Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - First time to Denmark,Holland and Belgium

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First time to Denmark,Holland and Belgium

We are going on a trip in July starting in Copenhagen then travel to Amsterdam (around Holland) after that to Belgium.All together we have three weeks. Any suggestions? The must see things and places? Appreciate any help at all, Marina

Some ideas for the Netherlands: Amsterdam is designed for walking/biking/public transport. In Amsterdam, one of the simplest and nicests things to do in walking around in the canal zone and the Jordaan area and people watching from a terrace. Also: visit the Rijksmuseum (old art), the Vincent van Gogh Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum (modern art). The Anne Frank Huis is a must, too. Other nice museums are the Tropen Museum and the Nautical (scheepvaart) museum. Take a canal boat tour, and go shopping in Magna Plaza or PC Hooftstraat or Spiegelstraat or in the Jordaan area. On a nice day, go by train to Zandvoort ("Amsterdam beach"). Or, take a long day trip to the island of Terschelling. (you will need a car for this one: drive to Harlingen (about 1.5 hrs), take the ferry to Terschelling (about 2 hours). Rent a bicycle in Amsterdam and take a trip to the South: the winding road along the river Gein between Driemond and Abcoude (just 7 km South of Amsterdam) is very nice for a bike trip. Or follow the river Vecht South from Muiden. Day trips: Go to the Kroller Muller Museum (lots of Van Gogh's) in National Park De Hoge Veluwe. (www.kmm.nl) Take a trip to Kasteel De Haar (castle) in Haarzuilens, close to Utrecht. (www.kasteeldehaar.nl) Other nice day trips from Amsterdam (best by public transport) to Den Haag (the Hague), visit Madurodam (Netherlands in miniature), Panorama Mesdag and Scheveningen beach) Or to Delft, Leiden, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Alkmaar and/or Haarlem. Have a nice time here!

To help you decide look at pictures of Tershcelling on my website www.dutchnsuch.com it would be easier to go to Harlingen on the North Coast of Holland on your way to Holland, rather than backtracking. Lots of bicycyling on the islands and bikes are easy to rent. Taxi's are plentiful. Wave to my brother Tjaard- he works on the 400 year old lighthouse, the Brandaris which is a focus of many paintings etc.

Don't miss the charming city of Brugge in Belgium. Do a search on the board to find lots of comments about the city.

Do a search for Copenhagen on this forum. Several have given good information on this lovely city. Enjoy!

I'm English and haved lived in Copenhagen for a year now. The must see places would Tivoli (which is a park by the main train station). It has some theme park rides, some gardens and concerts. The entrance price is reasonably cheap. Tivoli is definatly worth a visit. Also there is a harbour called Nyhavn. It has a lot of outdoor cafes and if the weather is good there is a very good atmosphere down there. From Nyhavn it is worth going on a canal tour of Copenhagen. Its a very cheap way to see everything. You even go past The Little Mermaid. Also theres The Carsberg Visitors Centre in Frederiksberg. Its free entrance and at the end of the museum you can sample a couple of drinks for free! Anyway I could go on and on because its such a beautiful city but I won't. My advise is to go striaght to The Tourist Information Bureau (opposite the main central station and pick up a copy of a brochure called Copenhagen This Week. Have a great visit!

Agree with Boots. Do a search for Copenhagen on the forum and you will find some of my posts and other excellent ones. Do not miss Tivoli at night. Lots of good places to eat in there too. Excellent music, and beautiful lanterns in the trees at night. Fireworks on Wednesday and Saturday nights, I think. I strongly recommend a Copenhagen Card. You can buy them for 24, 48, or 72 hours and they allow you to ride on all busses and trains for a several-mile radius of the city, and entrance to most of the popular tourist spots. Includes entrance to Tivoli, so you can go in just to eat without spending extra. Also eliminates the uncertainty about what zone you are in and what the fare will be on the bus or the train and how many times to clip a clipcard. Get a bus map at the bus station in City Hall Square for about 75 cents. Easier to read than the free one you get at the TI. Oh, you can get the Copenhagen Card at the airport or the TI, and it also gets you into the National Museum for free, where they have free internet access in the media room just off the main lobby, so you can check your e-mail.

While you're in Belgium, try some belgian waffles avec chocolat, chicken or beef pitas with garlic sauce and frites (french fries) with mayonnaise. Also search out some of the patisseries(pastry shops) and chocolatiers (need I say more??). Brugge is definitely a must-see: charming medieval atmosphere, lovely canals, beautiful lace and tapestries, Saturday flea market along the main streets. If you're a war/military history buff, go to Bastogne, where the Battle of the Bulge took place. In Holland, the town of Maastricht has an awesome flea market called the Snufflemarkt at their "convention center" (can't remember the name of the place). It occurs maybe every two months, but it's worth a look.