Keukenhof

April 19, 2026 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

I have been wanting to go to Keukenhof since I heard about it a few years ago. I was finally able to book things far enough out that we could go. Keukenhof is amazing and I can’t wait to go back.

Our first time at Keukenhof was on Easter Sunday. We had pre bought the bus/entrance tickets. The bus in Haarlem picks you up at the train station. They have signs telling you where to go and it was easy to find. The busses are supposed to come at scheduled times, but they were always off. The general rule seems to be that when one bus leaves it takes about 30 minutes or so for the next to show up. The bus drops you off right at the entrance to Keukenhof.

I had looked at a map but wasn’t really sure where to go. I had read that the windmill was to the right, so we headed that way. It was super crowded, so we just wandered around a bit. I had really wanted to find the part where you can walk across the water, as I have seen tons of posts about that. We did end up finding it on our first visit.

It was all a bit overwhelming. I knew it was a big place, but it was even bigger than I thought. Everything had long lines, so we mostly just wandered around. We had a free day later in our trip and decided that we wanted to go to Keukenhof again. It was easy to pre buy the tickets for the bus and park again. We went a bit earlier this time (on Easter we went at 10:30 and on our second trip at 9:30) and the bus was completely full, so we had to stand. I thought that the park would be a bit less crowded, but it wasn’t. This time when we went into the park we went left and we saw a bunch of stuff we had missed the first time.

The lines were a bit better, and since it was our last day of the trip I think we just didn’t want to leave. We were both okay with waiting in lines on the second visit. We ended up going up the windmill and we went on a canal cruise of Keukenhof. The second time we ended up staying for over 6 hours because we were waiting for our time on the canal tour. It was a long day at the park, but I feel like we saw a good amount of things. I know we didn’t see 100% but we saw a lot.

Sofia really loved it there, and so did I. One obvious thing I hadn’t considered was the smell. It smelled so good there. They had some decent food options too. Some of it was pretty expensive, but then they also had some snacks and smaller things. Sofia was a big fan of the fries and the ice cream. We both can’t wait to go back to Keukenhof and I’m curious to see how it changes each year.

Haarlem, Netherlands

April 11, 2026 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Sofia and I just got back from our Netherlands trip and it was amazing. I’ll make a separate post about Keukenhof because we went there twice and there are so many pictures. We made Haarlem our home base because of its proximity to Amsterdam and Keukenhof. On our first full day there we went to Keukenhof. The bus picked us up from the Haarlem train station and took us straight to Keukenhof.

Our next day was the day trip to Amsterdam. We took the train which was super quick and easy. We walked to the Nemo Science Museum, which is the same one that Leo and I went to a few years ago. Sofia loved it and I had to drag her away after a few hours. After that we wandered around a bit, though we were both exhausted so we didn’t stay long. We did go to a pancake place and got some lunch there. I need a game plan the next time I go to Amsterdam. I have been twice now and both times I went to the museum and then wandered around a little bit, but have been too tired to really explore. And I’m not sure where to go.

The next day we stayed in Haarlem. They have a cat cafe there called Jippies that I had made reservations for. I have been looking at cat cafes for years to bring Sofia to but most have an age requirement of 10 or so. Jippies only requires kids to be 6, so Sofia was able to go. She loved it. The cats didn’t really want to be pet much, but some of them were very playful. Sofia didn’t even care, she was just so excited to be in the presence of cats. Afterwards we walked around Haarlem a bit. I really like Haarlem. It was bigger than I expected. It’s beautiful, and feels much more manageable than Amsterdam. It was less crowded too. Even being there for 5 days I know there is a lot we didn’t see in Haarlem. We easily could have stayed another week.

On our last day we had a free day and Sofia wanted to see the tulips again, so we went back to Keukenhof. I’m glad we did because we saw a lot that we had missed. We also went on a canal tour in Keukenhof.

We both had tons of fun and didn’t want to come back home. The place we stayed at was above a restaurant and the owner’s dog goes to the restaurant most days. He is an English Retriever named Guus. Sofia completely fell in love with him and was so excited to see him everyday. I have never seen her so attached to a dog- she usually prefers cats. Unfortunately Guus wasn’t there our last two days and she was crying when we left because she missed him. She really wants to go back next year to see the tulips, go to the cat cafe, and visit Guus again. I would love to do a repeat of this trip but we would make it longer.

When planning this trip I was trying to decide between Leiden and Haarlem and ultimately chose Haarlem because it’s closer to Amsterdam. I would really like to go to Keukenhof again next year and I’ll have to decide if we want to stay in Haarlem again or go to Leiden. We will definitely need a kitchen next time because food there is expensive! The majority of my budget went to food. We never quite adjusted to the scheduling there. Things open much earlier than in Portugal but everything closed up at 6PM. During the day it was really busy and lively, but after 6 it was a lot different.

