Hi,

I'm back in Amsterdam at the end of Sept for two nights.

I'll be travelling alone this time and my plan is the following:

Arrive in Amsterdam about 10am. I'll spend the first day hanging around Amsterdam, checking out the RLD's and a beer or two from a beer/pub map that i've compiled,

Second Day - Get a train from Amsterdam at about 11am to Utrecht. Have a look around the old town of Utrecht and then get the train to Amersfoort. Whilst in Amersfoort, have something to eat and a look around the old town. Leave Amersfoort about 20:00pm to go back to Amsterdam.

Last day - Drop bag off at Amsterdam Central and get the train to Haarlem. Have a look around the sights, check out the rld and then something to eat before heading back to Amsterdam for a lap of De Wallens and a beer before I get the 21:45pm flight back to England.

A couple of questions I have:

Is it possible to visit the old parts of Utrecht and Amersfoort in one day without being rushed?

As i'll be using the trains a lot, is there a 3 day rail pass I can get that will be cheaper than buying separate rail tickets for each journey?

Thanks in advance

As far as the rail pass goes, I think NL has now gone over to the OV-chipkaart, which you can read more about at the NS Trains website and at its own site.

http://www.ns.nl/en/travellers/home

https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/?taal=en

I hope it's not as complicated or intrusive as it looks, but we shall see. I am old and set in my ways.

As for whether or not it will save you money, there appears to be a €1 surcharge for each individual ticket, AKA single-use chipkaart, if you choose to avoid registering for a full pre-payment chipkaart, but the chipkaart itself costs €7.50. Valid for 4 or 5 years though, if you are a regular visitor.

I'm not certain about the old part of Utrecht, but if it's similar in size to Amersfoort, then you could probably just about manage both in a day, although I think you might feel at least a little rushed.

As far as train travel goes, I don't think such passes exist. As Liam said, you now must pay €1 extra per ticket. Technically, there is a new system, but it's not complicated. In practical terms, it's exactly the same as before, except now you just need to select "I don't have an OV Chipkaart" on the machine before you can purchase a ticket, and you need to scan your ticket on one of the small ticket scanners in the station before you board the train and again after you leave the train at your destination.

Also, the majority of the ticket machines have been modified to only handle customers carrying an OV Chipkaart, which can occasionally result in queues at the machines for those who don't have one. The signs above the machines indicate which machines are for OV Chipkaart holders.

Thanks for the info Hedgehog & Bren_McGuire.

I thought I might be pushing it for both Utrecht & Amersfoort

I'll look into the chipkaart thing

I didn't mean to discourage you; I think it really depends on how early you're willing to get up and how much time you really want to spend in each place.

A couple years ago, I did a fairly decent day trip from Amsterdam to Maastricht by train, then stopped off briefly in Utrecht on the way home and see the main city area. That was a three hour train journey each way. I don't remember what time I got up that day, but I'm sure it was incredibly early, and your plan involves far less travel, so it should be quite feasible.

When i'm in Amsterdam next Tuesday, Ajax are playing Apoel Nicosia in the Champions League.

Are there any brown cafe's or bars that will be showing the game on TV that has a good beer selection?

I like bars like Cafe de Spuyt, t'Arrendsnest, De Prael Proeflokaal and some of the brown cafe's that are on Zeedijk but don't think they have tv's?

Can anyone recommend somewhere?

Thanks

ps. I won't be travelling alone as stated in my original post as my brother's decided to come with me.