A day out of Amsterdam,
with the car kept for all of it.
The best parts of this country are the parts the railway missed: an island, a tidal delta, a marsh on a drained sea floor, a heath with a museum in it. A chauffeured day trip puts one car and one chauffeur at your disposal for as long as the day lasts, and nothing else has to be worked out.
You are not booking a tour. You are booking the car and the person driving it.
There is no group, no meeting point and no fixed route. Your chauffeur arrives at your hotel, apartment, ship or terminal at the hour you name, and from that moment the car is yours: it takes you out, it stands where you get out, and it is still there when you come back. Nobody hurries you along and nobody narrates. If you decide over lunch that the afternoon would be better spent somewhere else, say so in the car and the day changes.
Practically, that means the boot does the work of a cloakroom. Coats, walking boots, the bag of things you bought before you knew you would be walking on sand — all of it stays locked in the car while you are out, and none of it has to be carried through a museum. Water and phone chargers are on board. A day trip usually runs somewhere between four and ten hours, and the only thing that really has to be fixed in advance is the pickup time.
What we do not do is sell you the day itself. We are the transport, deliberately: tickets, ferries, boat trips and guided walks you arrange directly with each park, museum or operator, and your chauffeur makes sure you are standing at the right door when it matters. It keeps the roles clean, and it means we can tell you honestly when something is closed or not worth the drive.
By the hour, or one figure for the whole itinerary.
Hourly hire has a two-hour minimum, includes forty kilometres for every hour you book, and must start and end in the same city. That suits everything within about an hour of Amsterdam. For the longer trips, or for a day that finishes somewhere other than where it began, we quote the whole itinerary as one fixed all-in amount instead. Dispatch works out both and tells you which is the better of the two before you commit.
Every rate is per car rather than per guest, taxes included, with no meter and nothing added at the end of the day. A booking made less than twelve hours before pickup carries a ten per cent short-notice charge, and cancelling costs nothing until an hour beforehand — useful when a day out hangs on the forecast.
Four places the train cannot usefully take you.
Heath, drifting sand and the Kröller-Müller collection, behind three gates that lie kilometres apart.
The Posbank heather above the IJssel valley, with Kasteel Rosendael and its shell gallery below it.
A freshwater tidal delta of creeks and coppiced willow, out past Dordrecht where no railway goes.
Konik horses, red deer and sea eagles on a drained sea floor, forty minutes up the A6.
Three days out that end with sand or water.
The car crosses on the ferry with you, so the dunes, Den Burg and the shrimp boats at Oudeschild are one drive.
Dune, wisent and the North Sea between Haarlem and Bloemendaal aan Zee — the short one, half an hour west.
A World Heritage fort and a river lined with the summer houses of seventeenth-century Amsterdam.
The rest of the list.
Canals instead of streets and footbridges instead of pavements, in a quiet corner of Overijssel.
The bulb country behind the dunes, at its best for the few weeks of the year when the fields are in colour.
The wider list — Zaanse Schans, Kinderdijk, Volendam, Delft, Bruges — and how to combine two in a day.
Restaurants, beaches and weekends away by chauffeur, on the same hourly or fixed pricing.
That is entirely yours to decide. Four to six hours covers the nearer destinations comfortably; the island and the delta are better given a full day of eight to ten. The minimum for hourly hire is two hours, and the day can run longer than planned if you decide on the spot that it should.
By the hour when the day starts and ends in Amsterdam and stays within about an hour of it, because forty kilometres per hour are included. A fixed quote when the trip is long, one-way, or begins at Schiphol. Send us the outline and dispatch will say which works out better rather than leaving you to guess.
Neither. Your chauffeur drives, parks, waits and knows the roads and the entrances, which is a different job from guiding. Museum tickets, park entry, boat trips and ferry crossings you arrange directly with the operator; we get you to the door on time and are there when you come out.
Yes, and most days do change a little. Weather turns, a walk takes longer than expected, somebody wants lunch somewhere else. Tell your chauffeur in the car; on an hourly booking there is nothing to re-agree, and on a fixed quote we only revisit the price if the shape of the day changes substantially.
Anywhere in the Netherlands: hotels and private addresses in Amsterdam, the river cruise quays, Schiphol arrivals or a company office. Airport starts include flight tracking and a chauffeur inside the hall with a name sign, with the first hour of waiting after landing free.
Up to three guests with three bags in Business or First Class, and up to seven with seven bags in the Van Class, which has captain chairs and enough headroom to walk in. Child and baby seats are available on request. Larger groups are quoted as two cars on the same itinerary.