I've read so much that my head is spinning. We will arrive Amsterdam on a Monday morning around 10:00 and need to meet friends in Bruges sometime on Tues, we will spend 3 nights there with them before traveling to Haarlem for 3 nights to see Amsterdam and Haarlem, we then fly out of Amsterdam on Monday. We thought about stopping off in Brussels for the first night since we will have to train there anyway to get to Bruges. After looking at hotel prices and not loving large cities, I'm hoping for a better option to spend the first night. Any recommendations would be great, do not really want to spend $175.00 and up for a decent hotel,if you have a safe place in Brussels and still think that's the place to stay, GREAT!

Brussels is not on the quickest rail route to Bruges as you would change in Antwerp - quicker and cheaper. Consider Antwerp as a fine fine town with hotels perhaps a better deal than Brussels. About two hours from Schiphol by direct train - then about 90 minutes by direct Antwerp-Bruges trains - not going via Brussels. For my money Antwerp is a more enjoyable town than Brussels anyways.

We stayed at the Brussels Hilton City Centre, a short walk from a railroad station, North I think. It was last spring break, 99 Euros per room, great breakfast. Hop on Hop off bus stops across the street near the Sheraton. I think it's worth it just to see the Grande Place at night. For me that place was magical! Also loved Bruges, but was only there for a day trip, and Haarlem too. Sounds like a wonderful trip!

I second the suggestion about Antwerp.

If you book this, just an fyi that there are 2 stations at Antwerp...

If you end up in Brussels, we stayed at Hotel Atlas:
www.atlas-hotel.be/

We were in Brussels, Bruges and Amsterdam in May. We started in Brussels and enjoyed seeing the Grand Place. We stayed in an area about a 10 minute away near St. Catherine's Church at the Hotel Welcome -- the rooms range from about $90 - 150 per night and it was fine (if you are looking for an interested, budget oriented hotel). It's about a 20 minute walk from the train station.

That being said, later in our trip we went from Amsterdam to Bruges by train, and changed in Antwerp which did seem to be easier then going down to Brussels. The train was right across from the one we came in to Antwerp on and the whole change took under 5 minutes. Friends we traveled with stayed in Antwerp after Bruges and really enjoyed it there.

Bruges is really nice but it gets incredibly crowded, the weekdays are probably better then the weekends. We stayed at a wonderful B&B called Number 11.

Ditto Rachele's response. We stayed at Number 11..in "The Suite" and it was wonderful. Annie is the best. We trained from Bruges to A'dam via Antwerp..easy. The Brussell thing sounds to BUSY..especially after your flight.

Another second to Antwerp per PalenqueBob and capkirk1. The central square of Antwerp is as interesting as the Grand Place / Grote Markt of Brussels.

Besides, you are more likely to find English speakers in Antwerp. Brussels is officially bilingual, French (Walloon) and Dutch (Vlaanders), but most of the people speak French and seem loath to acknowledge anyone speaking English. Just my experience, and recent. Antwerp is in the Dutch part of Belgium and very accommodating to us "Yanks."

Great mussels in Antwerp, like in Brussels. I used to live in Haarlem. If you want any info send another post here to Fodors.