spaarne

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Posted by: Buster on Oct 3, 12 at 1:07pm Posted in: Europe Tagged: Belgium , Netherlands
Things we have looked at doing include visiting tulip fields and doing some cycling in the Netherlands.
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I recommend Keukenhof. See my photo log http://tinyurl.com/y8hltjl of a bike trip from Haarlem to this magnificent flower garden.

snowgirls

We are cyclists and did out own tour throrugh Luxembourg and Belgium last summer. In Bastogne, we stayed at http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Revi..._Wallonia.html .

And had one of the best breakfast( included in price) ever. The hotel is right on the town square so in center of all action.Loved Antwerp,and the Hook of Holland area was great to bike through. Brugge to me was just ok.But as a fellow cyclist, there is no better way to see Europe!

PaoloCast

Leiden! We spent two months in Leiden and never tired of this lovely, liveable city. Laid back but with a lot of life from the University. We made several day (and evening) trips to Den Haag - 20 minutes. And Rotterdam has a lot of terrific historic and contemporary attractions. Haarlem is also worth a long day.
Seconds to Ghentas well.

annhig

here's another vote for the Keukenhof gardens - which will be in full bloom when you are in Holland and should not be missed. If you stayed in Haarlem [book soon as we found it was full when we tried to book there last autumn] you could cycle there which would be fun.

We stayed in Delft, which we loved, and Maastricht, which though bigger we liked a lot.. another place we really liked the look of was Edam, but it's a bit off your route, I think.

beergirl

BTW... April is the start of the cycling season! If you're a fan you may want to check the dates for these races.. Tour de Flanders, which I believe still starts in Brugge, and also Gent-Webelgem- sorry about the spelling.

Granted Ghent may still some repairs and construction goin on but it's a great city, lots of canals, the architecture is fabulous and the food and beer.... yum! oh, oh, Chocolate too!!!
Let me know if you'd like specifics!

milliebest

We did Netherlands and Belgium last year. Otterlo was the height of our trip. The kroeller Museum(excuse spelling) is fantastic . See my trip report for specifics.

dfourh

I do long layovers at Schiphol often, and my fave is Utrecht; Leiden and Haarlem are nice too. I went to Antwerp for two nights this summer, but enjoyed Mechelen (20 minutes south) better and the Het Anker brewery is really worth a visit to the tasting room for the Gouden Carolus; Leuven is also super nice to visit; Namur is very pleasant. I think these smaller towns are head-and-shoulders more enjoyable than the big cities. Ghent is great. If you want to try to get a taste of Ratebeer's perennial #1 beer in the world, you can head over to Westvleteren and try to get the '12' at the In De Vrede cafe, or even arrange online to try to pick up a case at the abbey itself.

brendonb28

Went to Holland and Belgium last July and absolutely loved it. We based in Ghent, a bigger version of Brugges. Gorgeous city to walk about in. We took a day trip to Kinderdijk in Holland, has 19 windmills and polders and then drove to Delft. Delft is smaller than Amsterdam bt just as nice. We also drove to Knokke, nice beach and cute town. We also drove to Waterloo and climbed the steps up to Lion's Hill. I am in horrible shape, over 250 steps. If I can do it, anyone can!

TommieG

Did not hear it yet, but The Hague (my hometown) is a great base. Easy to travel to for instance Delft, Gouda, Leiden, Haarlem and Rotterdam. And The Hague is a great town itself to!

In Belgium; Antwerp! Liege is great also, then combine with Maastrich in The Netherlands, Aachen in Germany.

janisj

The thread is almost a year old -- and Buster's trip was 6 months ago.