Also read:
Family friendly restaurants in Haarlem
Haarlem city trip with kids 1-day itinerary
Visiting the Teylers Museum with a toddler
Favorite things to do in The Netherlands with kids

Petting zoos in Haarlem

Holland has around 550-600 petting zoos (kinderboerderijen). The literal translation of the Dutch word ‘kinderboerderij’ is children’s farm. A lot of them started in the 1950’s when The Netherlands started to become more and more urbanized. Their purpose was to give both adults and kids in the cities the possibility to interact with farm animals and to teach them where our food comes from. Most of the petting farms in Holland can therefore be found in the urbanized provinces of North and South Holland (Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland). Animals you can typically find at Dutch petting zoo’s are goats, pigs, horses, donkeys, cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs and other small rodents.

In random order, these are our favorite places in and around Haarlem where kids can play with animals.

Kinderboerderij Houthoeve

Holland has a lot of petting farms or petting zoos (‘kinderboerderij’ in Dutch). Most kids love animals, so it’s a great idea for a nice family activity. The biggest one in Haarlem is Kinderboerderij De Houthoeve, located in the Haarlemmerhout park. It also has a small playground. Entrance is free, check their website for opening hours. Wednesdays til Sundays you can combine your visit to the petting zoo with eating a great pancake at a cozy little restaurant called Nurks in de Hout, located less than a minute walk from the petting zoo’s entrance. Keep in mind that it doesn’t open until 14:00. Across the road from the park you will find La Place Dreefzicht which is a self-service restaurant that’s open every day from 8:00 til 21:00. There are several bus stops near the Haarlemmerhout. Check 9292.nl/en for bus schedules. The address is Hertenkamplaan 3, Haarlem.

Kinderboerderij ’t Molentje

Another great petting zoo is Kinderboerderij ’t Molentje in Heemstede. It’s right next to a great forest area called Groenendaalse Bos and a large playground Speeltuin Groenendaal. The entrance to the petting zoo is free, it’s open every day from 10:00 til 16:30. For the playground you pay €2,50 per person, including a drink or ice cream. Make sure to check the playground’s website for opening hours. There are several options to get there by bus from Haarlem, it takes about 30 minutes. Check 9292.nl/en for bus schedules. The address of the petting zoo is Groenendaal 1, Heemstede.

Geitenboerderij Ridammerhoeve

In the middle of the Amsterdam Forest (Amsterdamse Bos) you will find the organic goat farm Ridammerhoeve. Besides goats, the farm is also home to lambs, chickens, pigs, cows and horses. It’s a fantastic place to visit with kids. Most of the stables are accessible and for a small fee you can buy a bottle of milk to feed the little goats, quite an experience! There’s a small playground and the restaurant serves delicious homemade organic food. At the attached store you can buy various different kinds of organic cheeses, meats, vegetables, and herbs. We recently visited there ourselves for the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last. The address is Nieuwe Meerlaan 4, Amstelveen.

Boerderij Zorgvrij

Boerderij Zorgvrij is a livestock farm with an educational purpose. During the winter months the cows are inside and can be fed. Very often there are calves, but also they have goats, pigs, chickens and rabbits. The farm offers numerous activities for kids and has an interesting educational program for schools. At the farm you can also find the information center for recreation area Spaarnwoude, which offers maps with bicycle and walking routes. There’s a large playground and numerous gardens and forested areas where kids can play. At the site there’s also a pancake restaurant called ‘Onder de Platanen’. Entrance to Zorgvrij is free. You can find Boerderij Zorgvrij dat Genieweg 50, Velsen-Zuid

Garden center De Oosteinde

While not a proper petting zoo, this garden center located in Vijfhuizen has a small animal enclosure that offers kids the chance to see goats, sheep, rabbits and chickens. It’s worth mentioning because besides the petting zoo it also has a nice outside terrace and a playground. The playground is free of charge and has a bouncey castle up in the summer, a trampoline (our little boys favorite!), a wooden structure with a slide, some swings (one is suitable for very small kids as well!) and a small sandpit. The garden center is very easy to reach by car. The play area is only accessible via the garden center. The address is Schipholweg 1088, Vijfhuizen.

