BirthDay in Amsterdam

November 21, 2006 2:22 PM

What to do for my wife's birthday in or around Amsterdam?

My beautiful wife and I will be spending January and February in Europe*. For her 30^th Birthday, we'll be in Amsterdam (where we're staying for a full month), and I would like to make a day of it, maybe rent a car, go someplace cool/romantic, etc, not necessarily in Amsterdam, could be up to 90 mins. or so away. Farther if necessary.
What cool little town, or castle, or restaurant, should we go to?
I'm an architect, she's a film critic. We've both been to Europe and Amsterdam before and have vowed to never set foot in another museum or church.

* Spain, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, France, probably.

posted by signal to Travel & Transportation around Amsterdam, The Netherlands (13 answers total)

If you want something a little odd...

I really enjoyed s'Hertogenbosch (den bosch, if you can't do the pronunciation). Easy enough by train from the Dam. It's a small walled town with underground canals (they just built over them when they ran out of space within the walls). There's a volunteer-run boat tour of the underground canals which you probably want to book onto if you're going - they fill up. But it is well worth doing. The local speciality is the Bosch Boll - like a profiterole the size of a babies head, but sweeter.
posted by handee at 2:34 PM on November 21, 2006

Katwijk aan Zee?
posted by mattbucher at 2:35 PM on November 21, 2006

Apeldoorn is charming, romantic, and a fairly quick train ride from Amsterdam.
posted by SBMike at 2:41 PM on November 21, 2006

I've never been, but I have friends who have, and they raved about how romantic and charming Bruges, Belgium, aka Venice of the North is. I don't recall exactly, but it can't be more than a few hours away by car since we had considered making the drive ourselves when we were there in the spring.
posted by phoenixc at 3:02 PM on November 21, 2006

For dinner in Amsterdam, try either De Kas or Supperclub depending on your taste. Or both!

BTW its a village, and I'm partial to beautiful Edam/Volendam.
posted by four panels at 3:20 PM on November 21, 2006

I have been to Bruges, and it is certainly worth visiting. I think it's definitely doable as a day trip from Amsterdam. I got there by train, and I think it was a short ride, and then only a short walk from the train station into the city proper and the old square. Probably lots of neat restaurants that you could get a reservation at, near the center square.
posted by Kadin2048 at 3:34 PM on November 21, 2006

Kadin2048, Bruges is one hour from Bruxelles Midi, and it's taken me three hours to get from Amsterdam Centraal to Bruxelles Midi on the (non-Thales) train. I don't know how long the fast Thales train takes, though, perhaps you took that one?
posted by randomination at 3:52 PM on November 21, 2006

zandvoort is a 1/2 hour trainride away and has lots of nice bead & breakfast rooms. If you appreciate a stiff north-sea breeze, and ignore the 60's style concrete monstrosity at the beach... it can be pretty romantic.

groningen, a sweet medium-sized university town, is 1-2 hours away with a car.
posted by kolophon at 5:34 PM on November 21, 2006

Do you like animals/sea/nature/islands? EcoMare is on the island of Texel, which you can reach with a (car-)ferry from Den Helder, about an hour's drive from Amsterdam if I remember correctly. It has a seal sanctuary, some more animals, and information about the Wadden sea (interesting geology), and it's open in winter. You can also go for a walk along the sea there. Texel is the biggest and most populated of the Wadden Sea islands, but it's still small in terms of driving/looking around.
(This was a day trip I once suggested to my parents for a wedding anniversary, and they liked it, but it was summer then.)
posted by easternblot at 8:48 PM on November 21, 2006

i adored rotterdam, which is a short train/drive away. we stayed at the charming hotel bazar
posted by mdpc98 at 9:03 PM on November 21, 2006

Bruges/Brugge is lovely. Really nice. Probably doesn't fit the 90 minutes criteria, though. If you decide on Brugge, you might want to try Hotel Adornes (tripadvisor link). We stayed there a few months ago and it was lovely - great location (on the junction of two canals), tastefully decorated rooms, good breakfast and friendly staff.
posted by handee at 1:49 AM on November 22, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I'll post an update when we decide what to do.

Thanks!
posted by signal at 4:22 AM on November 22, 2006

Go to the Heineken brewery and take their tour!

I'm not sure if this still happens, but when I did it a few years ago, at the end of the tour when you're all drinking free beer, they asked if it was anyone's birthday. It was mine and I won a free mug. (Had to earn it, but that wasn't too difficult.)

And I toddled out of there nicely buzzed around lunchtime... a fun way to start the day, for sure!

If you take SBMike's advice and go to Apeldoorn, don't miss the Apenheul. Nothing says "happy birthday" like tiny little monkey hands pulling at your pockets.
posted by bink at 7:22 AM on November 22, 2006