How to cut costs on our Benelux tour
 

Two couples traveling from Paris to Brussels by train in mid June, 2008.
Have booked what seemed to be the most suitable(best) hotels for us. Then checked out the final budget - oops to high!
So please can wonderful Fodorites advise on alternative suggestions? We do want fairly central locations and would really prefer quiet and comfortable rooms; decent beds, A/C due to being June!
To date have booked the following:
3 days - Brussels at La Dixseptieme (will visit Luxembourg during that stop).
3 days - Brugge at Hotel de Orangerie
Havent booked an overnight between there and Amsterdam yet. And would love a suggestion of a small interesting place to visit and pretty hotel in which to stay. Would love your suggestions?
3 nights - Amsterdam at the Pulitzer Hotel.
Would love to cut the budget. All ideas gratefully received and would be much appreciated.

Hello ,

I am not sure whether I understand you correctly or not?So hope, I'm answering part of your question?

We found a place in Bruges for end of JUly for our granddaughters and ourselves which Rick Steves recommends and it is affordable and looks great. The lady's name is Chris de loof and her site is www.geerwijn.be

Enjoy your trip.

Why don't you stay in B&B's? The breakfast is included and it's been my experence that many times the room is nicer than a hotel. Here's another B&B close to Brugge.

http://www.huttenest.be/en/index.html

Are you looking for cheaper hotels in the cities you are visiting?
How are you getting from Brugge to Amsterdam?
You don't need an overnight between the two unless you really want one. It would be useful to know if you want somewhere on a train line or if you have a car.
I doubt you will really need A/C in June. It is very rarely hot enough to need A/C. It would be nice if it were so whilst you are here, but it is unlikely.

One sure way to cut the cost in Brussels is to stay here at the weekend. Hotels can be a third of the price here at the weekends than they are during the week.

My apologies for not responding to the great suggestions sooner.

We will pick up a car upon departure from Brussels and then drive the rest of the way to Amsterdam.

Looking for charming hotels, centrally located in each town so we can park the car upon arrival in each city and just walk everywhere.

I was hoping that someone who had stayed at our "listed" hotels might offer alternative, less expensive options.

B & B's are a great idea. But must be in the city and have really good beds - no sagging mattresses! :)

Will definitely see if we can weekend in Brussels to get a better rate.

Do appreciate your advice. What a great Forum!

It's not going to be that easy to drive to Dixseptieme.

The Sofitel Toison d'Or should be cheaper and is a very pleasant 4 star hotel, located above street level with its own private garden. From the top floor rooms, you can see down to the Grand'Place. Extremely comfortable bed and yes, AC. They usually have very competitive rates (I've never paid more than 120€ per night). Good service too.

I suggest you look at hotels.de or some other web site and see what rates are being offered at 4 star hotels for your dates, you can often find some very appealing rates.

The Sofitel (or other hotels up that way) is not as close to the Grand'Place as the Dixseptieme, obviously, but it's much closer to the wonderful, nontouristy moderately priced restaurants in Ixelles. And you might want to see some of the other sights in Brussels that aren't by the Grand'Place...the Horta museum, the Van Buren Museum, the Cinquantenaire, the Central Africa Museum, the Atomium, even the Tram Museum.

In Bruges, I would easily pick the Number 11 B&B over Orangerie.
http://www.number11.be/

I am sure you could find somewhere cheaper than the Pulitzer in Amsterdam. Search the forum for hotel suggestions in Ams - there are plenty of threads. Driving in Amsterdam is not for the faint hearted, and parking is expensive - even the Pulitzer will charge for your permit I expect - and you will have to park on the street - no mention of a private car park.
How long do you have between Brugge and Amsterdam? As I said it is an easy day trip. If you have longer consider visiting the Dutch province of Zeeland.
There are some nice seaside towns there, such as Domberg or maybe you would like Middelburg.
Otherwise maybe you would enjoy Maastricht, in which case I can recommend Kasteel Elsloo hotel, a few kilometres out of the city. www.kasteelelsloo.nl
Are you returning the car to Brussels at the end of your trip - that will save you a lot on one way fees for instance.

Have you checked out Weekendhotel? They have a selection of small(er) and charming hotels in Belgium and the Netherlands. Maybe you find something to your liking there. http://www.weekendhotel.nl/hotels/Amsterdam/2/en

First I'd really suggest skipping the idea that you need AC - as someone else just said, it would be rare that you'd need it and you will pay extra since alot of mid price hotels don't have AC in Northern Europe - so if you want it you're looking at high end hotels.

In Amsterdam I can recommend: www.hotelbrouwer.nl/ It's wonderful with a great canal view. Very central. I was there in March so I don't really remember if they had AC but I doubt it.

In Brugge I can recommend Hotel Ensor, also on a canal, very central. One of the best breakfasts in a hotel I've ever had.

And I second the idea of arranging to be in Brussels on a weekend, many of the hotels I checked out were about half price over mid week.

the biggest savings could come on your Thalys train ticket Paris-Brussels as these have byzantine airline type pricing

just show up and you could literally pay $100 or more than some of the cheaper but hard to book discount fares such as the bargain one-way 25 euro fare.

You need to book these well in advance

www.thalys.com has all the details as does www.voyages-sncf.com

We're staying at the Hotel Nova in Amsterdam this Sept. All the reviews I have read are good for this hotel. We are paying 137 Euro per night for a double. The hotel had a central location. I don't know if there is parking? We have been to Amsterdam and had a car. We stayed at the Le Meriden Apollo (235 euro in 2005 including parking no breakfast) Having a car in Amsterdam was a nightmare. Why not take the train from Brussels? It takes about 2 hours and costs maybe 35 Euros each. Then rent a car as you will need it instead of looking for parking.