Museums in Haarlem

Haarlem doesn’t have any ‘real’ children’s museums, such as Nemo Science Center in Amsterdam or the Miffy Museum in Utrecht. However, there are a number of museums in Haarlem that are nice to visit with kids. They aren’t as interactive as museums that are designed specifically for kids, but most of them do offer a treasure hunt to let kids interact and discover the museum’s collection in a playful way. If your kids like museums (our son LOVES museums), these ones are worth a visit.

Archeology Museum Haarlem

Our son’s favorite by far is the Archeologisch Museum Haarlem. It’s a small museum which makes it perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, but it’s interesting for slightly older kids as well. The Archeology Museum is located, quite appropriately, underground. The old cellars of De Vleeshal (‘meat hall’), on Haarlem’s central square the Grote Markt, are the perfect location for this charming little museum. All the displays are the perfect height for kids and there is a small digging pit for little archeologists to be. At the determination table kids can figure out what people used to eat by going through waste found in a cesspit, just like real archeologists.

Teylers Museum

The Teylers Museum calls itself the ‘museum of wonder’ and this is very true. This 18th-century museum definitely houses all kinds of weird and wonderful. From a cave bear skeleton to a massive collection of fossils, and from fluorescent rocks to old scientific instruments and impressive paintings. The building is very old and part of it is the original museum interior of 1784. It’s a proper museum, so not very suitable for really young kids (we first visited Teylers Museum when our son was 3,5), but from age 4-5 the treasure hunt is fun to do and every Sunday they offer great creative workshops for kids.

Frans Hals Museum

The Frans Hals Museum is the oldest art museum in The Netherlands, with a collection that’s over 400 years old. Not a museum for grabby little hands, but a nice place to visit with kids age 4+. The collection is a great combination of the historic Dutch masters and modern art. The museum has two locations, the former old men’s home at Groot Heiligland called ‘het Hof’ and De Hallen at the Grote Markt. Discover all the fun details of the paintings and art objects by doing the treasure hunt.

ABC Architecture Center

The Architectuur- en Bouwhistorisch Centrum (ABC) Haarlem the center of Haarlem, close to the Frans Hals Museum, is not that interesting to visit with young kids. But… they do have over 60.000 lego bricks for kids to build and play with! Who doesn’t love playing with lego? At ABC there are enough to keep kids occupied for a while.  For older kids (and parents!) who are interested in architecture and urban development, this is a good place to learn more about various aspects of Dutch architecture. ABC is open all afternoons except Sunday.

Museum Haarlem

If you want to learn more about the history of Haarlem, Museum Haarlem is the place to go. Start with a short introduction film (in Dutch or English) which tells you about important events in Dutch history and the people that were important in Haarlem’s history. Such as plane builder Anthony Fokker, Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer (who played an important role in the defense of Haarlem during the Eighty Years War with Spain) and Laurens Janszoon Coster (the purported inventor of the printing press). Then go on to discover lots of objects, paintings and photos that tell you all about Haarlem’s history. For each exhibition, the museum creates a sheet with questions and assignments for kids.  Don’t miss  the ‘weeshuiskamer’ (orphanage room) and discover what it was like when the Haarlem Museum’s building was an orphanage, not even that long ago. There’s a chest with dress up clothes for even more pretend play.

Pieter Vermeulen Museum

A bit outside of Haarlem, at Driehuis, you’ll find the Pieter Vermeulen Museum. It’s a small museum, specifically for kids, which has about 3 or 4 different exhibitions during the year. It’s only open on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday afternoons (more often during school holidays). We’ve been twice and learned about waste & recycling and about the various aspects of water. The exhibitions are in Dutch, so if you don’t speak Dutch make sure to use Google translate app (tip: there’s an option to scan a written text your phone’s camera and immediately translate it to English). We do recommend you to do the assignment sheet, because otherwise you’ll be done is less than 30-minutes.

