 7427 to Breukelen
8:40 am – Take the luggage to the Van Der Valk Breukelen Hotel.
Walk west from the station on Stationsweg. Stationsweg curves to the left (south) and the Hotel is on the right.
​
Use the OV Chipkaart for the Sprinter train and the bus trips.
8:40 am – Walk back to the train station from Hotel Breukelen
8:58 am – Take Sprinter 7329 to Maarssen Station
9:02 am – Walk to the Maarssenbroek, Station Maarssen bus stop
Head southeast in the train terminal. Take the stairs to the pedestrian overpass and turn right at the end of the overpass; the bus station is on the left.
9:16 am – Take Bus 11 to Vleutan, Rubenslaan bus station, walk south and cross over to the north bound bus stop.
9:39 am – Take Bus 127 to Haarzuilens, Eikslaan/Kasteel bus stop
9:42 am - Walk About 16 minutes west to the castle
De Haar Kasteel
The grounds open at 9:00 am, the Coach House Restaurant at 10:00 am, and the castle at 11:00 am.
​
I suggest you circle the castle counter clockwise to end up in the southwestern corner of the estate so you can have lunch around 10:45 am.
​
You can then tour the castle starting at about 11:30 am.
The restaurant opens at 10:00 am and closes at 5:00 pm.
Use the OV Chipkaart for the Sprinter train trip.
1:50 pm - Walk east from the castle to Haarzuilens, Eikslaan/Kasteel bus stop.
NOTE: Because bus 127 only runs once per hour, make sure you are there with plenty of time to spare.
2:12 pm - Take bus U-OV Bus 127 to Vleutan, Station Vleuten.
2:25 pm – Walk to the Vleuten train station
From the bus stop, head west then north to the train station.
2:35 – Take Sprinter 6953 to Utrecht Central arriving at 2:45 pm.
2:45 pm – Walk to the Speelklok Museum
​
Exit Utrecht Central Station from the northeast doors. There should be an overhead, honeycomb, artsy thing. Past that, you’ll see the doors to the Hoog Catharijne Shopping Mall. Bear right.
Head south along the east side walkway of the station. After a couple of hundred feet, there’s an escalator and a ramp that can take you down to street level.
Continue south to Moreelsepark street and take a left.
Continue east on Moreelsepark as it morphs into Marga Klompébrug
Continue east on Marga Klompébrug as it morphs into Mariaplaats.​
Turn left (north) onto Mariastraat
Turn right (east) onto Steenweg
Museum Speelklok in on the right about 170 meters down Steenweg.
​
Admission is €14 per person
The museum is open from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm Tuesday thru Sunday
From Speelklok head (west) on Steenweg
Turn left (south) onto Mariastraat
Continue west on Mariaplaats as it morphs into Marga Klompébrug
Continue west on Marga Klompébrug as it morphs into Moreelsepark.
Turn North on Moreelsehoek, (the eastern walkway of the station) and walk to the northeastern corner of the station to enter.
​
Take some time to check out Utrecht Central Station. It's the largest (and newest for now) of the train stations in the Netherlands.
Use the OV Chipkaart for the Sprinter train trip.
​
6:08 pm – Take Sprinter 7460 from Utrecht Central Station platform 14 to Breukelen.
6:20 pm – Walk to Van Der Valk Hotel Breukelen and check in.