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Netherlands/Belgium trip report!
Hi, all! Just wanted to share the details of our recent trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. I tried to think of a clever title for this post, but I'm too distracted by the mid-term election results that are starting to come in and can't think of anything catchy. Oh well! First, let me give you some background on your travel hosts for this trip report and our reason for visiting the Low Countries.
Background At work, I've recently been working on some very exciting international projects, with promises of business trips to Europe and elsewhere. Back in April or May, one of our clients mentioned the possibility of us attending a meeting in Amsterdam. Being the neurotic, travel-addicted person that I am, I immediately began planning out an itinerary in my head and working out how I could get my husband to come to Amsterdam with me. I thought, how perfect... we'll spend a few days in Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands, then move on to Belgium for a few days. I had all the details set in my head, but with no firm dates from the client, we couldn't actually book anything. Then, in late September (finally!!), the client set a date for the meeting, and we immediately booked our travel. My husband, Ryan, and I are 30 and 29 years old (respectively) and have been to Europe several times. We love the thrill of travel; we love to see new places, eat new foods, experience new things. So we were very excited about the prospect of working actually paying me to go somewhere as exciting as Amsterdam! We decided we would spend four days in Amsterdam (one day of which I actually had to work), do a day trip to Delft/The Hague, and then travel by train to Antwerp, Brugge, and Brussels. Airfare We flew on Delta, flying direct from Atlanta (where we live) to Amsterdam and returning from Brussels, again on a direct flight. We used frequent flier miles for Ryan's ticket, so we only had to pay about $50 out of pocket for various fees. (Actually, we ended up changing his ticket and had to pay another $50 - our bad.) My ticket was just over $900. To be honest, I'm not sure if that's a good fare or not. Since my company paid for the ticket and I needed to fly on specific days, I didn't shop around at all. I think I'll get specific hotel and train information out of the way before going into the narrative of what we actually did each day. Hotel info coming up shortly... |
Hotels
Ryan travels a lot within the States for his job and has a load of points at both Marriott and Hilton. So whenever we are travelling anywhere, including Europe, we try to take advantage of free hotel stays as often as possible. Luckily, we had more than enough to cover our entire trip, so we stayed only at Hiltons and Marriotts on this trip. First, the Hilton Amsterdam. My company paid for our first few nights here, and then we also used one night worth of points. I got a rate of 219 euros per night, including taxes, breakfast, and 2 tickets to the Rijksmuseum. This was called the Rembrandt Package, and as far as I can tell, it was an excellent deal. (By the way, can someone please tell me how to make the euro symbol? I have no idea how!) We really liked everything about this hotel - except for the location. It was at least a good 15-minute walk to Museumplien, and a 5-minute walk to the nearest tram stop. The neighborhood is beautiful, upscale, and residential - I had absolutely no qualms about safety. But if I ever get back to Amsterdam, I would DEFINITELY stay somewhere closer to the city center. Don't get me wrong - it wasn't impossible to get into the city from the Hilton, but it was a bit of an annoyance. Aside from the location, the hotel was great, and the offerings in the Executive Lounge were excellent. On to the Hilton Antwerp. The location was PERFECT. It's one block away from the main square, and we had a beautiful view of the cathedral from our room. We got upgraded to a huge suite, which I swear was bigger than the first floor of our townhouse here in Atlanta. The Executive Lounge was lacking - actually, the breakfast and snacks they served were the least appealing of all he hotels we stayed in. Regardless, I would highly recommend this hotel. I don't think you can beat the location. Sorry I don't have any rates to share with you - as I mentioned above, aside from a few nights in Amsterdam that my company paid for, we used only points for our hotel stays. Next up: Scandic Brugge. First off, the location of this hotel is really bad. It's about a 10-minute cab ride outside the city. We were fully aware of the location, but we decided we'd rather use points and have to pay for a few cab rides than pay probably $300 or more for a two-night stay. We don't regret our decision at all. Aside from the location, this was a great place to stay. Scandic is a Scandanavian chain that was purchased a few years ago by Hilton. It's certainly the most "European" of all the places we stayed, with a glass shower door that inexplicably only covers half of the tub, a slot to insert your room key in order to turn on the lights, etc. One thing I really admire about Scandic is their focus on conservation - there were actually small recycling bins in