Playgrounds in Haarlem

Haarlem has a lot of playgrounds (playground = speeltuin in Dutch). Quite a few of them are run by playground associations and operated by volunteers. On the one hand this is fantastic, on the other hand this reliance on volunteers means the playgrounds have limited opening hours and aren’t completely free to visit. Usually you pay a small entry fee of €0,50-€1 per child. Make sure the playground is open before visiting! Search online for ‘speeltuin  Haarlem’ and you’ll find them all.

Playground Paradijsje

Het Paradijsje used to be our favorite playground when our son was young. Perfect place to spend an hour or two with your little one (up to age 5). It’s a city playground and unless you know it’s there it can be a bit hard to find.

Playground Glasblazers

Playground de Glasblazers was recently renovated and great for both young and older kids. It’s not a large playground, but there’s enough space to climb, jump and play.

Playground Groenendaal

Open year-round (not when the weather is really bad!) Playground Groenendaal is a commercial outdoor playground. At €3 per person (including a drink or ice cream) the entrance fee is very reasonable. It’s not in Haarlem itself, but in neighboring town Heemstede. This playground is located right next to the Groenendaalse Bos, in the middle of a forest. We love combining an hour or two of exploring in the forest with some playtime at this playground. This playground is also very close to Kinderboerderij ‘t Molentje.

Play forest Meermond

Also in Heemstede, this free play forest is a great alternative for families on a budget. It’s best for kids 4 and older with some great climbing structures, a slide and surrounding forested area to explore. Our son loves it there. There are no restaurants and toilets close by. The entrance of the play area is at Cruquiusweg 49, Heemstede.

Indoor and outdoor swimming  in Haarlem

There are a two indoor swimming pools in Haarlem, zwembad Boerhaavebad and zwembad De Planeet. Both have limited options for recreational swimming, so do check the website before visiting. Water Park Aqua Mundo in Center Parcs Zandvoort is more expensive but you can easily spend a few hours there and it’s a great alternative that’s open every day. Haarlem also has an outdoor pool called De Houtvaart (open every day from end of April to end of August). For open water swimming the Molenplas (Waertmolenpad 1) in de southern Schalkwijk area of Haarlem is great. There are some play structures as well as a restaurant. An alternative in nearby Hoofddorp is the Haarlemmermeerse Bos (IJweg 961, Hoofddorp). Haarlem is very close to the beach too. Zandvoort is only 15 minutes away by train or about 45-60 minutes by bike. During the summer holiday in July and August it can be very crowded on the beach on hot days.

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The Teylers Museum is the oldest museum in the Netherlands, dating back to 1784. It’s the only place in the world where you can see an authentic museum interior from the 18th century. The building is absolutely stunning and worth visiting even without the extensive collection of paintings, drawings, ancient scientific instruments, old coins, fossils and minerals and valuable books.

The history of the Teylers museum

The museum is named after Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (1702-1778), who was a rich cloth merchant and banker from Haarlem. He had a great interest in art and science. When he died in 1778 he left his collection of books, drawings and coins as well as his considerable wealth to the Teylers Foundation. In line with the ideas of the Enlightenment, the first directors of the Teylers Foundation decided to create a center for study and education. The Oval Room, designed by Leendert Viervant 1779 as an ‘art and book’ room, was meant for research and study. Over the years, the museum was gradually extended. The latest addition was in 2002, with a museum shop and a multimedia room.

Visiting the Teylers Museum (with a toddler)

The museum is absolutely fascinating if you enjoy history and as it had been a long time since I was there myself, I decided to give it a go. We spend about one hour inside. That doesn’t seem so long, but I was quite impressed by our tot. It’s a proper museum, without much interaction. There’s a lot to see, but not much to do for a toddler. They do offer activities for slightly older kids (from age 4), such as treasure hunts and workshops and educational programs for schools. I’m sure we’ll be back when he gets a bit older. There’s still a lot to discover!



Our visit in pictures

To give you an impression of the Teylers Museum and our visit, check out these pictures.

