Working on our trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. Plan on hitting Amsterdam and Brussels with Bruges in between. Suggestions for how many days, things to see, restaurants and hotels or B&B's for Bruges and Amsterdam or Brussels if you are so inclined. Heading there next spring.

1.5 to 2 days.

Memling Museum
The Godshuizen
Basilica of the Holy Blood (Heilig Bloed Basiliek)
Church of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve Vrouwekerk)
The Jerusalem Church
St. Salvator's Cathedral
Beguinage (Begijnhof)
Minnewater
Brangwyn Museum
Groenine Museum
Gruuthuse Museum
Sint-Janshospitaal
Sint-Janshuysmolen (St. John's Mill)

Hotel Jacobs or Adornes

I agree, 2 nights in Bruges is enough. We were there many years ago at the Pand a Hotel--would recommend it. They also offered a wonderful free walking tour of Bruges led by a local gentleman--perhaps other hotels also offer similar.

Depends on what you do in Bruges. We stayed 3 nights - arriving the first, seeing Bruges on the 2nd and driving to see Ghent (about 30 minutes away - I think train is similar)on the 3rd - before heading home on the 4th.

In hindsight, I'd have liked 2 nights.

We stayed 4 nights & hated to leave! Did a day trip to Brussels and that was plenty of time there for us. I had thought we'd run out of things to do in Bruges after a couple of days & would make it to Ghent but that never happened. Wish we'd stayed an extra day so we COULD have made it to Ghent after all! Adrienne lists lots of good places to visit - also recommend taking a cruise through the canals- very fun, relaxing and a good orientation to the town.
As for hotels, we LOVED the Grand Hotel Casselburgh. Great breakfast and location.

we had three nights there in June. The weather was so wonderful we opted to skip the museums and just enjoy wandering. Now we want to go back for 4 nights and see the art.

Huis Koning for the best possible B and B experience - but it's 3 beautiful rooms may be booked
already.

...its ...

We spent two nights there on the way to Paris, then another two nights after Paris on way back to Amsterdam. Obviously we enjoyed it !

We went to Bruges for 1 night in 2008 (from Paris) and loved it so much we went back for 2 nights in 2010... Stayed at the lovely Cote Canal B&B both times. I especially enjoy the feel of Bruges after dark, when the tour buses have left... during the day I found the streets and main square to be very crowded, much more than I remembered in 2008.

I did LOVE Ghent (stayed at the fantastic de Waterzooi B&B, right in front of Gravenstein castle)... thought the shopping, the restaurants and the overall feel of the city were better suited to my tastes... they are so close together, if you have time I'd pop into Ghent also.

Thanks everyone for the pointers. Will try some of these options out. Hadn't planned on Ghent but sounds like we should reconsider.