the trashcan for glass, paper, plastics. Love it! Breakfast was included with our room, and it was a very big, delicious buffet. Our first morning there (a Saturday morning), the restaurant was packed for breakfast. As far as I can tell, we may have been the only Americans in the bunch. About the location, the hotel sells vouchers from a local cab company for rides into town for 7 euro each way. This is a good deal, as the ride with any other cab company would have been about 12 euro. You can get as many vouchers from the hotel as you want and simply return whatever you don't use. This system was easy and efficient. One other thing I want to tell you all about the Scandic before moving on - we were SO incredibly impressed with the staff here. We dealt with four or five different employees at the front desk during our stay, and every single one of them were incredibly friendly and went above and beyond to help us out and provide us information. HIGH praise for the staff of this hotel!! OK, the last hotel of our stay was the Marriott Brugge. Just like our hotel in Antwerp, the location of this hotel could not be beat. We were a block away from the Grand Place, right across the street from the Stock Exchange building. This hotel was great, and we got upgraded to a beautiful junior suite. The Executive Lounge was also very nice. Up next: train information. |
OK, train details. First let me tell you that you cannot use credit cards to buy train tickets in the Netherlands, which really stinks. The ticket machines take debit cards only - to be more specific, apparently European debit cards only, as it would not recognize our debit cards. We were forced to buy tickets from the ticket counter and pay a service charge of 3.50 euros per ticket. Bummer!
My first train trip took me to Hilversum for my work meeting. My ticket was 14.50 euros round-trip for 1st class. All of the other prices I'm listing are for 2nd class tickets. Next trip was a daytrip first to The Hague, then to Delft. We paid 39 euros for two round-trip tickets from Amsterdam - that price includes the service charge for buying from the ticket agent. Two one-way tickets from Amsterdam to Antwerp cost about 29 euros. I don't remember if that price is exactly right, and I also am not sure if we had to pay the service charge, since this was an international train ride. Anyone know if the service charge applies to rides only with the Netherlands? Two one-way tickets from Antwerp to Brugge cost 24.80 euros. In Belgium, you can pay for tickets with a credit card, and I don't think there was a service charge for buying from the ticket agent. The final leg of our trip was Brugge to Brussels. I *think* our two one-way tickets cost 23.60 euros. (I didn't record the price in my notes, but I see a charge for that amount on our credit card bill that is probably train fare.) So, that's it for train and hotel info. More on food and activities tomorrow... |
Day 1 (Oct. 21)
We arrived at Schipol with no complications and breezed through Customs - someone just quickly stamped our passports without asking us anything. We didn't even have to fill out a Customs form on the plane, which surprised us. We hopped in a cab and headed to the Hilton. Our cab ride cost 35 euros and took only about 15 minutes. Our cab driver said that with traffic, the ride can take up to an hour. Thankfully, there was no traffic at all this Saturday morning. When we got to the Hilton, our room wasn't ready, so we wandered the neighborhood, ventured briefly into Vondelpark, and stopped for cappachinos and bagels with smoked salmon (14.70 euros total) at a small place called Van Dam Brasserie. This place was great because it was filled with locals out for a Saturday morning breakfast. Time to head back to the hotel to check in and take a quick shower and a power nap. Once we were ready to venture back into the city, we bought a stripenkaart for the tram (since our hotel was a bit of a distance from the sights, we knew we'd use up all the strips and then some) and made our way to the nearest tram stop. The trams are very easy to use - although I'll admit we were a little confused at first about getting our strips stamped. Each ride within Zone 1 (our hotel was right on the edge of this zone) is two strips. There's a machine on the tram where you get your strips stamped. So I had thought that a canal ride would be a great introduction to Amsterdam and should be the first thing we do. Um, that was a bit of a mistake. We were seriously jet-lagged, and the combination of the slow, rocking motion of the boat and the recorded narration nearly put us to sleep. I think a canal ride is a must-do, but I would not recommend doing it right after a long overnight flight! I can't remember the name of the tour company we chose without consulting my guidebook (which is at home while I am at work), but it's the one located right near Spui Square on Rokin. It was the least expensive of the three or four companies that Rick Steves mentions in his book - I believe it was 7 euros per person. More later... |
Hi Meredith,
Nice beginning. Concise and got all of the business out of the way. Now awaiting with baited breath the <b>meat</b> of this trip. :)) |
Great beginning, can't wait, I see already some good advices for my trip.
