I am making a short 2-3 days stop and was planning to go to Alkmaar. But from what it seems, things may have cooled down recently and the quality of service may have gone downhill... is there any truth to this?

If so, I want to avoid Amsterdam as my home base, I prefer to find a smaller city/village to stay in, and wanted to know if anyone had suggestions for what is hot right now. Or would Alkmaar still make for a good stop?

ive just come back..
a good day trip is train to utrecht in the daytime..
back to amsterdam via den haag..geleensraat is very good..
make sure you stop at den haag hs station ..then back to alkmaar around 9pm
..plenty of dfk bbbj to be found in alkmaar and 50 euro is money well spent. there compared to amsterdam.