How many days do you need in the Netherlands?
Five days. That is the length of the itinerary we built for the Netherlands, across Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
Here is what each day holds. Every stop below carries its time, and every gap says how to get to the next stop, with the walk or drive time wherever both stops are mapped.
Netherlands · 5 days Amsterdam → Rotterdam
Best time: April to May for tulip season and King’s Day chaos, or September for golden light and thinner crowds.
Amsterdam: Anne Frank HouseDay 1
🏛️9:00 AMAnne Frank House
The actual hiding place behind the bookcase on the Prinsengracht. Tickets are online-only, released six weeks ahead every Tuesday at 10 AM Dutch time, set an alarm; there are no door sales.
🚶 ~28 min · 🚗 ~4 min · 1.1 mi
🖼️1:30 PMRijksmuseum
The national collection with Rembrandt’s Night Watch at the end of its Hall of Honour, past Vermeers you know from posters. Book online; mornings are quietest.
🚶 ~26 min · 🚗 ~3 min · 1.0 mi
🌆6:00 PMJordaan
The old workers’ quarter turned most-loved neighborhood, narrow canals, hidden courtyard hofjes, brown cafés, and the Noordermarkt square. At its best on an aimless evening wander.
Amsterdam: Dam Square and the Royal PalaceDay 2
🏛️9:00 AMDam Square and the Royal Palace
The city’s founding square, where the dam on the Amstel actually stood, the palace’s marble citizens’ hall, built as the world’s grandest town hall, is open most days.
🚶 ~39 min · 🚗 ~5 min · 1.5 mi
🥾1:30 PMVondelpark
The city’s 47-hectare green living room: joggers, herons, and open-air stages, minutes from the big museums. Rent a bike and do laps like everyone else.
🚶 ~46 min · 🚗 ~6 min · 1.7 mi
🎟️6:00 PMEvening canal cruise
The canal ring was built to be seen from the water, and after dark, bridges lit, gables reflected, an open or glass-topped boat hour is the city’s best orientation.
Amsterdam: BegijnhofDay 3
🏛️9:00 AMBegijnhof
A hushed medieval courtyard hidden behind an unmarked door off the shopping streets, home to the city’s oldest wooden house, step in and the city goes silent.
🚶 ~22 min · 🚗 ~3 min · 0.8 mi
🖼️1:30 PMVan Gogh Museum
The world’s largest Van Gogh collection, hung chronologically so you watch the style ignite. Timed-entry online tickets only. They routinely sell out days ahead.
🚶 ~14 min · 🚗 ~2 min · 0.5 mi
🌆6:00 PMDe Pijp
The lively, multicultural south side around the Albert Cuyp street market: stroopwafels and Surinamese sandwiches by day, the densest café terraces in the city by night.
Arrive in RotterdamDay 4
🚄8:30 AMTrain to Rotterdam
Amsterdam Centraal to Rotterdam Centraal in about 40 minutes on the Intercity Direct (small supplement applies) or about 65 minutes on the regular Intercity, trains leave every few minutes, no reservation needed.
🚄 ~40m · 36 mi
🏛️2:00 PMCube Houses
Piet Blom’s 1984 forest of tilted yellow cubes on stilts, one show cube is furnished and open, so you can feel what living at 45 degrees does to your head.
🚶 ~4 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.2 mi
🌆6:00 PMBlaak and the Markthal quarter
The postwar showpiece district, the horseshoe-arched Markthal’s food stalls under an 11,000-square-meter artwork, with the tilted Cube Houses right across the square.
Rotterdam: Erasmus Bridge and WilhelminapierDay 5
🏛️9:00 AMErasmus Bridge and Wilhelminapier
The swan-necked bridge to a pier of towers by Renzo Piano, Foster, and Koolhaas, beside the terminal where the emigrant ships left for America, fine by day, and spectacular lit up after dark.
🚶 ~18 min · 🚗 ~2 min · 0.6 mi
🖼️1:30 PMDepot Boijmans Van Beuningen
The mirrored bowl in Museumpark is the world’s first fully public art depot, 155,000 works in open racks, Bosch to Dalí. The main Boijmans museum next door remains closed for renovation into the late 2020s, so the Depot is the collection’s front door.
🚶 ~16 min · 🚗 ~2 min · 0.6 mi
🎟️6:00 PMHarbor boat tour
A cruise into the working port among ocean giants and cranes, Europe’s largest harbor is the city’s real monument, and you only feel the scale from the water. Daytime sailings run year-round; summer adds evening cruises with the port lit up.
This is how Petrel lays out a trip. Upload your own confirmations and it builds this for your dates: flights and hotels included, with live flight status and the travel time between stops.
This is one of 126 free itineraries. Open it, change anything you want, and it becomes your trip.