Trafalgar Tours: Best of Holland
Day 1 - Welcome to Amsterdam
What better place to start your jaunt through the Netherlands than Amsterdam! Spend your day strolling through its pretty streets beside tree-lined canals, stopping to enjoy coffee and speculaas along the way. Join your Travel Director and fellow travelers this evening on a scenic canal cruise, including a light meal and welcome drinks, admiring the centuries-old gabled façades of canal houses.
Accommodations: Bilderberg Garden
Meals: Dinner
Day 2 - Explore Amsterdam’s Art and Architecture Dive Into Culture
Delve into the Dutch Golden Age and its extraordinary art, architecture and history. Dive Into Culture and enjoy a small group sightseeing tour of the Rijksmuseum, featuring the works of great Dutch masters, including Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch'. Spend the rest of the day exploring the city your way. Visit the floating flower market or stroll along the canals to admire Amsterdam's pretty gabled façades. This evening perhaps join an Optional Experience to enjoy a meal in the Dutch countryside.
Accommodations: Bilderberg Garden
Meals: Breakfast
Day 3 - Journey to Aalsmeer/Keukenhof, The Hague and Rotterdam Dive Into Culture
We rise with the birds this morning to visit Aalsmeer and its vibrant flower auction, filled with the vividly-hued blooms for which Holland is so famous. Alternatively, during the flowering season (late March until mid-May), we'll enjoy an included visit to the tulip gardens of Keukenhof. The mesmerizing sight of millions of flowering bulbs planted across 32 hectares will leave you awestruck. This afternoon, we travel via The Hague to the historic town of Delft and Dive Into Culture at the Royal Delft Pottery workshop where we'll gain insights into the production of this delicate hand-painted blue and white porcelain. We continue to edgy Rotterdam, which was rebuilt from the ground up after being destroyed during World War II. Your orientation tour will reveal an innovative city with architectural treasures worth capturing on camera and a vibrant multicultural scene around every turn.
Accommodations: Bilderberg Parkhotel
Meals: Breakfast
Day 4 - Onwards to Arnhem and Oosterbeek
Enjoy a morning at leisure, or perhaps consider joining an Optional Experience to visit the UNESCO World Heritage-listed village of Kinderdijk, famous for its 19 monumental windmills. Later we travel east to Arnhem to see the John Frost Bridge, so named as a tribute to the commander of the British forces that held the bridge for four days with a mere 750 soldiers, during the World War II Battle of Arnhem. Learn about this famous battle, inspiration behind the film 'A Bridge Too Far', on an included visit to the Airborne Museum at Oosterbeek.
Accommodations: De Bilderberg
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 5 - Off to Stunning Zwolle and Leeuwarden
Today we head north to the beautiful Hanseatic city of Zwolle, where we'll join our Local Specialist for a walking tour through its historic center. Later we continue to Friesland where our Local Specialist will reveal the delights of Leeuwarden on a guided walk around this vibrant city full of art, beautiful architecture and medieval canals and streets.
Accommodations: Fletcher Paleis
Meals: Breakfast
Day 6 - Venture to Volendam and Return to Amsterdam Dive Into Culture Make Travel Matter
Embark on a beautiful drive through Friesland en route to Volendam, a former fishing port on the edge of IJsselmeer. Dive Into Culture and learn about the craft of wooden clog making and Dutch cheese. Then meet Tom, miller of Katwoude, for a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. Visit the mill and learn about the important role the mill plays in managing rising water levels. This evening, enjoy a celebratory Be My Guest experience with the Pauw family as you connect with locals over a traditional Dutch meal.
Accommodations: Mercure City
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 7 - Farewell Amsterdam
For now we say a fond tot ziens to Amsterdam and our newfound friends, closing the door on a memorable Dutch experience.
Meals: Breakfast
Groningen
Groningen is a city with many faces. For the Dutch, Groningen is in the first place a student-city, but a rich history has also provided the city with historical buildings, courtyards and of course 'Uncle Loek's Horse'. Modern architecture can also be found, and Goningen's sporty side reflects in the fact it has been chosen 'world's best bicycling city. Of all the old Dutch towns, Amsterdam, Leiden and Groningen possess the greatest number of almshouses. Due to these islands of tranquillity, the inner city of Groningen has remained a pleasant residential area. It is possible to make a walking tour past the Groningen Gasthuizen (Almshouses).
Amsterdam
Cosmopolitan Amsterdam is most famous for its narrow, gabled houses lining the canals. Interesting attractions include the medieval weighhouse, Royal Palace on Dam Square, and New Church. Its most glamorous industry is the diamond trade. Not too far from Amsterdam are the flower centers of Aalsmeer, the picturesque fishing villages of Volendam and Marken, cheese markets at Edam and Gouda, and historic Haarlem, the main center of the bulb-growing industry. Enjoy the city’s sights from a glass-topped sightseeing boat which passes characteristic gabled houses and negotiates picturesque arched bridges. Facing Dam Square, the Royal Palace was built in 1648 and is still officially the royal residence, although the royal family resides in The Hague. The marbled Citizens Hall with inlaid maps of the world is worth seeing. One of Amsterdam’s most visited sites is historic Anne Frank House. Rijksmuseum, the city’s most prestigious museum, houses the largest collection of Dutch paintings in the world. Van Gogh Museum houses a striking collection.
