lhdez90

so i've never planned a trip in europe so i want to make it as perfect as possible. My boyfriends sister lives in Dusseldorf and so i want to go there but first i would love to spend 4 days in France and then go to Germany. i want to see Amsterdam and also Brussels.

i have access to a car so i can drive, train

any help would be awesome !!

Edward2005

Have you booked your flights? If not, you should fly into one city and out of another. For example, fly into Paris for your first 4 nights, then visit Dusseldorf for 3 nights, then visit Amsterdam for 3 nights. Fly home from Amsterdam. If you really want to visit Brussels, then visit as a day-trip from Amsterdam.

Or you could reverse the order: fly into Amsterdam, visit Dusseldorf, then fly home from Paris.

traveller1959

4 countries plus visiting relatives in 10 days is doable, but tough. You did not write whether arrival and departure day are included in this 10-day-period. If yes, your trip becomes even tougher.

You do not need an open-jaw (or "multi-city") flight (which is usually more expensive). Since your destinations have good train connections, I recommend a loop by train plus daytrips by car from Düsseldorf. This could be a loop:

- Düsseldorf to Amsterdam (2:13 by train).
- Amsterdam to Brussels (1:50).
- Brussels to Paris (1:22).
- Paris to Düsseldorf (3:51).

Of course, you can do the loop in the other direction. Since it is a loop, the starting/ending point does not matter. You can fly into

- Düsseldorf
- Amsterdam
- Paris
- Brussels
- Cologne

Prefer a direct flight into one of these cities.

No, let's go into some details:

From Düsseldorf, you can do daytrips:

- By car to Aachen (cathedral from 800 A.D.) and to Monschau (one of the most picturesque historical town in Germany). You can even include Maastricht in the Netherlands into this daytrip.

- By train (23 min.) to Cologne with one of the largest and finest gothic cathedrals at all, with the fantastic Romano-Germanic Museum, world-class art museums (you have them also in Düsseldorf) and more.

- By car to nearby Neanderthal where you find a stunning state-of-the-art museum of the Neanderthal Man and the historic of mankind in a lovely valley (25 min.).

Also, you will enjoy Düsseldorf, which is an attractive city (regardless what a few morons here on this forum will tell you).

A word about Brussels: Given your limited timeframe, I would recommend to stop in Brussels just for a few hours on the way from Amsterdam to Paris. Just walk over the grand market square and through old town, maybe have lunch.

Paris deserves as much time as possible.

Pegontheroad

I think you're trying to do too much. Assume you will return and will be able to visit some of these places at a later date.

PalenQ

Info on trains - www.seat61.com (great info on discounted tickets if you want to book in stone often weeks in advance to get them); www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Cars are a liability in cities where traffic can be intense and parking expensive and problematic and urban transports are so so fine- use a car for jaunts like traveller1959 suggests.

No taking enough trains for any railpass to be viable IMO.

lhdez90

thank you so much, you're right i may be trying to do too much, so i'm taking Brussels off my list. thank you guys!

PalenQ

Less can be more!

Kathie

You say 10 days, but how many nights do you have on the ground in Europe. Remember that it takes four nights somewhere in order to have 3 days. If you actually have 10 full days (11 nights) 3 locations is do-able, though busy. You might well find that choosing two destinations will yield a more satisfying trip.