France
 

Hello! We are putting a trip together but have limited time. So far, its Amsterdam for 2 nights, Bruges for 2 nights and 5 nights undetermined but we will fly out of paris so we thought 3 nights in Paris but that leaves us 2 nights somewhere between Bruges and Paris. This is our first trip to this area. We love the museums, architecture, history, sitting in cafes, dining out. Any suggestions?

Two nights in each of Amsterdam and Bruges will really only give one full day in each place. Bruges is small and two nights is probably enough, but not really for Amsterdam. Equally three in Paris is two full days, which is really IMO not enough.

Perhaps you could add a day onto each of Amsterdam and Paris to do them a bit more justice? I wouldn't want to add on a further destination giving 4 stops in only 9 nights.

I would take those two days and add them to Amsterdam where you have only two days - one presumably the day your land - Amsterdam has so much to see and do - do a day trip to a Dutch regional town perhaps like Delft, Haarlem, Utrecht, etc or a day trip to Zaanse Schans windmills a short train ride away.
Are you taking the train?

Or add another day to Paris where you only have 2.5 days now - you have to figure in travel time between cities as taking a half-day with relocating hotels, etc.

Hope so because for all those cities cars are a complete hassle - parking in Amsterdam can cost $30-40/day and cars just can't be driven easily around cities where there are large pedstrianized zones.

Anyway for lots of great info on Benelux trains - Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg and French check out these IMO superb sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com.

There is a Benelux-France railpass that would cover trains between all those cities, including Bruges-Lille-TGV to Paris -

Add a day to Paris and a day to Amsterdam. You've shortchanged yourself on both cities.

Agree with all the above responses. Only 3 destinations, & 1 1/2 days in Bruges is fine.

Stu Dudley

Thanks everyone, we'll take your advice and add a day to Amsterdam and a day to Paris and thank you also for the train links.

Agree with above posters; add a day each to Paris and Amsterdam. You'll still barely scratch the surface of these cities. After London, Amsterdam is my favorite city in Europe--maybe in the world.