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Since there was a tulip picking event for kids in Lisse this weekend, I decided to take our little one there and visit some flower fields on the way back. Last year we went to see the tulip fields at the end of April and by then they were almost overblown. This year we were much earlier and some tulip varieties hadn’t even started to bloom. Most of them were in full bloom though and our little man loved it! He even wanted to take some pictures himself.

Best time to see the Dutch tulip fields

There are more bulb fields than just the tulip fields. As early as late January you can see the first crocuses. Then early spring it’s time for daffodils, narcissus, and hyacinths. And April to early May the tulip fields are in full bloom. If you want to see the tulips, by far the best month to visit the bulb fields and admire all this floral wonder is April.

Of course, the weather remains a deciding factor. If we had a mild winter, the flowers might bloom a bit early. If the winter was more extreme or temperatures stayed low in the first few months of the year, it might take some more time for the flowers to be in full bloom. To be sure though, don’t wait until the beginning of May. By then a lot of the flowers will be overblown. If you want to see where the flower fields are located and which are in full bloom check out the Flower Radar website.

Some fun facts about Dutch tulips

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• The biggest Dutch flower auctions generate an annual turnover of nearly $5 billion
• Holland bulbs are famous, each year approximately 1,7 billion flower bulbs find their way to homes all over the world
• In the Keukenhof over seven million flower bulbs are planted, with no less than 800 tulip varieties
• National Tulip Day was launched in 2012 by Tulip Promotion Netherlands (Tulpen Promotie Nederland or TPN) to promote the Dutch tulips
• Dutch tulip growers produce 4,32 bilion tulip bulbs per year, of which 53% are used for cut flowers
• The tulip isn’t a Dutch native flower, tulips are originally from the high plains of Central Asia

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Start of the tulip season with National Tulip Day in Amsterdam

The official start of the tulip season in The Netherlands is known as National Tulip Day (or ‘Nationale Tulpendag’ in Dutch). It’s held every year on the third Saturday in January. The Dam Square in Amsterdam is transformed into a giant temporary picking garden/cutting garden.

Around 200.000 tulips herald the start of the tulip season. Setting up the garden starts at 08:00 in the morning and it’s is open to the public from 13:00 til 16:30. And the best of all, picking your own bouquet of tulips is free!

Holland Tulip Festival

From early April to Mid May (in 2018 April 21-May 6) tulips dominate the city of Amsterdam for the Holland Tulip Festival (or ‘Tulp Festival’ in Dutch). Over 500.000 tulips can be admired at 60 locations in the city. You can buy an information guide that describes all the venues and tells you which tulips you can see in each location. On the Holland Tulip Festival website you’ll find an interactive map. The map also indicates which flowers are in bloom and which will be blooming soon. This is great time to visit The Netherlands. If you’ve never been to Amsterdam before then definitely check out this detailed Amsterdam accommodation guide to figure out the best area for you to stay.

Keukenhof gardens and Keukenhof Flower Festival

The Keukenhof is one of the most famous floral gardens in the world. It’s only open for 2 months per year (mid March to mid May) and attracts 700.000 visitors annually. The flower garden covers a surface of 32 hectares and has 15 km of walking paths. There are flower shows, inspirational gardens and various events. Kids are also very welcome too at the Keukenhof. There is a free children’s treasure hunt, a petting zoo, a maze and a playground.

We visited the Keukenhof in 2014 when we had some friends from Egypt visiting Holland. It was amazing, but if your kids are small, I don’t think you can get the full experience. There’s just too much to see and most kids aren’t known for their patience. To be honest, our toddler and I had just as much fun visiting the tulip fields this weekend. And that didn’t cost us anything.

Flower parade (Bloemencorso)

There are numerous flower parades in The Netherlands. A lot of them are held in September and the floats are decorated with dahlias. The Flower Parade in the bulb-growing area (‘Bloemencorso Bollenstreek’ in Dutch) is the only parade of this size that takes place in the Spring. It is also the only one that is made entirely with bulb flowers. The event is closely linked to the Keukenhof.