Excursions
Amsterdam: An Introduction to Amsterdam – 4 hours
Amsterdam: An Introduction to Amsterdam – 4 hours
Meet your driver at the Port in Amsterdam for a private transfer to the city centre where your guide is waiting to meet you for a walking tour of this beautiful city. Begin at Dam Square, bordered by the Royal Palace and enjoy wonderful views of the canals and gabled houses of the mercantile quarter before visiting the house in which Anne Frank wrote her celebrated diary during the last war*. After your tour, transfer in the comfort of your own private vehicle back to your ship.
*tickets for the Anne Frank House sell out very quickly and are subject to availability. Guides are not allowed to accompany you into the house itself, but will be waiting for you at the end of your visit (approx. 45-90 mins)
Highlights:
Tour Duration: 4 Hours
Tour Can Operate: Morning/ Afternoon
Wheelchair Accessible: Please enquire for more information
Physical Activity Level: Light
Inclusions:
- Private transport by luxury car or minivan
- An expert local guide for 4 hours
- Entrance fees to all sights and museums
- All taxes
Exclusions:
- All cruise travel, personal items, meals and associated costs
- Gratuities
Amsterdam: Highlights of Amsterdam - 8 Hours
Amsterdam: Highlights of Amsterdam - 8 Hours
Spend the day exploring Amsterdam in the hands of your expert guide. You are met at the port and transferred to Dam Square where your morning’s walking tour includes the notable Royal Palace. Admire the views of the canals and the gabled houses of the Canal Ring district, where you will visit the house in which Anne Frank wrote her celebrated diary during the last war*.
After lunch explore the beautifully-restored Rijksmuseum, to admire the stunning collection of masterpieces from the seventeenth-century Golden Age, including works by Rembrandt and Vermeer. No visit to Amsterdam would be complete without seeing the delightful Van Gogh Museum, home to many of his famous works as well as those of other Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.
*tickets for the Anne Frank House sell out very quickly and are subject to availability. Guides are not allowed to accompany you into the house itself, but will be waiting for you at the end of your visit (approx. 45-90 mins)
Highlights:
- Visit Anne Frank's House
- Explore the Van Gogh Museum
Tour Duration: 8 Hours
Tour Can Operate: Morning/ Afternoon
Wheelchair Accessible: Please enquire for more information
Physical Activity Level: Light
Inclusions:
- Private transport by luxury car or minivan
- An expert local guide for 8 hours
- Entrance fees to all sights and museums
- All taxes
Exclusions:
- All cruise travel, personal items, meals and associated costs
- Gratuities
Amsterdam: The Three Sisters, Delft & Den Haag - 8 Hours
Amsterdam: The Three Sisters, Delft & Den Haag - 8 Hours
You are met at Amsterdam port for a full-day excursion outside of the city. Head south into the countryside for a photo opportunity at the impressive Three Sisters Windmills in Stompwijk. As over a third of the Netherlands lies below sea level, windmills were initially designed to pump vast amount of water out, thus protecting land from flooding. Today, these silent giants draw many visitors every year for their charming appearances.
From here, you travel on to Delft, world-renowned for its famous blue and white pottery and one of the most beautiful towns in the Netherlands. Take in the town’s architectural gems and charming ambience, which are best appreciated by walking along its small canals with their graceful humpbacked bridges.
Following this, enjoy a privately-guided tour at the Royal Delft Experience, where a painter shares the passion behind the production of this stunning 17th-century earthenware during a special demonstration.
After lunch at leisure, you continue to the Hague, the home of the Dutch Royal Family and the administrative capital of the Netherlands; walk the Inner court past the Government buildings and take the opportunity for a photo stop at the International Court of Justice. You may like to visit the Mauritshuis Museum, which holds one of the world's finest collections of paintings, including Rembrandt, Steen, Hals, Rubens and Van Dyck, or you may choose to visit the Panorama Mesdag, which hosts the Panorama, one of the largest canvas paintings in the world (subject to opening times).
On your return journey, stop at Scheveningen beach for some spectacular views before continuing back. (8 hours, driver and guide)
Highlights:
- Witness the majestic windmills known as the Three Sisters
- Delve into Delft's artistic heritage
Tour Duration: 8 Hours
Tour Can Operate: Morning/ Afternoon
Wheelchair Accessible: Please enquire for more information
Physical Activity Level: Light
Inclusions:
- Private transport by luxury car or minivan
- An expert local guide for 8 hours
- Entrance fees to all sights and museums
- All taxes
Exclusions:
- All cruise travel, personal items, meals and associated costs
- Gratuities