Last summer when I wistfully declared, “Wouldn’t it be nice to spend a whole month in the Netherlands???” – well, I never imagined it would actually happen! But within a few weeks of returning from our 2-week trip to Europe, my darling husband started showing me houses we could rent for this summer!

It’s not exactly what I was picturing…. I thought we’d get a house close to a town, so we could walk to the shops and really live in Europe for a month. Maybe take a Dutch class or get a tutor to help the kiddos and me learn some of the language….

Instead, we rented a big, beautiful home out in the forest. And we’ve been on-the-go tourists. Part of that had to do with my parents visiting for 2 weeks. And that was fantastic!

Now that Froggy and Hippo are older (7 and 4), we can do so much more with them, too! So here is a recap of all the fun places we’ve been to in the Netherlands, with links to the blog posts about each one.

Places to Play and Learn for Kids

• Efteling Fairy Tale Theme Park
• Hans & Grietje: pannenkoekenhuis with indoor and outdoor playgrounds
• Monkey Town: chain of indoor playgrounds
• Nemo Science Center*

Cultural Attractions

• Canal Tour in Amsterdam
• Clara Maria: cheese farm and wooden clog factory
• Madurodam: the Netherlands in miniature
• Muiderslot*: castle
• Zaanse Schans: a step back in time – visit working old-fashioned windmills, the first Albert Heijn, a cheese shop, a pewter foundry, plus a museum of the area’s history and tour a chocolate factory (and don’t forget to stop for pannenkoeken for lunch!)

Museums

• Amsterdam Museum*: history of the city
• M.C. Escher Museum
• Rijksmuseum*: the national museum with artwork from the past five centuries
• Spelklok Museum*: a museum of self-playing instruments
• Van Gogh Museum*

*Tip!

If you’re planning to go to a number of museums, you might want to invest in the Museumkaart. It can get you into over 400 museums around the Netherlands! If we had known our boys were going to be so interested in museums, we definitely would have gotten one this summer! The pass lasts for one year. Adult passes cost €59.90. For children 18 and under, passes cost €32.45.

I’m going back to update the posts with a final review of whether or not it was good for kids. I’ll also try to make sure I have info on the locations. I’d love to give some information about the cost, but once again, my darling husband has been doing all the planning! If I have anything to offer, I’ll put it in the posts 🙂

I’m also collecting a list of all the yummy and interesting foods we’ve eaten here in the Netherlands! Here is the link to that post!