A lot of people don’t know this, but there’s actually a Flower Parade Week in this area of Holland. The 3 days before the actual parade, the 20 floats and 40 luxurious vehicles are decorated. You can visit the huge hall where this is done. The entrance fee is quite low and it’s very educational to see the decorators at work. The Bloemencorso Bollenstreek is always on a Saturday and the decorating takes place the Wednesday – Friday before. The Sunday after the parade, all the floats are exhibited in our hometown Haarlem, in the city center. You can find more information on the website of Bloemencorso Bollenstreek.

Tulip Museum Amsterdam

If you haven’t seen enough tulips, you can visit the Amsterdam Tulip Museum. Also, a great alternative if you’re visiting The Netherlands in Summer, Fall or Winter when the tulips aren’t in bloom. The Tulip Museum teaches you everything you want to know about the history of tulips. The museum is small and to enable visitors to see everything, only 25 people can visit at the same time. It’s housed in a historical canal-side house, so as a bonus you get to see one of these old houses from the inside.

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We both love reading and all his favourite book characters were present. Frog, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Little Donkey, Miffy, Dikkie Dik, Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and many many more…

Location of the Children’s Book Museum

The Children’s Book Museum is located in the National Library. The library can be found right next to The Hague Central Station, so it’s very easy to get there by public transport. It took us about 35 minutes by train from Haarlem. Of course the train ride was an adventure in itself. From the train station it’s only a few minutes walk to the Library. There are signs pointing the way. Once inside the building, again there are signs pointing towards the Children’s Book Museum (follow the signs ‘kinderboekenmuseum’).

Exhibits for kids ages 0 to 6

Once you’ve paid for your tickets, I found it a bit unclear where to go. You enter a floor with lots of paintings, who all turned out to be authors (make’s sense…). For the youngsters, you need to go to up one flight of stairs. There, you will find two permanent exhibits: ‘Ik ben Kikker’ (I am Frog) and ‘ABC met de dieren mee’ (ABC with the animals). Every book has it’s own little space. There are a lot of little crawl-throughs and places to discover. I have to say, on a busy Saturday, it was a bit stressful having to chase after our 3-year old while he was crawling around.

Exhibit: I am Frog

The ‘I am Frog’ exhibit is the first exhibit the museum also offers in English. The new Frog exhibit was opened on Dec 10, 2016 so it was all still very new when we visited. There’s a 150m2 separate area completely dedicated to Frog. It’s very interactive and like in the books it helps kids learn about intense emotions, such as love, fear and happiness. Go bake a cake in Pig’s house, enjoy ice skating on the lake with Duck or go fishing or treasure hunting. The Frog exhibit is meant for kids ages 0 and up.

Exhibit: Animal ABC

In the animal ABC exhibit lots of Holland’s favourite children’s books come to life. Crawl through the Very Hungry Caterpillar’s foods and become the beautiful butterfly, get lost in Dikkie Dik’s corn maze or try to give Elmer the Patchwork Elephant back his colours. Target group for this area is ages 2-6. It’s very well done, in attractive colours and basic designs. Although some of the areas could use a little touch up, our little one really enjoyed it.

Exhibits for older kids

For older kids (from age 7) there’s an exhibit called ‘Papiria’ at the bottom floor. To be honest, the whole experience of the top floor was exciting enough for our little one. Next time we go we’ll make sure to properly explore the place. I’m sure there’s a lot we haven’t seen yet.

Children’s Book Museum address

Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5
2595 BE Den Haag
phone: 070 – 333 96 66
email: info@kinderboekenmuseum.nl
www.kinderboekenmuseum.nl

Children’s Book Museum opening hours

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 14:00-17:00
Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays: 12:00 – 17:00
The museum is closed on Mondays.

Children’s Book Museum entrance fee

Kids up until 1 years old: free
Kids 2-6 years old:€6
Kids 7-18 years old: €7
Adults: €8,50

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This blog post is linked up with #TuesdayTreasures, #MondayEscapes and #CulturedKids

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On 21 January 2016, we returned to The Netherlands after having traveled for 10 months. We came back early from our year long Big Adventure because of my mother in law’s progressing illness. Parkinson’s Disease saw her moving into a nursing home this past October. I’m sure that those who have been in a similar situation know what I mean when I say this was difficult but at the same time offered some peace of mind.

