agrawalpurva15

Hi, We are group of 8 people and 2 kids. We love natural scenic places. We are planning to go to Netherland, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. April/May. Are 12 days enough for this? And what are the cities we should cover? We are planning to go to Belgium first then return from Germany. Please help me with the itinerary. I have not fair idea about these countries. Please help. Thanks in advance.

PalenQ

You going by car I presume -or cars or mini-vans - best way dto see natural areas.

One driving option

Land in Frankfurt

Take train or drive to Rhine Gorge -lovely natural beauty interspersed with cute riverside towns and ruined and intact castles.

Drive up Mosel Valley -one of Europe's primo driving venues:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mose...HaK6BN8QsAQIGw

Stay in cute Mosel wine towns

Visit Trier -one of the oldest cities in Europe and one with about the most intact Roman relics north of the Alps

Head up Mosel to Luxembourg -rural parts of the Grand Duchy are so so neat.

Drive thru Belgian Ardennes to Namur area - again a real scenic area - drive to Bruges- dreamy Bruges one of the cutest old cities anywhere in northern Europe:

https://www.google.com/search?q=imag...HeL4DeQQsAQIGQ

Drive thru Netherlands to Amsterdam area - hitting some cute Dutch regional towns like Delft or Leiden- stay on the south periphery of Amsterdam in hotels and take tram in -cars useless in Amsterdam

drive back to Germany via Cologne and its great cathedral.

All of this can be done by train too - if considering that check out the Germany-Benelux railpass that covers trains in all three countries-for lots on trains check www.budgeteuropetravel.com (check their online European Rail & Planning guide for places to go in those countries); www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Cars or van would be better if wanting rural areas over cities - v.v. for cities over rural drives.

michelhuebeli

Well, those countries are fairly close together and you can certainly set foot in all of them if you rush fro one to the next.

But each has so much to offer - just what that is to your tastes only you can decide - that to try and touch on all four seems way too much for the few days you have.

Think about it - you go from one to the other with your large group - that's pretty much a day dedicated to travel, from door to door.

Now count the days that are left...

Why did you pick those four countries in the first place? There must be certain items that attract you. What are they, and where are they? How to get from one to the other?

Here's what I suggest:

A) Get familiar with the transportation options - aside from a good map, learn from www.seat.61.com and explore the train websites:

www.ns.nl/en for trains in the Netherlands

www.belgianrail.be/en for trains in Belgium

www.bahn.de for German trains and also for international trains beyond Germany

B) Get guidebooks and read online travel sites like www.holland.com, www.visitbelgium.com, www.germany.travel/en/index.html

Fussgaenger

"Hi, We are group of 8 people and 2 kids. We love natural scenic places."

Please detail your room requirements (how are you splitting up?) and your transportation ideas (3 cars? 2 vans? trains?)

Do you ONLY want great natural scenery? Are there any specific towns/cities you have in mind? Any specific interests (historic sites? museums?) or activities?

Aside from springtime tulip fields in the NL, I can't fathom telling you where to go without learning more details.

PalenQ

(3 cars? 2 vans? trains?)>

can't one rent an up-to nine passenger van without chauffeur's license?