Appreciate all of the responses, I think I may be going into information overload here. Let me get a bit more specific.

Is 7 days in Edinburgh too long? After accounting for a day of jet-leg and a day trip to St. Andrews we'll effectively only have 5 days in Edinburgh, is that still too much?

If you were to pick one city in Belgium to spend 4 days, which would it be? From that city if you had one day-trip, where would you go?

Is 7 days in Amsterdam too much? Keep in mind that if we get bored we could easily pull a couple of last minute day-trips.

If the answer is that, yes, I'm spending too much time Edinburgh, BE, NL, or wherever, where should I then add this time onto? Should I add this time to Paris? Or should I maybe add a completely new city for a few days like Cologne?

I figure I can always plan last minute day-trips but I'd like to get my base cities set in stone.

I'll leave that German vs. Belgian beer comment for another time. I have a feeling this thread could become a few hundred posts long before we know it. (FWIW, Germany would be my #2 brewing nation)

You hadn't mentioned if art was high on your list. Art and architecture are our primary motivators. My husband will go out of the way to see a building, I'll go out of the way to see art. We both happily follow the other. While we like old a&a, we love modern.

That said, Brussels would be the city where I'd spend the 4 days with a day trip to Bruges leaving early.

7 days in Amsterdam is fine. You have time to see the museums, relax, explore, make some day trips to other cities, or even out into the countryside if that floats your boat.
In Belgium stay in Brussels. From there you can go to Brugge for a day, and maybe stop in Antwerp on your way to Amsterdam.

Oh and it looks like, should you wish to, you will still be able to visit a coffeeshop or two, since the new government seems to have had a change of heart. Not certain yet though.

Hi, there are some significant beer cafes in Brussels too; Delirium has over 2000 beers:

http://deliriumcafe.be/?___store=del...eliriumcafe_fr

and Á la Mort Subite is an authentic old-style cafe with its own brand of beer:

http://alamortsubite.com/

There are enough things to keep you busy in Brussels for a few days _ I'd devote 2 days to Brussels and from there make day trips to Ghent, Leuven, Bruges or Antwerp. Antwerp in particular is big enough to merit a longer visit. Try to make your visit to Brussels partly over a weekend as the accommodation prices come down drastically as the Eurocrats all go home.

Lavandula

I meant to say - 4 days in Brussels including the day trips, but 2 days just for Brussels.

Lavandula

Thanks again for all the great replies.

Here's the more detailed plan as it stands now.

Tuesday April 30th - Arrive in Edinburgh
Sunday May 5th - Day-trip to St Andrews (Able to walk the Old Course on Sunday)
Tuesday May 7th - Leave Edinburgh for London
Tuesday May 14th - Day-trip to Oxford (I assume it shouldn't be too busy)
Thursday May 16th - Leave London for Paris
Tuesday May 21st - Day-trip to Versailles (Again, hoping to avoid the crowds)
Saturday May 25th - Leave Paris for Brussels (Weekend in Brussels as Lavandula suggests)
Monday May 27th - Leave Brussels for Bruges
Wednesday May 29th - Leave Bruges for Amsterdam
Wednesday June 5th - Depart Amsterdam

If we ever find ourselves bored I figure we could just take off on some quick unplanned day-trips. I could see us maybe adding something like Delft to Amsterdam, maybe another trip from Edinburgh as well, Stirling perhaps.

@LSky, Art is definitely high on our list, particularly my girlfriend's as she does a fair bit of high realism painting in her spare time. We both very much enjoy architecture as well.

@hetismij2, I didn't realize the Dutch were overturning that tourist law... might have to relive my highschool glory days!

@lavandula, That Delirium Cafe looks a bit like my imagined version of heaven! Thank you for the suggestion, we'll definitely be trying it out.

Thanks again everyone.

Your plan as it stands now (11/1/2012 @ 9:25 pm) is very good.

I think 5 days to see a small city like Edinburgh is more than you'll ever need but there are always other day trip options from there.

Alternately, you could also move some days to Belgium to make time for Gent and (especially) Antwerp.

At this point, it will be a wonderful trip which ever way you go. You're about at the point of splitting hairs...

If you're looking for a day trip from Amsterdam you might like to go to the Kroller Mueller. I posted this a while back and will copy/paste it here for you. Like I said there, if you decide to go, get an early start if you'd like to enjoy the park and the sculpture garden. The museum serves a nice lunch and decent beer Not German beer but it's okay

THE KROLLER-MULLER MUSEUM (sorry I don’t know how to make umlauts)

I didn’t even know I had a list of the top 5 modern art museums until we visited The Kroller-Mueller Museum. It isn’t an art museum as much as it‘s an art experience. An organic landscape of nature, art and architecture that rolled out to greet us and carried us through the 5,500 hectare Hoge Veluwe National Park. I’m always confused about hectares but like the idea of them, I did the math: it’s 13,950 acres which translates into approximately 21 miles of park. I knew it was different when the bus dropped us off to buy tickets and we had a choice of taking one of the hundred or so free white bicycles to the museum or stay on the bus.

Not only did Mrs. Muller provide a fine collection of over 90 Van Gogh’s, and good ones too not just sketches but great paintings, she also added; Seurat, Mondrian, Signac, Cezanne‘s Picassos the list goes on. She housed this art in a building that is architecture at it’s best. The low slung concrete and steel structure supports large walls of glass that reflect the art surrounding it and pulls you in. The architect, Wim Quist created a perfect continuum between structure, art and nature.

Don’t do what we did, get an early start. Take the train to Ede-Wageningen station a grab a bus to the town of Otterlo. The website gives clear instructions: www.kmm.nl
The bus goes right into the park. There are 2 places to get off. The first is near the white bicycle lot. There are hundreds of white bicycles free for use in the park. If you’ve planned your time well or someone in your group doesn’t appreciate art, get off the bus and grab a bike to explore the park before the museum. If you were like us and only have time for the museum keep on the bus. Also the website for taking the train. www.ns.nl

If you are art-minded, make some time to visit the Horta Museum (the house of the architect Victor Horta) in Brussels. It is a strikingly beautiful example of Art Nouveau. If you have time to go exploring, you will find the Art Nouveau style also represented heavily in the suburbs (see the tourist bureau there for information on Art Nouveau walks). Also cartoon murals - the tourist bureau will also be able to give you a self-guided walk through Brussels following murals on the sides of buildings. But the Horta is a must-see, along with the Grand' Place.

Lavandula

I love Flemish art so would also consider the Royal Museums of Fine Art a "must see."

My husband and I spent 10 days based in Brussels and taking side trips in 2011 and my TR has details of what we did.

For suggestions about beers to try:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...mendations.cfm

You haven't talked about how you're getting from one spot to another. The Eurostar train from London under the Channel goes to Paris OR Brussels. So you could use it for either destination or continue on from Brussels to Amsterdam. It's only 2.5 hours London to Paris so more convenient than flying when you consider it's city center to city center, no need to get out to the airport 2 hours early. (Buy the Eurostar tix as early as possible. It makes for a big savings.)

I assume you're using the train for the rest of your connections. Except maybe Edinburgh to London.

We'll be taking trains the entire way. The leg from Edinburgh to London we'll be the longest at 4.5 hours but I think I still prefer that to flying.

Then also buy the Edinburgh-London train tickets as early as possible. Once again a considerable savings.

I'm a fan of trains. I love to see the countryside flow by my big window, sitting in a comfortable seat. Whereas flying is an exercise in endurance.

I guess you know about these guys
http://www.camra.org.uk/