Cities not to be missed in Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France?

How many additional days do you have? Are you flying back out of Amsterdam? If so, after visiting Bruges, maybe you might want to stay in a smaller Dutch city, like Delft or Haarlem.

Robyn

I loved Antwerp. The museums are exceptional and the old areas of the city quite beautiful. All the food I've ever had in Belgium has been great.

Lille to me is just a big city , though it too has some great museums. But Antwerp is smaller or at least it feels that way and it is easy to get around.

Haarlem, Haarlem, Haarlem. In that order.

I just read this trip report - you might enjoy it and get some ideas from it:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/haarlem-a-brilliant-choice-as-a-base-delft-and-utrecht.cfm

Wow, thanks guys. It looks like Haarlem is a must. MomDDTravel, I also read that post, and got lots of good ideas. Also great avalon to know that Lille is not a must see place.

We have a total of 12 nights, two are taken up by Amsterdam (I have been twice, husband never) and three nights in Bruges. We have a frequent flyer trip that I can change cities at no penalty, but for now we are leaving out of Amsterdam. Maybe on the way home Haarlem would be a good place to spend two nights, then get to the airport in Amsterdam from there.

Glad that these opinions have seemed to echo what we are interested in. Looks like we will do Amsterdam, Bruges, Antwerp then maybe back up to Holland and Haarlem, with one other place in between, or we could use Haarlem as a base like that excellent trip report referenced said. It does seem that the border towns between France and German are not the most enticing when you have all of Belgium and Netherlands.

Can't wait. Leaving June 28.

Looks as if you aren't going to get far from the cities you have named, but I would add one unusual Dutch village that I think you would enjoy -- Valkenburg, down in the southern tip of Holland. It's a neat city and it has an old castle and it has hills, believe it or not.

I'll put in a vote for Strasbourg and Nancy - you can read about my reaction to them here: http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/nice-to-paris-on-not-taking-it-easy-in-eastern-france.cfm?40

Wow, more great ideas, you can see my problem making choices!! We will have to come back for more. Valkenburg and Nancy and Strasbourg...I think I will end up missing Strasbourg because I know we will not want a long train, but Nancy and Valkenburg sound good. Anyone have a site online that they use for quick city to city travel times? I found one from the UK but it is a bit cumbersome.

Thank you all. I had no idea there were so many people out there with cool travel experiences who were willing to give advice. I will have to come on after I get back. Too bad I haven't travelled very far in about 10 years! I would go to some of these forums now.

LDF - if you get to Valkenburg, be sure to visit the underground caves. The guided tours weren't in English when we visited a couple of years ago, but we were given a printed sheet with the relevant info on it. Communities have taken refuge in this underground complex over the centuries; it was on of the most unusual and moving experiences I have ever enjoyed.

If you can't find any info on line, call in to the Visitor Info Centre when you arrive in the town. They have an excellent walking tour map that includes the caves area.

Also Thorn (the 'white' village) is in this region - a tiny village with a most unusual history. Happy travels, Di

Happy travels, Di

Cool, thanks. Because of this site I am changing our not so nice and $$$ hotel in Amsterdam for the one on that trip report in Haarlem, it looks lovely. (Stempels)

Anyone have a site online that they use for quick city to city travel times?

Here is a link to the website query page for bahn.de, the German rail line, which is an excellent tool for planning rail travel in Europe.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Robyn

While in Haarlem don't miss seeing St. Bavo Cathedral. It has a very large and famous organ(you can see it and hear it on youtube). If you are there on a day that a concert is scheduled, you can attend. A couple of years ago my husband and I toured the church in the morning and were told that the entrance price for the church, included the concert that night. We have always regretted that we could not return.

That site is great!!! I have it bookmarked. I was using some other archaic one. Leave it to the Germans to have an efficient and easy site in English. The cathedral sounds lovely. I am supposed to be getting work done this weekend, but alas would rather look at European vacation things online. I am very excited to stay at the Stempels Hotel in Haarlem when we first arrive and then again maybe on the way back up toward Amsterdam.

Hi; You mentioned a town that is the oldest town in the Netherlands and for me is a 'must'. All the other cities mentioned are lovely, but if you are in this area, try not to skip the town if Maastricht. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/maastricht Dick P.S There is also an American cemetery to be visited seven miles away.

Maastricht would be a great choice, as it's different from other cities in the Netherlands -- the landscape changes (starts to get hilly) and the food is better. My husband is from the area so we visit there regularly. Maastricht has some nice historic sites and it's easy to get around. There are lots of cafes (including Vogelstryus, the oldest cafe in the Netherlands) and shops in town, too, for wandering.

For excellent food, my favorite is Château Neercanne, a terraced castle with gardens and a Michelin one-star rated restaurant. You can drink an aperitif in the caves under the castle which serve as their winecellar. There are also a few other Michelin star restaurants in the city.

You could combine Maastricht with a few hours in Valkenburg and/or the American War cemetery in Margraten (both about 15-20 minutes outside of Maastricht). Again, the countryside around there is gorgeous.

This keeps sounding better and better!!

Delft has been mentioned-it is doable as a side-trip from Amsterdam-we found it very lovely and stayed overnight, but even if your visit is limited to just a few hours, it is worthwhile. The pottery, the canals, the Old and New Kierkes (I think I recall that the NEW church pre-dates 1700!).

It's surprising that no one mentioned Gent-half and hour train from Brugge, with lovely old town centre.

For museums goers, the Vermeer in Den Haag is not to be missed.

Strasbourg is very nice, if you have time. I don't know how close it is to the other places that you are visiting but it's worth a visit.

Antwerp, Brugge, Delft

Haarlem is also very nice!

