We have to be in Rome mid June. We have been to Italy many times so I was thinking we would continue on to another country. What would be the best itinerary? We have 2 weeks so I was thinking 3 days in Rome, fly to Paris, train to Amsterdam stopping in Bruge for a day. We could flip the trip or change it completely. We could also do just Italy and Amsterdam. My daughters 17 and 19 really want to see Amsterdam.

Our family of four, including our 17 and 20 year old 'kids', really loved Amsterdam in June 2005. We had flown to London, taken the train to Paris, then the train to Amsterdam for five nights. I think your daughters would like it a lot.

Here's my complete trip report (hope it's not too much info.):

"Final stop: Amsterdam. Five nights’ stay, first visit for all of us.

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Amsterdam! You always hear of the Red Light district and the coffee shops and the laissez-faire attitude, but you don’t hear how open and friendly the people are, how lovely the canals and side streets, how wonderfully trendy the restaurants and cafes, how people are out strolling at all hours of the night and you feel safe everywhere. I think I’d expected it to be quaint and charming (which it is), but in a dark wood-paneled cliché way, not in the young and contemporary way it is.

The standard reply we were given in Amsterdam, when we asked for anything, was always “Of course!” How refreshing.

We stayed in a fabulous location, at The Hotel Residence le Coin, which was directly across a small street from the Hotel de l’Europe, down the street from the Hotel Doelan, on Nieuwe Doelenstraat (sp?). A great neighborhood in the heart of old Amsterdam.

The hotel has a lift and A/C, also free use of the hotel’s washing machine and clothes dryer in the basement (which was welcome as we’d been traveling over a week when we arrived there). Each room has a little kitchenette, a nice-sized bath, large rooms with wooden floors and a sitting area. It’s fairly new, so everything sparkles. Very friendly front desk, too.

Two cafes on the same block as the hotel were wonderful: Café Katoen for a university atmosphere, and Café le Jarden, for great table seating on the canal.

Amazing dinners at two restaurants in particular:
“Stout!”, at Haarlemmerstraat 73 (www.restaurantstout.nl). Fabulous ‘foamy asparagus’ soup with shrimp, chateaubriande, fresh fish, dessert course, wine list. Very trendy lighting. Great service. We’d gone to the neighborhood in search of a restaurant called “Lof” which we’d seen written up. We didn’t like its atmosphere, but were lucky that Stout! was just across the street.

Also at “Restaurant Dining Eleven” we had a great dinner. It’s at Reestraat 11. Also trendy and contempory, well-presented and beautifully-served meal.

Another nice dinner at “frenzi”, at Swanenburgwal 232. Very simple and contemporary. We arrived shortly after 10:00p.m., when most restaurants close in Amsterdam, and persuaded the owner to sell us any left-overs they had in the kitchen! They put together a nice Caesar salad with cooked-in-the-shell shrimp and mango. Very nice.

Also a good brunch at a place across the street from frenzi—called “Puccini”. Creative salads and sandwiches. Very nice also.

We took a canal cruise one evening. Toured the Anne Frank Huis and the Van Gogh Museum. Visited the Nieuwe Kerk (sp?) Our teens went to a concert at the Paradiso and loved it.

One afternoon we did the 2:30 “Best of Holland” excursion to Volendam and Marken, with a stop to see wooden clogs made, Gouda cheese created, and to visit windmills. It was by bus, with a boat from Volendam to Marken. A lot of fun. Even our two teens liked it.

Our teens also liked shopping at one street in particular, between our hotel and the museum district. Also a Zara shop there, and many others like it. They thought the selection and prices were better in Amsterdam than what they’d seen in London and Paris even.

A detail about Amsterdam if you go there-- carry enough Euros in cash, because many places won't accept a credit card for a 'small' purchase (i.e. under 25 EU).

The only unpleasantness we encountered in Amsterdam related to cab rides and inconsistent pricing. Especially when our two teens were grossly overcharged cabbing to the hotel from the concert. They were well aware of the route, having walked it already twice, but we'd wanted them to cab home late at night. They knew the cabbie took a very round-about way back in order to over-charge. Also, when we arrived at the taxi sand at Central Station, I was literally swarmed by rather aggressive cabbies and felt uncomfortably jostled by them all.

We took the Thalys from Paris to Amsterdam. It, too, was very nice, until we encountered a derailment which had rail traffic stopped at central station. We were re-routed to Schipol airport, and told our tickets would get us to Central Station on another train. It didn't make much sense, as that train also got held up by the derailment mess, and was a commuter which was quite slow. Also, they didn't give us much direction as to how to find the next train, but we figured it out. Some locals simply shrugged and indicated that the train system didn't usually run 100 percent smoothly. Not a good start to Amsterdam, but we loved it there anyway."
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Sounds reasonable to me

Basically 10 days for Paris and Amsterdam with a train ride in between. Sounds great in fact!

Can you fly home from Amsterdam or do you have to return to Rome?

It is very doable. I just returned Thursday from 3 weeks in Amsterdam, Italy and Paris. Like suze suggested try to fly on an open jaw ticket to eliminate backtracking to Rome.

Tom

Yo can see my photos from my trip at www.pbase.com/trsw

Maureen that just got me sooooo excited, thanks.
I haven't booked my flights so I can fly out of anywhere. Maybe I should fly out of Paris because it has direct flights to Chicago. I don't think it should be hard to get a flight from Rome to Amsterdam.

