fourfortravel

Brussels could also be done from Brugge--it's about an hour. The Hague is two-and-a-half hours from Brugge and could be a longer day trip.

november_moon

The Belgian coast is also a day trip from Bruges.

farrermog

Belgian coast from Brugge - in March I took the train (cheap weekend return fare 4,20 euros) to Knokke on the coast and tram along the coast (all day anywhere ticket 6 euros), stopping at De Haan about half way. Interesting to see how the locals have their holidays by the sea (although not particularly 'scenic' - flat as you'd expect and interspersed with working ports) and even on a March weekend the trams (which run regularly) were crowded.

This useful thread may not come up in searches because of the typo in the title -

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-four-days.cfm

hetismij

If you want to get to Makkum the best thing is to hire a car. Since you are struggling to find accommodation in Amsterdam maybe consider staying up in Friesland for you time in the Netherlands?