Another vote for Maastricht; it's absolutely lovely, especially in summer. Very well maintained city, with beautiful squares, lots of cafés and restaurants. There are caves near Maastricht that you can explore with a guide (as in Valkenburg. caves were made through excavation of the rocks, that are used in local buildings).

If you happen to be in that area on a Sunday, there's an antiques market in Tongeren, Belgium (one of Belgium's oldest cities) on Sunday morning; be there early, I think it starts at 6 am!

See this site for Maastricht;
http://www.vvv-maastricht.eu/home.html

If you have a car, visit the countryside around Maastricht, and villages like Thorn and Valkenburg that have been mentioned already.

Maastricht is lovely - I vote for it too. And you have already mentioned Lille - although it does have what I think of as Dutch-style architecture. Very pretty!

Lovely ideas, thank you.

LDF - Here's a link to my trip report through the BeNeLux region, with information about many of the towns which were mentioned here. Maybe you can find something useful in the report.

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/trip-report---london-and-benelux-belgium-the-netherlands-and-luxembourg.cfm

Robyn

Hi Robyn, Thank you. I already read it! It was great. You guys are serious travelers! You put us to shame. We are kind of loafers. Glad it is on this thread now, I can look at it closer to the trip. Lux. sounds amazing, maybe we can get there.

Just wanted to update everyone, and thank all of you for the advice. We really really fell in love with Haarlem, and want to skip out of Bruges (lovely, but PACKED with tourists) and head back to the Hotel Stempels and the laid back lifestyle there. I think we will end up staying in Bruges though, and doing more day trips than we had planned. Maastricht sounds great with Valkenburg too maybe. By the way, we are staying at a nice hotel here called Heritage, perfect location and quiet. Very comfortable, but it is no Stempels, which was elegant, old, spare minimalistic place with really cool art and design elements all around. Best swedish luxury bedding too.

Hi Lucy - Aahhh, Haarlem. Now you know why everyone recommended a visit there. From your post, it sounds like you're on your journey, as we type. What itinerary did you finally decide on?

Robyn

Robyn: So we are back now, and got bumped off a flight (happily) and got a 800Euro vouchers each for the airline. We are still waiting for our luggage though!

We did the following:
-Flew into Amsterdam, took the bus straight from airport to Haarlem, walked to hotel. Fairly easy. Stempels hotel was so beautiful and reasonably priced. We adored it there, it made it hard to head to other places. We spent two nights there, and spent one evening in Amsterdam. We are both from big cities and we enjoyed the calm and quiet of Haarlem the best. Most fun we had was biking to the seashore towns, and hanging out there. Ride was easy and beautiful.

-From Haarlem we took the train to Bruges, where we stayed at the Hotel Heritage, rated well with trip advisor. It was very nice, but no Stempels. It was more like a nice, clean, regular hotel in a good location in Bruges. It was sort of faux old decor, which was not so charming. We spent three nights in Bruges, more than I would have chosen. We enjoyed it, but it was not nearly as much as Haarlem. We loved the chocolate store there called The Chocolate Line. Amazing. Also had some great beers. People were friendly. We biked to the beach, and after a bunch of mishaps with wrong turns, we made it. Pretty but a little less scenic and pristine than the beach town in the Netherlands.

-From Bruges we headed to Antwerp. We had some stressful news from home while there, so it never really felt so great being there. Plus our hotel, in a great neighborhood, but not so nice (Matelote) had no A/C, was really really hot, and had lots of mosquitos. Not that enjoyable. I liked Antwerp, and would have liked to explore/shop more, but he did not love it at all. Left two nights early, cut our losses, and headed back to Haarlem where we breathed a sigh of relief.

-Once back at Stempels in Haarlem, we were so much happier and relaxed, and spent more time in Amsterdam and around town, just bumming around and seeing things. We ate a lot of good food, hung out at outdoor cafes, read a lot and relaxed (the goal of our vacation). We both lead extremely busy lives where we work a ton, so we needed some seriously comfortable and aesthetically pleasing down time. It was sad to leave, and now I want to go back. I want to learn some Dutch which I think is really a cool language, and likely easy for English speakers.

Thank you all so so much for the tips on traveling. It was so nice to have all of that info. We want to go back to Holland and see more of it, including all the towns that were mentioned above that we did not see.

Since we have lots of airline vouchers, we are planning another trip--with the help of this site of course! Now all we need is some time off.
-Lucy

Make it over to Lille next time. (Or Rijsel, as the Flemish prefer to call it.)

Late to this thread but wanted to add Edam for the next person. We really loved it.

http://www.soultravelers3.com/2006/09/more-edam.html

We loved Bruge too, but we were there in the fall when it is not so crowded.

Edam, there are just so many pretty places to see in Holland! I cannot wait to go back. Will try to get to northern France and Lille next time too. I think Bruges would be great in the Fall. In Haarlem, it was crazy how each and every street was more charming than the next. Hardly any cars, lots of bikes, and everyone sitting out at cafes for what looked like great long, fun lunches in the sun.

I'm happy that Haarlem didn't let you down LDF. I'll check out Stempels next time I am there. The location is excellent.

Lots to do and see in the Hague and Delft.

Hi Lucy - Thanks for reporting about your trip. It sounds like you had a wonderful time. And I'm glad you really enjoyed Haarlem. It is a quintessential Dutch town. As is Delft, which I hope you will consider visiting on your next trip. Just curious, which airline did you get bumped from and end up with 800Euro vouchers each?

Robyn

Robyn- Sorry for delay, we got bumped off KLM/NW/Delta/Air France. Ended up flying home on a fantastic coach class Air France flight. Much better than the first class Delta flight on the way there.