My H and I alternate on holiday locations. The next trip is mine to plan. I have always wanted to go see the tulips blooming in Holland. We have a lot of American Express points that can be moved to KLM.
When would you go?
What else would you do? We have 3 weeks to work with. We could possible fly into Amsterdam and depart from somewhere else.
The Keukenhof Garden is open 24 March 2016 - 16 May 2016, and that’s where you should go if you go to the Netherlands to see tulips. I’d say the middle of that range would give you the best display.
Where else would you like to go? Or where else have you never been? Getting to almost anywhere in Europe is easy from Amsterdam; it’s really only limited by time and desire.
Ooh, so jealous. Going to Holland in tulip time is something I really want to do.You can buy tulip bulbs there - they just have to be certified in some way.
There’s a lot to see just in Holland. You can bike or walk around the dikes. Go see Delft tiles being made. Van Gogh and Rijks Museum and Anne Frank house. I’m told Brussels is beautiful. You could see things in northern Germany, or you could drive along the north of France toward Normandy and Brittany which are both well worth a visit. (A bit over 9 hours of total driving time from Amseterdam to Mont-Saint-Michel for example.)
I traveled to Holland for business, and saw the garden. Don’t go too early, the bulbs bloom best in later April.
You can take the train easily to Brussels, Antwerp and Paris. Let the good times roll!
Yes, yes, yes to Keukenhof. If you are into biking, it would probably be easy to sign on for a tour. Bike roads are everywhere in the Netherlands.
There is a wonderful small museum in Den Haag (The Hague) – a short train ride from Amsterdam. http://www.mauritshuis.nl/ It’s the home of the Girl With A Pearl Earring and other delights. The folks at the B&B we stayed at in Amsterdam recommended it and it was the highlight of my trip. Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum are also excellent.
Brugges, Belgium is also a treat, according to DH and BIL.
I would be really interested in going to the D-Day beaches in northern France.
April can still be chilly – we were in Prague and Krakow then and bought lots of hot mulled wine from street vendors to stay warm! 
With three weeks, there is a lot you can do.
Thank you for all the great advice. I was looking at last week of April, 1st week of May depending on the availability of reward tickets. My H would prefer to go after May 1 or earlier in April but it looks like with those dates we could be too early or too late.H and I went to the Netherlands when we were 19 and 21. We didn’t stay in Amsterdam but outside and it was a long time ago. We also went to Brugge on that trip.
We haven’t been to Brussels or Antwerp. We have been to Paris but I would go again, H not so excited to go back. I’ll suggest the Normandy beaches.
We haven’t been to Prague or Budapest but will likely leave those for another trip.
I need to get a map out.
I think the easiest in and out route with the miles will be Amsterdam and Paris. Not sure about other cities.
Does anyone have experience doing a barge trip in the Netherlands?
Do you count a river cruise as a barge trip? I enjoyed my river cruise in the Netherlands last spring.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1740069-river-cruise-in-spring.html
My nephew was in Amsterdam in the last week of March this year. It was cold and rainy and no blooming flowers.
If you make it to Paris, you could keep with the flower theme and see Monet’s gardens in Giverny. I love Mt. Saint Michel. If you go there, make sure to spend the night on the rock–it is a very different place in the evening after all the crowds have left.
April 30th is Koningsdag (King’s Day), and it’s a huge national holiday. After that date is when all the cafes in the Netherlands set out their chairs for outdoor seating – it’s the official start of “Spring” in a way – and the cities take on a different vibe than before then. I recommend going toward the very end of April and beginning of May so you can experience this holiday and the outdoor life at cafes.
If you simply want to see endless fields of blooming tulips without spending major $$$, come to Skagit Valley mid-April. 
Cardinal Fang- I doubt I will ever get my H on a cruise. Our last trip included 9 nights on a 36 ft sailboat with H as our captain.His idea of a barge trip is one where we navigate ourselves.
Mommy rocks- thank you for those dates.
I would love to see Monet’s gardens.
Interesting comments. I’ve been to most of the museums etc. I never knew about the gardens however, even though I go on business to the Netherlands every 3 months. I spend most of my time in Eindhoven which is about 2 hours by car from Amsterdam. Delft is a pretty interesting city.
Bunsenburner
Skagit Valley tulip festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQZD5KuSqe8
It’s absolutely beautiful. I would love to visit this place. My dream is to have a beautiful backyard garden looking just like this.
If you are visiting art museums in the Netherlands, may family really liked this one:
We lived in The Hague, which frankly is not the most interesting or pretty city in the country, but in addition to the Mauritshuis, mentioned by CountingDown above, there is this place, which has some interesting things:
Tickets booked with my American Express points transferred to Flying Blue. Into Amsterdam late April and out of Paris mid May. Not quite the three weeks I wanted but close enough.I love gardens and I love museums. My H likes gardens and likes museums both in small doses but he is pretty willing to go where I want.
Now to work on an itinerary. I went to the library and have a bag full of guide books.
If you are going to be heading to Normandy for the WWII sights I recommend staying in Bayeux. Not only is it a great stopping place for touring the beaches, it is a beautiful town that was not destroyed during the war, it is also the home of the Bayeux Tapistry and has a cathedral that is almost the size of Notre Dame. It also has a bit of a feel of Bruge with a canal running through part of town. DH and toured the Normandy beaches last year and ended our trip in Paris. On a different trip we spent time in Amsterdam and then drove to Bruge for 2 nights and drove back to the Amsterdam airport. When we toured the Normandy beaches last year along with Mont St Michel, we spent an afternoon at the museum in Caen which I would definitely recommend as a very good overview. We also stopped at Etrat and Honfleur as sites painted by the Impressionists. Honfleur has a lovely old historic port area. If you see the rock formations at Etrat, you can also see the paintings of the rock formations in Paris if you visit the Musee Dorsay.
I have good hotel to recommend in Paris, the Muguet, great location. I also have a great B & B recommendation for Bayeux. Oh, we also stayed one night in Rouen en route from the Paris airport and on the way into Paris we stopped at Chartres.
The Bayeux Tapestry is really cool. Etretat is gorgeous be sure to take a look at the rocks on the beach. They are all geodes! My favorite Normandy WW2 site was the Pointe du Hoc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_du_Hoc