Düsseldorf - Belgium - Amsterdam
 

My friends and I are taking a two weeks trip to Europe in June and I was wondering if we can get some pointers. Our trip will start in Düsseldorf (we plan to spend about two days here). We will then head out to Belgium or the Netherlands and finish the trip in Amsterdam.

What is the best way to go about these routes? For example, is it better to take go around by trains or should we rent a car. Are there direct trains that connect the three countries. Also, what are the best things to see in these areas?

Train connections between cities are excellent. If you concentrate on visiting cities like Düsseldorf, Köln, Aachen, Brussel, Antwerpen, Brugge, Maastricht, Utrecht, Amsterdam, going by train is fine. No car needed.

E.g. the train from Köln to Brussel takes 2:22. The train from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam takes 2:11.

For connections, use www.bahn.de

You may rent a car if you want to be more flexible, e.g. driving to beaches and dams on Zeeland (in June, water will still be a bit too cold for swimming).

Here a proposal for an itinerary:

2 days Düsseldorf
1 day Köln
1/2 day Aachen, 1/2 Maastricht
1 day Brussel
1/2 day Gent
1 day Brugge
1 day Antwerpen
1 day Utrecht
3 days Amsterdam

Add the remaining 2 days whereever you want to spend a little more time at a place of choice.

Some highlights of the German part of the trip:

Düsseldorf
- stroll along the riverbank to the new harbour with spectacular contemporary architecture (e.g. Frank O. Gehry buildings)
- stroll the river promenade along Altstadt (old town) and enjoy urban life there, stroll through baroque Karlstadt and through the Altstadt, see Andreaskirche and Maxkirche
- window shopping on Königsallee (Germany's most elegant shopping street)
- visit world-class museums of 20th century art (K20 - oops, temporarily closed in June) and contemporary art (K21) and the current exhibition in Museum Kunst Palast
- take the regional train to the Neanderthal Museum - a state-of-the-art museum of the history of mankind with excellent audioguides in English, walk through the Neanderthal valley where ice-age animals live in corrals http://www.neanderthal.de/
- think about visiting a vaudeville-type show in the Apollo Theatre http://www.apollo-variete.com/

Köln
- of course the Dom (cathedral) including treasury
- Romano-Germanic museum - one of the best Roman museums in Europe
- Wallraff-Richartz-Museum: world class museum of medieval art
- Museum Ludwig: outstanding museum of contemporary art
- or the chocolate museum?

Aachen
- medieval city hall
- the Dom (cathedral) where Charlemagne was crowned exactly in the year 800
- have a meal in the Postwagen (attached to the city hall)

I leave Belgium and Netherlands for the specialists here on the forum.

Nice job traveller!

I'm topping for preluc

Thanks for the information. Do you know of any medieval buildings and castles in the places you mentioned?

Right in Düsseldorf, in the lovely suburb of Kaiserswerth (excellent restaurant there, BTW, the "Schiffchen"), there are the ruins of a medieval castle:

http://www.aam-web.de/burgen-g-l/pfalz-kaiserswerth.htm

Not far from Düsseldorf, there is a nice castle which is now a hotel/restaurant:

http://www.hugenpoet.de/

In Aachen, there is a medieval castle:

http://www.burgfrankenberg.de/
http://www.aachen.de/en/ts/140_museums/140_20.html

BTW, there is nothing more medieval than Aachen Cathedral:

http://www.aachen.de/en/ts/140_museums/140_90.html