Panucci, I'm glad you liked the info. I forgot to say that we had two connecting rooms at the Hotel Residence le Coin, which is perfect with teens, so they can watch their own TV shows and have their own bathroom. Our rooms were both called "twins" room, but they just pushed the two beds together to form the "marriage" bed for us.

If your daughters like music, have them search for concerts at the Paradiso. It's a converted church that is known everywhere at the venue in Amsterdam where the musicians want to play. Our two really enjoyed their concert there. We felt safe about them being on their own that night. Although we did insist they cab home, instead of walking alone around midnight.
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No direct flights out of Amsterdam to Chicago? Are you sure a flight with a connection would be such a hassle?

Why are you going to Rome? Why not just begin in Paris? I also like revisiting Roma, but for 3 days in June, I would skip the added the expense.

I would fly out of amsterdam instead of CDG any day.

One other sidenote. When we flew home from Amsterdam, we were impressed with the level of security regarding our luggage. For obvious reasons, they were carefully checking bags, especially of young people.

My husband and I were waved through, but both our teens were given the third-degree, and their bags were opened and thoroughly inspected. I believe there were drug-sniffing dogs around, too.

So, just a warning, because your teens will probably be curious about the free use of marijuana in Amsterdam...

The good news is that the airport felt very secure because of all the precautions they took.
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I agree Rome is out of the way but my father just passed away and requested that we do something at the Spanish Steps for him. It will also be over our anniversary and we were married in Rome 22 years ago.

TRSW wonderful pictures! Thanks

I will double check if there is a direct from Amsterdam. I just hate turning an 8 hour flight into 14.

Of course, panucci. Sorry for your loss and best wishes for a great stay in Roma.

I think United flies direct from Amsterdam to Chicago.

It sounds quite reasonable to me, in fact I've done that itinerary more than a few times-however, I'd chuck Brugge for Delft-out of Amsterdam, that makes more sense-if you miss Delft you're missing one of the great medieval jewel cities of Europe. Fab-the medieval town center, the canals, the shops, the restaurants-all good-and the weekend flea market canalside is great too.

Someone mentioned it should be easy to get a flight from Rome to Amsterdam, but I don't see any budget airlines doing that. I've looked at the Dutch Transavia Airlines on flights to Amsterdam from Venice or Naples, but they don't do them to from Rome -- only to Rotterdam from there.

I'd stick with Rome, then fly to Paris, train to Amsterdam with the stop in Brugge, and fly home from Amsterdam.
And yes, I think it's a wonderful combination of three cities (4 counting Brugge) for a two week holiday.

EasyJet flies Rome (Ciampino) to Orly; Ryanair flies to Beauvais. Personally, I'd pick the former if the hours work for you.

United definitely flies AMS-ORD N/S.

Thanks everyone! Rome to Paris, Paris to Amsterdam. I'm going to check flights now. Can anyone tell me more about Delft? How far from Amsterdam is it and would it be a day trip or overnight stop?

The great thing about Amsterdam is that most all of their interesting cities and towns are usually, at most, a couple of hours train ride-but in the case of Delft it's only an hour away from Amsterdam's Centrale station. There is a Fodorite who is from Delft-JenViolin-I think her name is, who might chime in.

A beautiful medieval city, is Delft. There are many ancient sights in and through the canals, the Old Church, from 1200's, the New Church from 1400's, the City Hall, the old meat market, fish hall, Het Prinsenhof-an ancient cloister (where Prince William of Orange was killed) the East Gate, to name a few-and of course the Royal Delft factory-which you can visit, and even do a porcelain tile workshop there, I understand. There is also "De Candelaer" another small porcelain factory which is possible to visit also. Really there are SO many medieval sights, museums here that I have not mentioned!

Just strolling through the city, and finding a lovely canalside bar/restaurant is easy to do, and a great pleasure, particularly on weekends. My favorite: EETCAFE DE RUIF-the best food I've had in Holland. There's the oldish restaurant, which used to be a carriage house I believe, but better to eat out on their barge that is tied up canalside-wonderful salads, mussels, apple cake and ambience-can't go wrong here-I've recommended this place to Dutch and others alike, and they have been very pleased!

You can also take a horse-drawn carriage ride, if that's your thing. I love this city and find it similar to Ghent, in Belgium-much to do, lively, ancient historical center, laid-back, not dead at night-wonderful European gem cities!

And Dukey, I just did the Ryanair flight from CIA to Beauvais last month, and folks, that could NOT have been more easy and pleasant. The airplane pulls right up to the airport, you get out, the baggage carrel is right there, the bags come out 5 min. later, you already buy your bus ticket on line, go outside-get on the bus-and it took me exactly 18 minutes (I timed it) from when I got off the plane, until we were on the road to Paris. The bus ride is a bit over an hour, a pleasant stretch of French countryside-you get to the terminal there -walk across the street for taxis and metro.

Thanks! It sound wonderful.

Girlspytravel:

Thanks for the first-hand report re Ryanair to Beauvais. My only other hesitation would now be the fact that Ryanair allows less checked baggage than does EasyJet. Of course who knows how long before EasyJet follows suit.

Yes indeed, Girlspy took a burning hit on that baggage score-had I not had overweight baggage, and with all the other nickel and diming, I still think it would have come out to about 60E-as it was I did have to pay 35 Euro-ouch!