Thinking about Amsterdam being the first leg of our trip. Is 4 nights (3full days)enough? Other part is Brugge and Paris. We have been to Paris before so can take a day away from there and add to Amsterdam. We will be taking a 13 day trip.

Thanks, Judy

Hi.

Three days sounds perfect for what you are doing. You'll have time to do plenty but you'll also leave while wanting more.

(If you are so inclined, you may purchase intoxicants in Amsterdam which may tend to make your visit seem much longer than it actually is...)

B.V.

First time to Ams'dam I stayed two nights. The next time I stayed five nights. I still would like go back to see things I missed the first two trips. I would stay 4 nights minimum - with some easy day trips around Holland.

Hi judy,

4 nights is sufficient for Amsterdam.

You might like to visit Haarlem. The cheese market in Gouda is also nice.

We spent 7 nights in Amsterdam. The museums, art (two visits to the Riksmuseum) and otherwise, a day trip to Haarlem, car rental for one day to get out along the coast, just wandering the streets with my camera. I wouldn't do less than 5 if I could.
Rick

We are doing the exact opposite....1 night in Paris, 4 in Bayeux, 2 in Brugge & ending up 3 nights in Amsterdam. We're been told 3 days is o.k. for Amsterdam and may do a bike tour on one of them. I am trying to figure out how to contact a Hotel Washington in Amsterdam. It gets great reviews & sounds like it may be reasonably priced but I can't find any electronic contact info or rate info. Have you found a good hotel or heard of it?

Beechtree -
Why not just give the hotel a call. 020/679-6754 (I forget what prefix you use befor the numbers.) Sounds like a nice hotel from the Fodor's ratings.

We're staying at the Hotel Wiechmann. Similar in size, and on a canal.

What bike tour are you thinking of?

Balto Traveler

I'm thinking of using Let's Go bikes (http://www.letsgo-amsterdam.com/UK/indexUK.htm). I can't remember where we heard about them but they got a good recommendation for providing the bikes and a tour guide who goes with you.

You're right about calling the hotel. I was trying to get some info up front re: rooms, location, price, etc. I may write or call to ask them to send some stuff. I'll also look up the Wiechmann.

Yeah; Let's Go Tours is excellent. (You might have read a recommendation I posted here a while back.)

There's another company called Mike's Bike Tours which is more in-town (starts from the Rijksmuseum). They have branches in several other European cities as well, and we took their tour of Munich. Very entertaining.

Brugge has some bike tour options too. The one that gets mentioned most is Quasimundo. Check out their website.

Thanks for the info on bike tours. It is something we would like to do. Your recommendation makes us much more confortable and I appreciate the leads.

My recent and first trip to Amsterdam was 4 nights and it worked out fine for me. I stayed in town and am not big on formal siteseeing, but wandered around and soaked up the atmosphere. I particularly liked the Leidseplein district & Vondelpark neighborhood. Was less fond of the central area, the Dam, RLD, though interesting I found to be a bit gloomy.

One thing I didn't do but have seen recommended and would do next time, is a boat tour along the canals.

Thanks suze. We also prefer walking and soaking up atmosphere and your advice is helpful.

Just booked our flight for September and in order to get our flight free (using our mileage) we had to shorten our trip from 13 days to 11. Now, I am really confused - don't know if trying to see Amsterdam, Bruge and Paris is just too much. I hate wasting days for travel time. We have to fly back from Paris. I was thinking of 4 full days Amersterdam, 2 nights Bruge (which after travel leaves about 1 1/2 days) and the balance Paris (4 full days plus travel from Bruge). Or, I could just not go to Bruge.... As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been to Paris before. Opinions Welcome....and Needed. Thanks, Judy

Judy -
Your schedule looks perfect. You can see all that Brugge has to offer in that time, and it's well worth seeing. Your time for A'dam and Paris are fine too... especially since you've already "done" Paris.

Just a thought. You could do only one night in Brugge. I spent two nights when I went a couple of years ago but it is small enough that if you got there fairly early (from Amsterdam) and didn't leave till later in the day the following day you would still have the better part of two days plus an evening which would certainly give you time to walk around the whole town (a couple of times), take a boat ride, and pop into a church or museum. I think I would have been content with that amount of time, especially if your alternative is not going at all.