Is it too ambitious to try to do all of them in 12 days? It'd be 3 nights in Copenhagen (first day I'd get in pretty early from London, so no jet lag to worry about, gives about 2.5 days, a night in Hamburg (to break up the long train ride, since there isn't a direct night train, and there're a few things that look interesting there), 5 nights in Amsterdam (4 days, including one for a daytrip to Haarlem), 1 night in Bruges (most of a full day, plus however long the next I want), 2 nights in Brussels (the remains of the part of the day in Bruges, plus a full day and a morning before Eurostar back to London. Thanks for any help!

grsing-

Assuming you are relatively young (you mentioned you're studying in London for a semester - which makes me assume you're in your early 20s), I don't think your trip is too ambitious.

Over a decade ago, I did a junior year abroad in London, and did some crazy whirlwind trips and saw a lot. I wish I had the option of Eurostar and budget airlines back then.

A decade later, I find myself revisiting those places in a slightly slower pace, and seeing the towns and cities with a slightly different (or more mature) point of view.

Anyway, I only have 2 comments.

1. I don't think you need a full day for Haarlem. You didn't say what your interests are, but I'd recommend a daytrip to Delft and The Haag. If you do go to Haarlem, check out the website for the church in Haarlem beforehand. It has a famous organ inside (played by Mozart) and it offers concerts on certain evenings.

While traveling from Brugge to Brussels, you may want to stop in Ghent. It's worth maybe a couple of hours - make sure you go check out the "Mystic Lamb" altarpiece by the van Eyck brothers.
[The reason I brought this up was that when I visited Ghent & Brugge a decade ago, and being naive, I missed the "Mystic Lamb." I finally made my trip back to Ghent 3 months ago in order to see the Mystic Lamb.]

Cool, definitely sounds like good suggestions (and yes, I'm 21).

I'm 61 y.o. and this itinerary isn't too ambitious. Go for it!

I agree that you don't need a lot of time in Haarlem. We spent a few hours and it was nice. Visited the Cathedral, had a hot cocoa (it was April and a cold drizzle), bought some cheese, walked around. Nice morning.