Well, I have planned out my itinerary and just wanted to see if you all had any input before I commit to nonrefundable train tickets! Here it is:

Day 1 - arrive in Brussels, train to Paris immediately, night in Paris
Day 2 - Paris
Day 3 - Paris
Day 4 - Paris, maybe w/day trip to Champagne region (Reims)(hubby really wants to do this, I think it might be rushed)
Day 5 - train to Brussels in a.m.
Day 6 - day in Brussels
Day 7 - train to Amsterdam in a.m.
Day 8 - Amsterdam
Day 9 - Amsterdam, p.m. train to Brussels
Day 10 - fly out of Brussels

I have been to Paris once before so I have already seen a lot of the highlights at least (but DH has not). Neither of us have been to Brussels or Amsterdam before. I know this trip is a bit rushed, but I can't help myself, there is so much we want to see! We are backtracking through Brussels when we are (rather than putting it on the beginning or end of the trip) because hotel rooms are about 70% cheaper on the weekend and Days 5 and 6 are weekend days. Any thoughts/critiques??

Ack, I meant "Brussels" of course, why do I always have typos in the title where I can't edit them?!?

Rather than stopping on Day 5

Oops, hit the darn button accidentally...

Rather than stopping in Brussels on Day 5, why don't you continue on to Åmsterdam for the next 3-4 nights, and end the trip in Brussels. Otherwise, you are making two separate stops in Brussels, which seems like a waste of time and energy.

Have you considered Bruges? It's a very charming and beautiful town, well worth a visit. Unless you are very interested in Brussels, you may consider visiting Bruges instead. If you do that, I would instead travel to Bruges on Day 5, and then go on to Amsterdam, following your original itinerary.

Paule

Okay, I just read through your original post, and I see why you're planning to stop on day 5 in Brussels. But it still seems like a bit of an overkill, and you're losing time on such a short trip. Just my opinion, of course.

There are moderately priced places in Bruges, though. When are you planning to go?
Paule

It sounds like a fair split of your time and not that rushed, espec. if you take the above suggestion, and go Paris (4),Amsterdam(3)then Brussels(2).

I second the recommendation of Bruges -an overnight would be good if you take a day away from Brussels.

There was a lovely small 4* hotel on the canal that I was dying to stay in (we had to return to Brussels that night). Bruges is beautiful!

Thanks for the suggestions! Yes, I am just torn over whether to just do Brussels at the end. But we can stay in such a beautiful hotel for 120E (normally like 450E!) if we do it on the weekend, vs. our typical budget hotels. And I really do want to see Brussels - I am a dork but really have an interest EU government and int'l law, so it perhaps has more appeal for me than the typical tourist. Hmmm . . .

Are you confined to flying in and out of Brussels? I found the city to have enough for at most 1.5 days...and if you are going to be there on a weekend, the EU locations will be quite dead. I love Amsterdam - did a long weekend there (3 nights, 4 days) and the same in Brugges as well. Paris, well, you can spend as much time there as you have and still not see it all. If you stay only with the city of Amsterdam sites, you can do it in 2.5 days but be warned, you'll be up early and back to the hotel late. My trip report is somewhere on the board - just don't do the Keukenhof an guided tour pieces. I loved Brugges - lovely little city, lots to see, did a Western Front trip that lasted a full day. However, I would avoid Brugges on a weekend - tour buses descend and it can get crowded. You'll have a great trip regardless - can't wait to get back again myself!

If you are interested in International Law, you might like to have a tour of the European Parliament or attend a plenary sitting.

http://tinyurl.com/2wngn2

........But if you are in Brussels at the weekend, the EU institutions will be closed.

In Brussels the Grand place is spectacular and there are very good art museums. Ghent is another good side trip with a beautiful historic district that might be less crowded/touristy than Brugges on the weekends. There are boat tours and I know you can also rent bikes (although maybe not on sundays)

Thanks, lawchick, I'll check that out. We're actually there on a Friday and Saturday, so I might be able to do the tour on Friday. Yes, unfortunately we are constrained to flying in and out of Brussels, it would've been better to do AMS or CDG but the tickets were much more expensive.

I'll second the vote for Ghent over Brugges.

If you are in the EU quartier, check out the Place Jordan for the most famous frites in Brussels, and I doubt if Rue Archimides is ever dead when it comes to restaurants and drinks. When in Brussels, I think the one thing not to miss is the Horta museum, as well as the sight of the Grand Place. Otherwise, much of Brussels is a surprisingly unattractive city.

Really, unless there's something specific you want to see in Brussels, it's Grand Place and walk around the chocolate stores in the area.

I would fit in a day in Brugges. The most beautiful small city.

We were there for almost 2 days last year. We rented bikes the second day and drove around half the bike path surrounding the city. Past/stopped at windmills, etc.

Try to fit in most of a day.

LOL, not too many Brussels fans around here, are there?! Thanks for the suggestions on Bruge, but especially if we end up doing the day trip to Reims I think we might end up feeling crazed if we added another city - five cities in ten days! I will think about stealing a bit of time from Brussels and adding it to Paris or Amsterdam, i.e. instead of early morning train to Brussels on Day 5 we could do the afternoon train. That would give us more time in Paris and maybe make the day trip to Reims more doable w/o feeling rushed. And we can also take an early a.m. train from Brussels to Amsterdam to maximize time in Amsterdam.