Holland and Belgium
 

Hello -
My husband, my 2-year old son and I are travelling to Holland and Belgium in June. We've been to Amsterdam before and want to see more of the Netherlands. I saw that many of you recommend Delft and Ghent as bases for daytrips. Should we try to stay at each for a week? We will have a car. And, to get the most authentic experience possible, where would you recommend we stay? We'd rather not do a regular hotel, we usually prefer B&B's or renting apts. Any recommendations?
Thank you -

In just about any town or city I can think of there is an office of the VVV in the Netherlands. Perhaps they have a web site, too? English-speaking staff will arrange your stay -- it's such a pleasure.

There are not long distances. We visited Delft as a day trip from Amsterdam, and Gent from Brusseles.

We liked the B&B mentioned in our report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34444403

but parking may be a problem as it is in the old town. I do not recall if the hostess spoke English as I could communicate with her in French.

My family is from Holland although I was born in Canada.

While we were visiting last year we stayed with a friend and took time just visiting many of the great little villages outside of Amsterdam. Unfortunately I don't remember all the names of the towns but I do remember visiting Maastricht and Scheveningen. Kinderdijke is a great place to visit with all the windmills and old houses!

Just driving through the countryside is delightful!

On prior trips I have been to Madurodam (sp?) to see the small scaled down version of Amsterdam. Very interesting!

I have a few photos at www.windjammer.smugmug.com. Just look for the Holland photo album.

Enjoy!

Thank you, everyone, for your advice. Eurotraveller, your photos are great, I can't wait to go there! Michael, do you by any chance remember the name of that B&B you liked? I wanted to read up on it on the Ghent website before I contact them. Language is not a problem, I speak French.

I do not recall the name, but if you google Ghent B&Bs, I am sure that the name of the owner and the e-mail address (annegourhant@hot mail com) will come up.

Being as how Gent is in Vlanders, speaking French won't get you far. Speaking Dutch would be good, but English is widely spoken.

Do a google.com search for "B&B ____" and put any city in the blank. In coastal resort areas cheap sleeps are available in private homes with "Zimmer frei" signs hangng out. Try Zandvoort, for example. June is a little early for the annual German invasion so there should be rooms available.

hopscotch,

the owner of the B&B I am talking about happens to be French.