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16 Days with Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and looking for additional stops.

16 Days with Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and looking for additional stops.

Old May 14th, 2014, 01:10 PM
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16 Days with Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and looking for additional stops.

My husband and I will be renting a car in Dusseldorf and traveling for 16 days in 1 week.

There's so much to see where we are going, I want to make sure and not miss any "must see" sites. We've been to Amsterdam, Paris and Brugge before.

3 days in Amsterdam
3 days in Brussels
maybe one night between Brussels and Paris
4 Days in Paris, side trip to Versailles

SIX DAYS LEFT FOR SUGGESTIONS. I'M ALSO OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS ON THE ABOVE ITENERARY FOR CASTLES, PARKS, WORLD HERITAGE SITES ALONG THE WAY.

Would like to take my husband to Wurzburg and Rothenburg, return trip for me, first time for him. I know we are close to the Rhine Valley area and I'm having a hard time determining which areas on this route are the best to add to our already full itinerary.

Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.

Susan
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Old May 14th, 2014, 01:15 PM
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Germany is a bit out of the way, but if you're willing to drive it, then perhaps Mosel and Rhine river area would be a good idea. My hub and I are stationing ourselves in Koblenz to check out the sites and quaint towns along both rivers. The Rhine river has many many castles along its banks!
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Old May 14th, 2014, 01:33 PM
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3 days in Brussels would be 2 days too much for many - but Bruges, the consensus gem of Belgium and one of the finest old-looking cities north of the Alps is a gem - use it as a base from which to hop to other Flemish gems like Gent and or Antwerp.

https://www.google.com/search?q=brug...=1600&bih=1075
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Old May 14th, 2014, 04:08 PM
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Brussels is not bad as a base from which to explore Antwerp, Leuven, Waterloo (battle site) and points east such as Dinant or Liège. Since you have a car, you might think of exploring the Ardennes, which is better with a car than by train. If you are American, you might be interested in Bastogne, which is a WWII site for Americans, or you might explore Luxembourg, Aachen and Trier. From Düsseldorf, the Rhine also seems like an obvious destination (Mainz to Koblenz). Also think about a few hours in Cologne to see the cathedral, and maybe some museums.

Just a lot of ideas - obviously you can't do them all...

Lavandula
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Old May 14th, 2014, 05:09 PM
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If you've been to all of those places before you might want to consider eastern Belgium and Germany. We stayed in Spa and visited Liege (charming) and Aachen (Charlemagne's capital with remains in the cathedral) and then headed south through Belgium, seeing several adorable small villages, a couple of castles (serendipity) several fascinating small local WWII museums and ending up in Trier - with it's wonderful roman remains.
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Old May 14th, 2014, 07:48 PM
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Brugge is a wonderful place to spend a couple of days. We stayed at Cote de Canal and it was great. A bike ride along the canal to Dammes was great fun. If you are a Van Gogh fan Auvers is interesting. Seeing Vincent and Theo's modest graves is thought-provoking. Seeing the D-Day towns and beaches is worth a day or two. Enjoy your trip.
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Old May 15th, 2014, 03:50 AM
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One place you might consider, perhaps on your way to Amsterdam,is the Kröller-Müller Museum and De Hoge Veluwe National Park.
one of the main park attractions is the network of bicycle paths. The park has about 1700 "white bicycles" which visitors can use for free, and other people bring their own bikes. The park is quite large and scenic in a quiet way, with woodland, heathland and inland sand dunes. The museum houses an extraordinary collection of paintings acquired by Helene Kröller-Müller in the early twentieth century. There is an especially impressive collection of Van Goghs

You will get a lot of advice on Fodors to concentrate on Brugge rather than Brussels in Belgium. Since you have already visited Brugge, I think it definitely makes sense to explore another city. My husband and I have very much enjoyed our time in Brussels which as noted above is a good base for visiting other cities including Gent, Mechelen, Antwerp and Leuven. We also enjoyed Tournai in the south of Belgium which you could see en route to Paris. I wrote a TR about our last trip to Belgium in 2011. I would be glad to answer any questions about the places we visited
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Old May 15th, 2014, 12:18 PM
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Wow, thanks everyone for such great advice and thoughtful responses. I can't wait to enjoy my trip. And thanks Vttraveler, I will look up your trip report on Belgium. Susan
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