Every time I go to the Netherlands I really love it there, and this time was no exception. I’m glad Sofia had so much fun too. I think I planned almost the perfect Sofia trip. Next time we just need to stay a bit longer. Usually Sofia starts to get home sick after 5 days and she starts to really miss her cat, but this time she really didn’t want to come home.

Amsterdam

July 4, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Today there was a break in the rain so we took the train into Amsterdam. The Zandvoort train station is an easy 10 minute walk from the hotel. Buying tickets was super easy. They have yellow machines at all the train stations. You can also buy tickets online. From what I understand you don’t even need to buy tickets, you can swipe your credit card at the machines to enter and exit the stations. I didn’t want to do that because kids age 4-11 cost less so I wanted to get a kids ticket for Leo. Kids under 4 are free and kids 12 and up cost the same as adults.

I looked online and saw that there are trains to Amsterdam about every 30 minutes, so we decided to just walk to the train station when we were ready. A train arrived a few minutes later and it was so quiet that I didn’t even hear it approaching. I only noticed it because the whistle blew. The train we caught was scheduled for 9:20. It arrived at 9:09, doors closed at 9:19 and it left at exactly 9:20. The train has screens in each car telling you what the next station is. Taking the train in the Netherlands has been one of the easiest things I have ever done.

It’s not raining today but it is really windy and cold. We went to the NEMO science museum because it’s only 10 minutes from the train station and would give us a break from the wind. Leo was not into the short walk at all. He did love the museum though.

After the museum Leo had a bit of a tantrum because he just wanted to go back to the hotel. I guess he is all waked out even though we hadn’t even walked that much at that point. After stopping to get a snack I was able to convince him to go on a boat tour. I figured that would be a unique way to see the city since Leo definitely wasn’t going to let me see the sites on foot.

The boat tour was an hour and it was a nice break. Leo had a few toys that he played with so he (mostly) let me look around and take pictures. The houseboats in Amsterdam are amazing. Before the boat ride I had made a deal with Leo that after the boat ride we would get lunch and then head back to the hotel. He was really done with walking and luckily we saw a hot dog stand in front of the train station. He’s a pretty picky eater but he loves hot dogs!

Finding our train back was a little more complicated but still easy enough. The Amsterdam Centraal station is really beautiful from the outside. I don’t really remember the inside because I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss our train. We’re on the train right now. Fingers crossed there’s not another meltdown when we get off because we still have a 10-minute walk to the hotel.

Amsterdam looks like a beautiful city. I spent about 4 hours there so I really didn’t get to see much. Obviously it’s on my list to visit again some time. I don’t think we will come back this trip, but we’ll see.

Efteling

June 7, 2024June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Today was day 3 at Efteling. Tomorrow will be our fourth and final day. When I booked this trip I knew a lot of people compared Efteling to Disneyland and said that Efteling is better. I definitely on board with that! We go back to Disneyland Paris for Christmas so I will be able to compare again, but I think I Efteling will always be the winner in my book.

Efteling has so much green space and beautiful flowers. They have tons of fountains and ducks. Sofia has developed a sudden interest in ducks because there are so many here. Efteling has an abundance of benches that are in the shade, which I really appreciate since we have been getting 18,000 steps each day! I also appreciate how Efteling uses scents to add to the ambiance.

We meant to spent a day in each area of the park, but on our first day we were so excited that we walked around most of the park. We went on the big rides we wanted to do. The second day we went to a part of the park we hadn’t seen yet. Today we stuck to the fairytales and playgrounds in the park. Tomorrow we will have to revisit our favorite rides.

Sofia’s favorite ride is Max & Moritz, which is the family racing roller coaster. We both like Max best- the blue side. My favorite ride is droomvlucht, which I just call the fairy ride since I have no idea how to say that word. I love the track on the ride (it’s above instead of below). I love the displays you see and at the end you go up a bit and then down semi quickly. It’s cute and it’s fun.

Sofia also loved the Carnaval ride. It’s fine although the music is kind of annoying and gets stuck in my head. I liked the gondola ride. A few people said to skip it but I really enjoyed it. It was a nice way to rest for 20 minutes and to see parts of the park from a different view. There is a train here with two stations, but one of them is closed right now which is why we have been walking so much.

We rode all three tracks of Symbolica. We both really liked the treasures one. Sofia isn’t quite tall enough for most of the roller coasters yet. We did go on the wooden one which I really thought she would like. She ended up hating it because it was too intense.

We want to bring Kyle and Leo here of course. I think next summer we will try to come visit. Efteling seems like a great park for so many ages. Sofia’s age (5) is great but I could see older kids liking it too because of the coasters. The dark rides are nicely done and I think most people would appreciate them. I love Efteling- it is definitely one of my favorite theme parks and I’m excited to come back. Next time we’re going to stay at one of the Efteling hotels. We’re staying off site this time which is fine but next time we want to be in one of the hotels on site. They’re building a brand new one right next to the entrance with a sign saying it opening in 2025!