Dreams on hold

Our big dream still is to slow travel around the world with our son. Mau as a dive instructor and me as digital nomad, following the dive seasons and homeschooling our little one. But because of my mother in law’s poor health we’ve now put our dream on hold so we can be here in Holland. My youngest aunt died unexpectedly this year and we’ve seen a lot of illness, which is making it even more clear to us how important it is to live our life to the fullest en don’t wait until it’s too late. The urge to go but not being able to is causing us sleepless nights. We really need to start looking at what we CAN do.

New Year’s Resolutions

• To see possibilities instead of limitations
• To travel more
• To spend quality time with our son as much as possible
• To increase our online income

Positive things

Even though we had some issues staying positive, of course 2016 wasn’t all about negatives. It’s been good for both sets of grandparents to spend time with their only grandson and our little world traveler really enjoys his time with them too. We can learn a lot from the way he lives in the moment, not thinking much beyond what he wants RIGHT NOW. Even more than before our trip we’re consciously spending as much time with our son as we can. After all, he’s growing up sooo fast. We’ve both decided to work minimal hours so we have more time for him. Of course this is not helping us grow our travel budget. Short term travel usually requires more budget, so we need to find a smarter balance for next year.

Lots of firsts

2016 was, not surprising with a child, another year with a lot of ‘firsts’. The biggest one was that Jace stopped napping. Those of you who have kids will know what a major difference that makes. That I had no more me-time in the afternoon took some getting used to, but how much fun it is to be able to go out all day! Our little man also started going to kindergarten two afternoons a week. A big lesson in letting go, and at the same time fantastic to see how much he enjoys it. This also enabled me to start working a bit more again.

Highlights of 2016

One of the highlights of 2016 was our 2-week trip to Vienna, Prague and Berlin in May. At this point Jace had already stopped napping, so we could spend all day exploring. It was a big difference compared to our time in Asia. Of course with him getting older, we needed to factor in more playtime and we saw A LOT of playgrounds in all three cities. But we experienced a great amount of freedom even if it was only a short two-week trip.

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If you’re coming to The Netherlands, Haarlem should definitely be on your list of places to visit. It’s one of the nicest cities in The Netherlands. Not just because it’s our hometown (if you do come to Haarlem, drop us a line and we can show you around!). Haarlem has beautiful old architecture in the city center and there are lots of activities in and around the city, for both kids and adults. If you’re staying in Amsterdam, to go from Amsterdam to Haarlem by train only takes about 15 minutes. Some people call Haarlem ‘small Amsterdam’, the same type of architecture, but smaller and much less touristy.

Combine sightseeing with rest & play

Meneer Paprika

Yoghurt Barn

Minimarkt

Veerkwartier

Kweekcafé

Ikea / Smaland

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Sprookjeswonderland is not as busy or expensive as most of the other Dutch amusement parks, such as Efteling, Walibi or Julianatoren. It doesn’t have any thrilling or scary rides, there is no loud music and no long lines. As a result it works really well for younger children. All parents I know of that have visited the park said their kids loved it. As a day trip from Amsterdam with young kids, Sprookjeswonderland is a great option.

For what ages is Sprookjeswonderland best suited?

Fairy tales (‘sprookjes’ in Dutch) are great for kids of all ages, but this park is designed specifically for the little ones. There’s no age limit, but I’d say it’s most suited for kids up until about 7 years old. There’s a lot to see and to discover. The park even has a small petting farm! Unlike the Efteling or other large attraction parks in The Netherlands, this smaller scale park doesn’t offer any thrilling rides. But it’s all a matter of perspective. The mechanical horseback riding, the ladybug boats and the oldtimer cars are quite an adventure for younger kids. While the large boat swing, that goes up pretty high in the air, is cool and exciting for the slightly older children (ages 5 and up, 100 cm length).

If your kids are a bit older or used to larger and more thrilling amusement parks, the Efteling is a good option. Check out these tips if you’re planning to visit.

