Thirty Minutes Away Back to Journal →

Sunday, July 12, 2026

We took the train to Zandvoort on a whim, mostly because the forecast said sun and we had nothing else planned. Half an hour later we stepped onto a boardwalk packed with beach clubs and striped umbrellas, with more people around than I expected for a weekday.

I keep forgetting how much is reachable from Amsterdam without a car or a real plan. A single train ticket got us an entire coastline that felt nothing like the canals we see every day.

It’s easy to save trips like this for when visitors are in town, as if they need a special occasion. We didn’t, and it might become a regular thing.