Amsterdam via Rotterdam

[alfiemom]

If you expect to be able to tour Amsterdam, and see all the sights from Rotterdam, forget it! We had a tour set up with Holland Guides. It took several months to collect the tour participants and finally had 20.

 

We wanted to go to Anne Frank House (primary reason for tour) and see other things. Due to the changing number of tour people, we were never able to buy advance tickets for the AFH. That turned out to be good since we would have missed our time. It took over 2 hours to travel from Rotterdam to Amsterdam.

 

We took a canal tour and passed by the AFH on the water. Long lines, long, long lines. The canal tour was interesting. We then boarded the bus for Delft. I had been told that Delft was a beautiful town with very interesting architecture and, of course, the Delft factory. We never toured the town and spent a few minutes touring the factory. (Our guide told the Delft guide to hurry us through so we could eat lunch.)

 

I had asked that we be able to get a "quick" sandwich somewhere and she suggested the factory. Since we wanted this to be quick, several people pre-ordered. Turned out the coffee shop was very nice and had some very good sandwiches and cakes. We spent more time eating, and in the store, then touring.

 

I will say that we needed to be back at the ship by 4:15 for a 5 PM sailing. But I was disappointed that we didn't do what she proposed to do. I feel that she knew we wouldn't make it to the AFH and never told me her feelings.

 

Unless you dock in Amsterdam, and have the whole day, think twice about what you'd like to do on a tour.

[Bruin Steve]

I suspect a lot has to do with your hours in port and, more importantly, how good your guide is...

 

We will be docking in Rotterdam in July and hve a tour lined up to go to Amsterdam...

 

First, our ship docks from 9 am to midnight...no need to hurry back for a 5 pm sailing like you...I take it your day was considerably shorter than ours...

 

We decided to limit our group to 12...puts us into a comfortable minibus...

We are planning on only touring Amsterdam, not Delft...We have a different tour guide than you...

 

Our group has been solid for months now and our guide is pre-purchasing the tickets...

 

We've got an aggressive schedule, but we know we cannot see everything. At one point in our tour, part of our group is visiting the Rijksmuseum while the rest are visiting the Portuguese Synagogue and Jewish Museum...We have a separate guide arranged for the Jewish Museum...

 

The entire group will be visiting the Anne Frank House...

 

With the ship docking at 9 am, we leave at 9:30 sharp and have it scheduled to arrive back at the ship by 9:30-10:00 pm...plenty of time for the midnight sailing...

 

I feel very confident we will not have a problem fitting in a very nice tour...

I am sorry that your tour did not work out that well...

[scottbee]

If you expect to be able to tour Amsterdam, and see all the sights from Rotterdam, forget it! We had a tour set up with Holland Guides. It took several months to collect the tour participants and finally had 20.

 

We wanted to go to Anne Frank House (primary reason for tour) and see other things. Due to the changing number of tour people, we were never able to buy advance tickets for the AFH. That turned out to be good since we would have missed our time. It took over 2 hours to travel from Rotterdam to Amsterdam.

 

We took a canal tour and passed by the AFH on the water. Long lines, long, long lines. The canal tour was interesting. We then boarded the bus for Delft. I had been told that Delft was a beautiful town with very interesting architecture and, of course, the Delft factory. We never toured the town and spent a few minutes touring the factory. (Our guide told the Delft guide to hurry us through so we could eat lunch.)

 

I had asked that we be able to get a "quick" sandwich somewhere and she suggested the factory. Since we wanted this to be quick, several people pre-ordered. Turned out the coffee shop was very nice and had some very good sandwiches and cakes. We spent more time eating, and in the store, then touring.

 

I will say that we needed to be back at the ship by 4:15 for a 5 PM sailing. But I was disappointed that we didn't do what she proposed to do. I feel that she knew we wouldn't make it to the AFH and never told me her feelings.

 

Unless you dock in Amsterdam, and have the whole day, think twice about what you'd like to do on a tour.

 

it's more of a 'how you do it'.

 

Rotterdam CS (Centraal Station) -> Amsterdam CS by train takes 1h10m, costs 25€ return, with trains leaving every 15ish minutes. For most places in Europe, train is the way you want to expedite things.

[Ine]

Although the distance Rotterdam-Amsterdam doesnot seem that far, the highway between those cities also passes Delft and The Hague enroute. That means it is one of the busiest highways in NL. If you have to be back in time for your ship you certainly need extra time as traffic sometimes comes to a standstill. Your time in this case unfortunately was rather short.

Indeed the train has a good connection, but you need time to get to and from both trainstations to the places you want to see.

I often recommand people to skip Amsterdam if you just have a few hours and indeed go to Delft.

Since the ship of Bruin Steve will be there till midnight, it will be less stressful.

I always advise people to make reservations for AF huis, since there often are long lines.