PDersch

We will begin our late-April trip with 4 nights in Amsterdam, and finish with 2 (or perhaps 3) nights in Bruges. I have been to both places but my travel partner has not. We have 6 nights in between to play with, and would like to add two other towns to our trip. Perhaps three, though that might be pushing it, as we want a leisurely pace on this trip. What are your suggestions? We love museums, breweries, scenery, people-watching, history, local culture, good food…maybe places that don’t close down at 8pm. A friend has suggested Maastricht. I remember that Antwerp has a beautiful square, but only stopped there on a tour. I would love to hear where you have been and what you liked. Many thanks!

Sassafrass

There are many, but I like Haarlem a lot, so many art connections and so close to Amsterdam, you could stay there and do Amsterdam as day trips. I also like Leiden, Utrecht and Delft.
I really, really like Ghent and if I were going again in Summer, I might base there rather than in Bruges. I like the openness and the cafes along the river, especially in the evening. It feels real and spacious and airy, where Bruges, though very pretty, feels somewhat like a small and closed in movie set. April will be pretty, but still cool. They may have the regatta next year, depending on COVID restrictions. That would be fun if you are there then.

Michael

Antwerp

https://flic.kr/p/ofBQi2
https://flic.kr/s/aHsk1eDpkb

Ghent

https://flic.kr/p/7r3Xvh
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjp3P2t6

lavandula

Wow, a great luxury! Many people do not see the Netherlands outside of Amsterdam. Nowhere is too far away. Maastricht would probably be one of my favourite cities ever, and I think Delft - but if you do Delft you are right near Den Haag, so they are a pigeon pair. In Belgium, Antwerp and Ghent for sure. I will try not to suggest any more so you can narrow down what you might do. If you do Maastricht you might also think about Aachen in Germany because it is just a short hop to get there (i know what you tagged); the problem is that you have to travel a bit to get to Maastricht and it is not near anywhere else in the Netherlands that is a big drawcard. You could probably make that the last city in NL and then from there onwards to Brussels, Ghent or Antwerp and then Bruges.

So perhaps your trip could look like this:

Amsterdam 4 nights; see Haarlem
Den Haag 2 nights; see Delft on one day
Maastricht 2 nights; maybe see Aachen?
(Brussels? on the way through?)
Ghent 2 nights; see Antwerp
Bruges 2/3 nights?

This is just a starting point, you can swap out destinations. It's a lot of moving around, though, and Maastricht is an outlier. If you wanted to go from Den Haag / Delft to Antwerp that would work too.

What do you think?

Lavandula

menachem

Rotterdam of course, but I'm partial

menachem

I think Delft + The Hague + Rotterdam are a great combination. For ease of trains, I would want to end up in Rotterdam, because it has the best non-Thalys connections (intl ICD to Brussels) to Antwerp and Brussels. Those are more difficult from The Hague or Delft and always require changing at Rotterdam. Also, Rotterdam has the better restaurants and facilities.

neckervd

Brussels is a must. Maastricht/Aachen/Liege is a bit out of the way.

WeisserTee

Leiden, Utrecht, and Delft in the Netherlands. We like Middelburg very much (along with the Zeeland coast), we find it beautiful and off the tourist radar, but it is a quieter place. In Belgium, Brussels, Ghent (no need to overnight there tho, unless you want to, it's a short train ride from either Brussels or Bruges), possibly Leuven. While in Bruges, if it's crowded (as it could well be), spend some time strolling around the other side of T'Zand. The number of tourists drops like a rock once you cross over, yet it's a still interesting, more residential area.

https://www.visitingthedutchcountrys...g-netherlands/

If you do opt to stay in Ghent, highly recommend this hotel: https://www.pillowshotels.com/ghent/ In Brussels, recommend the NH Sablon, as discussed on a different Belgium thread.

HappyTrvlr

The Hague, Delft, Leiden, Rotterdam are all top places to visit. We spent a wonderful week in Leiden.
From Rotterdam take a river boat to the 19 famous Kinderdijk windmills.

PDersch

These are wonderful suggestions! Thank you for these replies. Currently playing around with Amsterdam (and Haarlem)-Antwerp-Brussels-Bruge, with a day stop in Ghent. We’ll save Maastricht for another time, when we visit friends in Luxembourg perhaps. I want to keep this trip as simple and leisurely as possible, but still have an adventure, so I’m reluctant to build too complex an itinerary. My travel partner has not traveled much overseas (just one trip to Ireland) and this will be our first overseas trip together. To that end, any little tricks I need to know about rail connections between these cities?

menachem

Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Brussels is the regular International Intercity connection, no Thalys, so no reservations necessary, and it is cheaper. It uses the high speed extension between Schiphol and Amsterdam, so doesn't stop in The Hague or Delft. You can reach Gent and Brugge from either Antwerp or Brussels.

lavandula

Great trip, this will work very well, no complex connections. There are currently some good recent threads on the board about Belgian cities, particularly Bruges and Brussels (click on my name, I contributed to them). I think Belgium is having a moment 😁.

Lavandula