Sprookjeswonderland’s Enchanted forest

The enchanted forest is home to the gnomes, witches, wizards and you will find lots of familiar fairytale figures such as the Frog King, Snow White and the Sleeping Beauty. Say hi to well-known characters like Tom Thumb, Puss in Boots and the Big Bad Wolf. Afterwards, take a stroll through the gnome village and discover how they live and work. Peep through the windows to see the gnome doctor treat a patient and hear the gnomes sing their songs.

Shows at Sprookjeswonderland

The park offers a number of shows, all automated with puppets. At Violinde Castle (‘Kasteel Violinde’) you can watch a musical about the spoiled little princess Violinde. The musical takes about 30 minutes. Small kids love the songs and the rapidly changing decors. The House of Time (‘Tijdshuis’) shows you all four seasons in about 25 minutes, under the watchful eye of Father Time. In the springtime two elves hold a snail race and the flowers sing and dance, while in the wintertime two farting trolls fall in love. It’s captivating but also funny. The Gulliver’s Travels display tells the well-known story of the ship’s doctor Gulliver who is washed to shore on the island of Lilliput after a shipwreck. It had our toddler watching in awe for a good 10 minutes!

Sprookjeswonderland is affordable

Other than at bigger attractions like the Efteling, where you pay a hefty parking fee (sometimes as high as €10!), Sprookjeswonderland offers free parking. Also, you’re allowed to take your own food and drinks, but the prices at the park’s restaurants are definitely very reasonable. You can get a coffee for €1,20 and an ice-cream for €0,60. Regular entrance fees for Dutch amusement parks are between €20-40 per person, so at €9,95 Sprookjeswonderland offers a wonderfully affordable alternative.

Background of Sprookjeswonderland

Sprookjeswonderland’s history started with one man, who made a gnome doll as a joke. This was in 1973. Actually, the founder is still actively involved in the park today. A lot of the attractions are custom made by the park employees. Just this year they launched a new attraction called ‘Hekspeditie’ and improvements are made constantly. The park has about 250.000 visitors a year. Compared to the Efteling, which has well over 4 million visitors yearly, it’s a very small scale operation. But that’s exactly what makes it so attractive.

Practical information

Address: Sprookjeswonderland Kooizandweg 9 1601LK Enkhuizen
Website: Sprookjeswonderland.nl

Entrance fee Sprookjeswonderland

• Children under 2 years have free entrance
• Everyone from 2 – 65 years: €9,95 per person
• Elderly people 65 years and older €8,50 per person
• Groups of 15 or more people: €8,50 per person

Getting to Sprookjeswonderland by car from Amsterdam

• get onto the A10
• take exit s118 towards the A8/E22 (Leeuwarden/Purmerend/Zaanstad)
• at interchange Knooppunt Zaandam follow signs for A7/E22 (Purmerend/Leeuwarden)
• take exit 9 towards the N302 towards Hoorn-Noord/Enkhuizen/Lelystad
• when you enter Enkhuizen follow the signs ‘Sprookjesland’

Getting to Sprookjeswonderland by train from Amsterdam

There is a direct connection by train. From Amsterdam Central Station it takes about 60 minutes to reach Enkhuizen Station. From the station, you can either walk (20 minutes), take a taxi or take the special Sprookjeswonderland tram. During the summer months, the tram runs every day between 10:00 and 17:00. Outside the summer season it only operates on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

• 2nd class return ticket Amsterdam Central Station – Enkhuizen Station: €22,50
• Return tram ticket Enkhuizen Station – Park entrance: €2
• Taxi to Park entrance: €7 (normal car), €11 (minibus)

Combinations with other nearby attractions

Of course, you can always combine a visit to the park with some of the nearby attractions. If you want to experience the real Holland, away from big city Amsterdam, why not find a hotel in the area?

