indy_dad

Early days in planning a Belgium/Holland trip for next spring (Good Friday + week, 2nd week of April). Family of 4 (kids 12 & 9) coming from the UK. I've been to Belgium (briefly) on a business trip but the family has not.

Day 1: UK to Brussels by early afternoon. Stow bags. Walk around Brussels (Grand Place, etc.). Pick up bags. Train to Bruges for 3 nights

Days 2-3 (Easter Sat and Sun). Bruges. Activities TBD.

Day 4 Train to Amsterdam in morning. Afternoon in Amsterdam. 5 nights in Amsterdam as base.

Days 5-8 -- 2 days in Amsterdam and 1 at Keukenhof and 1 free day for "Storybook Holland" (bikes, smaller cities, national park, etc). Anne Frank, Van Gogh, & NEMO so far for the city.

Day 9 -- return to UK

Reasonable?

If we stay in Amsterdam, we would like to be close to public transport (ideally walking distance to the central train station) and restaurants but not loud night life, etc. (i.e. "family" environment). Seems like the Jordaan area is mentioned frequently as is Vondel Park. Is VP more inconvenient for the day trips since it is farther from the train station?

So, given that we will spent 2.5 days in Amsterdam and maybe 2 outside, is that the recommended place to stay? Or should we say in Haarlem and commute to Amsterdam for those days?

In Amsterdam, are there apartment agencies (like Sleep in Italy for Rome) that are recommended or is it more VRBO types? Any recommendations? May try the houseboat thing, but not sure if that will be a winner or not.

For the Bruges bit, how will Easter weekend affect things? Crazy crowds? Everything closed on Sunday? I put Bruges first to try to put the tulips towards the middle of April rather than the beginning but a few days may not matter that much.

Any other suggestions?

sjj

My wife and I are just back from an eleven day stay in a VRBO rental apartment in the Jordaan area. I don't think there's much difference between Jordaan and Vondel Park in terms of time spent traveling to Centraal Station, so it might make sense to pick your apartment on the basis of proximity to restaurants, grocery stores, and nightclubs rather than transportion time. I suggest buying 1 day or 2 day public transportation passes for Amsterdam public transport. You can get them at the VVV office near Centraal Station. Buying museum cards may not be worth it for such a short visit, but if you do decide to buy them you can get them at the ticket offices of major museums.

Haarlem has two stellar attractions, the Franz Hals museum and the St. Bavo church. Haarlem is definitely worth a visit, but if you stay there you'll be spending a lot of time on the train to and from Amsterdam and you won't have as easy a time getting trains to the other places you want to visit. The attractions you mentioned in Amsterdam sound good (but what is NEMO?), and I certainly wouldn't want to miss the Keukenhof. We went there on a previous visit, and loved it. I'd also consider going to the Hague to visit the excellent museums there, particularly the Mauritshuis.

If I may make one more comment, the Netherlands is not noted for its cuisine. When we were there (both trips) we took the advice of locals we knew and stuck to Italian and Indonesian food.

Have a nice trip.

aussiedreamer

We recently did 2 nights Brussels, 2 x Bruges & 2 Amsterdam (eurostar from London, but we are Aussies).

We loved Bruges and were lucky enough to be there for the Ascension Day Parade which was great (you'll be there a bit too early). One of our highlights was hiring bikes in Bruges, riding to the Damme Canal and catching a 'steam' boat to Damme, riding around Damme then riding back along the canal banks. Just lovely. We had two really nice meals in Bruge one was at an Italian place near our B&B and the other was a more modern al carte meal.

If you click on my name you'll see my TR of this trip. We also enjoyed Brussels but did not enjoy Amsterdam as much. Just a personal thing.

indy_dad

@sjj -- thanks for the tips. I'm leaning towards Amsterdam for the convenience.

@aussiedreamer -- thanks for the Bruge tip. I've left that somewhat open at this point (except for returning to the brewery!) and it's good to get recommendations.

Anyone else? I'm finding the apartments pretty pricey so far (200-250€/night) -- perhaps that's the going rate for 1-2BR in/near the Jordaan. We'll be staying in Rome much cheaper!

sjj

Our VRBO 2 bedroom rental on Goudsbloemstraat in the Jordaan was about 180€ per night. It seems like a lot, but we ate enough breakfasts and lunches there so that the trip wasn't unusually expensive.

bardo1

In Bruges, we stayed at this lovely 2BR a few blocks from the main square.

A bargain at €125/night (minimum 3 nights required stay)

http://www.vrbo.com/34803

indy_dad

Any comments on this apartment in the Jordaan area? A little steep (€250/nt) but it does have 2 BR, washer/dryer, location, etc.

http://www.bookamsterdamapartments.c...artment-1.html

rachie205

Did you check out Airbnb? We're planning on using them for our honeymoon..just make sure the ones you book all have lots of good reviews.

sjj

It's a very good location, but €250 is about $330. The apartment we rented, for $180/nt, wasn't in as good a location and was a little uncomfortable to live in despite being well equipped, though without a washer/dryer. I guess you get what you pay for. Before making any decisions, I'd check to see how close the apartment is to grocery stores and tram stops.

sjj

Oops, I meant €180/nt when referring to the apartment my wife and I rented.

bardo1

Agree - that apartment looks great. You're paying a bit more for the primo location and need to decide for yourself if it's worth it. It is a GREAT location.

Vttraveler

This is a sightseeing, not apartment suggestion for your day out of Amsterdam. Last weekend we visited the Kröller-Müller museum with friends, a beautiful spot with bicycling and a first class art museum
http://kmm.nl/

The nearest city is Utrecht