tim30000

We are a couple around 30th. we are planning our first relax and romantic 30 days trip in NEBELUX and rhineland from Sep 15 to Oct 15
we travel mostly by train and some buses.
1. Is this a good schedule and rout??
2. Do we need to Buy any rail passes?? (it look like we only have 2 or 3 days traveling long distance??

Thanks for your advice.


1 day Travel

2 day Amsterdam - ariive 05:15
3 day Amsterdam - Utrecht day trip
4 day Amsterdam - Jordaan Festival18-20 September
5 day Amsterdam - Zaanse Schans)
6 day Amsterdam -

7 day Haarlem
8 day Haarlem

9 day leiden
10 day Leiden - visit Den Hagg then to delft-

11 day Delft
12 day Delft -
13 day Delft>
Delft to Rotterdam (put luggage at train station) visit rotterdam and Kinderdijk At 6:00 train to antwerpen

14 day Antwerpen >
15 day Antwerpen> Mechelen day trip
16 day Antwerpen Gent (afternoon)

17 day ) Brugge -
18 day Brugge --Lille??
19 day Brugge

20 day ) Bruxelles -
21 day Bruxelles -- leuven

22 day Bruxelles -- Travel to Trier, stop over Namur??

23 day Trier
24 day Trier
cochem , Koblenz in afternoon (lugage in station) arrive st. goar late afternoon

25 day St. Goar : relax in st. goar
26 day St. Goar
Round trip boat tour to Bacharach visit cattles, then train to Bacharach

27 day Bacharach Day trip to Bingen and Rudesheim
28 day Bacharach Travel to Luxembourg

29 day 12th (1) Luxembourg - Vianden??
30 day 12th (1) Luxembourg - after noon flight home -
31 day 12th (1) arrive home


Thanks again

travlsolo2

After just a quick read of your itinerary, IMHO there is too much time in Delft and Haarlem and Trier and Luxembourg and not enough time along the Moselle, but I don't know what your likes are.....

tim30000

Since I travel with a girl friend, we try to spend at least 2 nights in the city/town.
1. so for Haarlem, Leiden, Delft,and (Den Haag) , I am having a difficult time to choose the base town???

2. If I came up with 1 or 2 from cutting above (1), Which town should I add 1 or 2 days in Moselle?? I think we like Moselle/rhineland for our ending trip. I am not very familiar with this area.

Thanks Travlsolo2.

tim30000

3. Is there any town on my list that I don't need to go because either it is not that spectacular or wrong season? (sept/Oct)??

Thanks again

basingstoke2

All of the Netherlands places you list could be visited as day trips from Amsterdam or Haarlem. IMO 3 days for Delft is too much unless you want to visit several Delftware workshops.

Vianden has a spectacular castle, but when last there, there was not much inside the castle to see. It is a nice town though.

Marksburg castle is between St. Goar and Koblenz and well worth a visit.

I do not see Burg Eltz on your list - IMO it should be.

DeborahAnn

Tim, I think two days in Trier is a good plan. We were there as a day trip this past May and we couldn't see everything on our list. The town center is lovely. We had an excellent lunch at Zum Domstein near the Cathedral. Have a great trip. Deborah

artstuff

Tim - My suggestions...

Day 9 - Visit Leiden for the day, then travel on to Delft. Hotel Delft
Day 10 - Delft - Hotel Delft
Day 11 - den Hague (it's a 5 minute train ride from Delft, or you can take Tram #1 which takes about 20 minutes and is quite an enjoyable ride through the neighborhoods) - Hotel Delft
Day 12 - Stop in Rotterdam, then on to Antwerp - Hotel Antwerp
Day 13 - I would add the extra day to the Moselle and visit Burg Eltz, a must see, IMO, unless you don't like castles.

If you click on my name, it will take you to my profile page where you can find my trip reports for BeNeLux and Germany. Maybe there will be some information in them that will be useful to you.

Enjoy you trip. It sounds wonderful.

Robyn

bilboburgler

It's Benelux. Might miss out Brussels and try to stretch the Mosel a bit more

Palenque

Re railpasses - the only pass you would consider is the Benelux Railpass, good in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg - and as you are covering quite a bit of ground it may be a good deal - anyway for lots on rail travel in Benelux and the pass i always recommend these info-packed sites: www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com and http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/. Trier is just a few euro train ride from Luxembourg so just by a point to point ticket for that. www.ns.nl is the Dutch Railways web site with fares and Belgium: http://www.b-rail.be/main/index.html

Palenque

Oops you are doing more of Germany than Trier - then look at the Benelux-Germany railpass, good for hopping on nearly every trainin Benelux and Germany (except Thalys trains which you need not take and should not - taking the normal and cheaper IC trains instead) - a 10-day pass (flexipass in a 2-month period - 10 days of unlimited travel at your choosing as you go along (http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id...#gebe%20prices) - 1 10-day Saverpass (two names on one pass) is $399 p.p. or $40 a day - compare with prices at www.bahn.de (Germany rail web site) and sites i give above for Dutch and Belgian railways) - also 5- 6- and 8-day passes - some of your proposed trips like Amsterdamned to Haarlem are just a few Euros but some of your longer trips can be expensive on a walk-up basis - i like flexibility to just show up at the station and just hop on one of the usually twice an hour trains in these countries - but you have all the info - local prices at those sites and if close to the pass price then go for the convenience of the pass and not having to wait in oft long lines in Holland or Germany to buy tickets (automatic ticket machines in Holland will not accept most American credit cards i believe) and then you can wait long times in lines to buy tickets IME -this pass not sold in those countries to my knowledge - buy in U.S.if you think it's a good deal. The pass is also valid on the K-D boats on the Rhine that you are planning to take (www.k-d.com)

isabel

You might find some useful information in the trip report I just wrote - we were in the Rhine/Mosel region in July. Some of the things you have in your itinerary for that area don't make sense. Anyway take a look and if you have questions I'd be happy to try to answer them.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

Mainhattengirl

I would drop Ruedesheim. It is my least favorite place to go. Absolutely swarming with tourists, and everything is so commercial there. Streets lined with souvenir shops, and it all looks so tacky. The only thing there worth doing is taking the chair lift to the top of the mountain for the lovely view of the Rhein. There are so many lovely towns along the Rhein, I am not sure why people insist on going to this one.

Palenque

Rudesheim is one of Europe's tour bus group mecca's and thus the oft swarms of tourists who are dumped off here daily. Yet for the K-D boat cruises i recommend starting at Rudesheim, where many K-D boats start to go downstream thru the fabled Rhine Gorge - thus i get on here to nab a good seat up front and along the railings - by the time the boat heads across the Rhine to Bingen many good seats are already fill (again bus tour groups often swarm on in Rudesheim)

november_moon

I would add some time to Amsterdam - including some more time actually IN Amsterdam since it looks like most of your intinerary is spent on trips outside the city.

I also agree that you've got too much time allocated to Delft. We like at least 2 night stays as well, but Delft is an easy day trip from Amsterdam, so I wouldn't move locations.

Palenque

agree with moon on day trips rather than re-locating - any place of interest in Holland is an easy day trip from Amsterdam - or other base - like Haarlem, where i have based and took trains all over Holland from - including to nearby Amsterdamned.

3 days in Delft - two too many for the average tourist but could be again a neat base for all of Holland and even Antwerpen