• The Zuiderzee museum offers an indoor and outdoor section where you can discover the culture and history of the region
• Recreatieoord Enkhuizerzand, right next to Sprookjeswonderland, offers the municipal pool and a beach on the shores of the IJsselmeer
• Bare feet walking trail ‘Gouwe Voeten’ at Bovenkarspel. A 1,5 hour walk without shoes to truly experience nature. Next to a camp ground that offers trampolines, soccer and volleyball fields and a playground.
• Education about the environment at MAK Blokweer in Blokker, with a nature park, visitors center and a farm.

Booking.com

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I know some people who are starting to itch to go back home after only one week of holiday. Obviously that’s not us. For me the answer to the question above is really simple and my feet are already starting to itch to leave again. But however great traveling is, there are definitely a few things that I won’t miss.

Spending hours on the internet trying to find suitable and affordable accommodation

This has been my nr. 1 grievance and stress factor on this trip. On beforehand I never imagined it would take so much time and energy to find nice places to stay. When we traveled with just the two of us it was never really an issue, but traveling with Jace has changed our accommodation requirements. Not only that, but we want to arrange accommodation before we get there, at least for the first few days. So we’re relying on the internet more than ever before. Since we’ve been moving around at a very fast pace, never staying anywhere longer than a week or two and often even shorter, that meant A LOT of online searching. Of course having a crappy internet connection doesn’t really help, so that’s no. 2 on this list.

Crappy internet connections

Of course we knew internet connections could be bad around Asia, but I never really realised how annoying this can be until I tried maintaining a blog and working while traveling. Also, it sooo much time to search for nice places to stay if you’re internet is so incredibly slow. Sri Lanka and Philippines were definitely the worst.

Diaper hunting

In Holland you can find diapers in all shapes and sizes in any supermarket, but abroad it can be little more complicated. In each country and sometimes even each place we visited we needed to go on a ‘hunt’ for diaper pants. Normal diapers are relatively easy to find, but we quickly found out the pants are more practical and comfortable for an active toddler. It does take some time and persistence to figure out where you can buy them though

Having only one (bed)room for the three of us

We’ve stayed in a few Airbnb apartments with one or sometimes even two bedrooms (luxury!), but mostly we’re staying in hotels and we have only one room for the three of us. Privacy isn’t the biggest issue, but when we don’t have a balcony or other outside space we have to sit in the dark and whisper to each other while Jace is sleeping, both during his nap and in the evening. It’s going to be nice to have a ‘normal’ evening again with him sleeping in his own bedroom.

Always eating out

When we were in Egypt I swore that I would be so happy if I never had to cook another meal in my life. It was quite stressful being responsible for getting food on the table every day and so hard to come up with new dishes with the limited ingredients available there. But, even though I love going out for dinner and getting the chance to try new foods, now that we’ve been eating out almost every night, I really enjoyed the few times that we had an apartment with a kitchen so I could cook myself. So I guess in Holland I’ll have to find a new balance where I get to enjoy cooking again instead of stressing over it and combine it with occasionally going out for dinner.

Hardly having any me-time

One more thing I didn’t realise when we were planning this trip is how little me-time I would have. This is partly my, or maybe our, own fault for the way we’ve organised things. Only when we were diving did we take turns babysitting Jace. Other than that we spend almost every minute with the three of us together. Of course it’s amazing that we got to spend so much time together, but it was also starting to get a bit suffocating at times

Relying on others for transport

I’m very spoiled that in Holland I have my own car and I also have a bike. I’m really looking forward to having my own transport again. It will be so nice not to have to rely on someone else to go somewhere. I can’t drive a motorbike (yet), so in the past months walking was my only option. Of course in Asia taking a taxi, tuktuk, bus, tricycle etc. is cheap and easy, but it’s always someone else driving and I can’t wait to drive again myself.

Too many plastic water bottles

Of course there are tons of countries where you can’t drink the tap water, but in Holland you can. It’s so nice and easy to simply open the tap and fill a glass. I’m really getting a bit fed up with having to buy water every day, not to mention the huge amount of plastic bottles we’re accumulating. We try to get the large 19 liter refillable bottles and even bought a simple pump for them, but it’s not an option if you’re only spending a few days in each location. Luckily in a few places we could refill our bottles from the larger tanks, but still in the past months we’ve used way too much plastic.

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