Itinerary Advice Needed - 2 weeks Amsterdam/Paris/?
 

Hi all,

My wife and I will be making our first trip to Europe with our son, who is now 15 months old. We're flying in and out of Amsterdam -- arriving on June 22nd, departing on July 3rd. We're locked into 5 days/4 nights in Paris from June 25-June 29 where we're meeting some friends.

Other than that, our itinerary is wide open. We're thinking of exploring Amsterdam from the 22nd until we take the Thalys to Paris. We're trying to decide what to do after that. A couple possiblitilies that I'd love some advice on:

- We could be in Brussels for the Ommegang festival. Anyone gone? Worth tailoring our trip around it?

- Another possibility is to head to Frankfurt area after Paris where we have some other friends. I don't think of Frankfurt as having a ton of attractions, but I could be wrong. Perhaps it'd be worth stopping somewhere on the way between Paris/Frankfurt or Frankfurt/Amsterdam?

- Should we try to fit in a day or two in Bruges?

We're thinking of train travel. We're experienced travelers (I have a tendency to pack in too much), but I imagine we should aim to go less places, more leisurely now that we're traveling as a family.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

Brugge would be nice, but I don't think you'd want to spend your whole last 4 days there.

Another option would be take the TGV from Paris to Avignon or Nice and do the last 4 days in Provence or the French Riviera!!!

Oh - I didn't see that you have to get back to Amsterdam somehow. In that case, I'd head back via the Thalys - Paris to Brussels/Brugge, and then from there to Amsterdam.

If my math is correct, you have 3 nights available to stay somewhere "else" - assuming you need to be in Amsterdam the night of the 2nd.

I would just head to Bruges in the afternoon of the 29th & spend 3 nights there.

That would give you:
3 nights Amsterdam
4 nights Paris
3 nights Bruges
1 night Amsterdam

If anything, I would consider adding a night to Paris & 1 less in Bruges.

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu and Jen! So it sounds like you're endorsing Bruges. Would it make sense to split into 1-2 nights each in Bruges/Brussels?

Stu -- you make the a good point, we really don't have a ton of extra time. I'll consider that.

One possibility if we try to fit in Frankfurt is to go there first so it becomes:
1 night Amsterdam
2 nights Frankfurt
4 nights Paris
2 nights Brussels/Bruges
2 nights Amsterdam

Doable? And this is tailored in part to try to see the Ommegang festival. I haven't looked at hotels in Brussels then -- might be sold out...

For first-time and perhaps somewhat clueless train travelers i always point out some great sites packed with objective info: www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com; and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - the latter has on it their European Planning & Rail Guide that has a rail itinerary planner for each country that could be helpful. With train travel indicated i doubt a railpass would be warranted by you may look at 1- the Eurail Select Passs good in Benenlux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg as a unit, Germany and France. Or if not going to Germany the France-Benelux Pass.

>>One possibility if we try to fit in Frankfurt is to go there first so it becomes:
1 night Amsterdam
2 nights Frankfurt
4 nights Paris
2 nights Brussels/Bruges
2 nights Amsterdam<<


What you really have is:
1 night - 1/2 jet-lagged day in Amsterdam
4 nights - 3 1/2 days Paris
2 nights - 1 1/2 days Frankfurt
2 nights - 1 1/4 days Bruges (7 hrs, 2 train changes/3 trains involved)
2 nights - 1 3/4 days Amsterdam

With a 15 month old?????

Stay at least 2 nights in your first location. Minimize the number of train changes - for a first timer.

Stick to Amsterdam, Paris, Bruges, Amsterdam.

Stu Dudley

Re Thalys tickets - book early or if just show up can pay maybe $100 p.p. more or so - www.thalys.com has discounts available often only weeks in advance.

RailEurope in the U.S. has a 50% off full-price Thalys sale good for travel thru end of August i believe.

so early bird gets the worm for the Thalys

Due to the 15 month old - I have my 20 month old granddaughter living here so have some recent experience :) I would go with Stu's plan - It is far more tiring then it looks on papers.

We went to 4 cities in about 2.5 weeks with a then 10 and 13 year old - we were worn out. Less IS really more. I promise.

I would forget Frankfurt. That is too much with baby.

Stu came up with an excellent itinerary for you, with very easy train travel. You can check out rail routes and times at the following link.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Adding Frankfurt would be too far out of the way for the little amount of time that you have.

Robyn :)>-

Thanks all, great advice. I'm trying to scale back.

I'm hoping our Frankfurt friends could perhaps meet us in Belgium. We'd like to stick with Stu's itinerary.

However, they're lobbying for us to go to them. To keep things from getting too crazy that would probably mean 3 nights Amsterdam, 4 nights Paris, 3 nights Frankfurt (at their home) and a final night in Amsterdam. Skipping Brussels/Brugges all together.

I want to see our friends, but I'm much more curious about Belgium than the Frankfurt area...