Whenever I visit Amsterdam, I take time to visit the lush lowlands of Holland. In a country like the Netherlands—so small and with such a fine transportation infrastructure—day-tripping is easy to do. Within a half-hour of leaving Amsterdam’s main train station, you can be deep in the Dutch countryside—awash with tulips, red-brick houses, black-and-white cows, and canals with reflections that would inspire Monet to set up his easel.
While there are lots of day-trip options from Amsterdam—such as Haarlem, Delft, The Hague, or Arnhem—I like to spend a day visiting Edam, Marken, and Volendam—three picturesque villages in a region northeast of Amsterdam aptly called the Waterland.