(Una, did you get the train schedule?) |
Great beginning, can't wait, I see already some good advices for my trip.
(Una, have you received the train schedule?) |
No Faina, I haven't. When did you send it?
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Don't remember the date... I sent you an e-mail. On Sunday... maybe October 29?
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Day 1 continued
I now have my guidebook in front of me and see that the canal ride we took was with Rondvaart Kooij. We thought the recorded narration was a little lame, and long-winded because everything was repeated in four languages. After we got off the boat, we decided we needed some refreshment and wandered into a brown cafe just a block away from the dock. We plopped down at the bar and ordered a couple of beers. While we were waiting, I pulled out my Rick Steves book (which we began to call "The Book of Rick") to see what bars he recommended in the area. Turns out the one we were in - Cafe 't Gasthuys - was one of his recommendations. What a coincidence! Leaving the brown bar, we headed back towards Begijnhof and wandered through the peaceful courtyard where - another coincidence - I happened to bump into two of my clients that I would be meeting with in a few days. How funny - I know exactly two people in all of Amsterdam, and I ran into them at Begijnhof! Leaving the courtyard, we stopped at a herring stand called Jonk's. I consider myself a somewhat adventurous eater, and I was set on sampling the herring. Ryan, being the loving husband that he is, tried to talk me out of it, but I wouldn't listen. I brazenly ordered a herring with raw onions and pickles. First bite: hmmm, not so bad... Second bite: I guess it is a little, er, strong-tasting... Third bite: *cough cough* I can't take anymore! I wanted to like the herring, I really did - but I couldn't handle more than two bites. Next, we wandered towards Dam Square but didn't hang out there long. There was a bright, loud carnival going on, with TONS of people around - not something we could enjoy. So we moved on towards the Red Light District to catch our first glimpse of the ladies - what a surreal sight, with some of the ladies rapping on their windows and others looking totally bored out of their minds. We strolled along for about an hour or so, until it began to drizzle. Within a few minutes, we found ourselves stuck in the middle of a downpour. The obvious solution to this rain predicament was to pop into another brown cafe for more beer! I don't know the name of the cafe, but it was on a side street between Damrak and the Red Light District. We ordered a couple of beers and then realized that if we hurried, we could make it to the Anne Frank House an hour before closing, when the line is supposedly non-existent. Of course, we were nowhere near the Anne Frank House at the time, but since it was raining anyway, we decided to catch a cab over to that part of town. We slurped down our beers, found a cab, and were on our way. It was probably about 5:30 by the time we got there, and our timing truly was perfect. We had to wait in line for only about 5 minutes, and we finished our visit just as the museum was closing at 7. It goes without saying that the Anne Frank House was incredibly moving. My eyes welled up several times, and I was really touched by all the displays. Anne's room still has pictures of celebrities on the wall that she hung up, and her parents' room has markings where they measured Anne's height. Hmm, Anne and her sister were both taller than me... small details that made it all so real. Leaving the Anne Frank House, we walked a couple of blocks to the Pancake Bakery, which was recommended by both Rick Steves and a friend of mine. Eh, we weren't that crazy about it. I guess it was OK, but nothing spectacular. In fairness, we were so pooped at this point that we probably wouldn't have really enjoyed much of anything. I had a decent cup of pea soup and a ham and cheese pancake. Ryan had an apple and bacon pancake - total was 27.10 euros. We were a little turned off by the huge menu that offers just about every kind of pancake you could imagine. I guess it reminded us a bit of Denny's - Ryan was disappointed that he couldn't order a Grand Slam Breakfast or a Moon Over My Hammy. :) |
Day 2
We started off the day with a trip to the Rijksmuseum - I mentioned earlier that our hotel package included two tickets to the museum. As most of you surely know, most of the Rijksmuseum is closed for renovations, and they have moved the most famous works to one wing that remains open. We really enjoyed this museum and were perfectly happy seeing a condensed version of its collection. The Rembrandts and Vermeers were definitely the highlights of the museum for me. We happily spent about two hours here before moving on to meet up with a tour I was really excited about... We knew we wanted to do a bike tour and went back and forth between Yellow Bikes and Mike's Bikes. We eventually decided on Mike's, and we LOVED this tour so much! It meets up right outside the Rijksmuseum (22 euros, cash only, reservations are not necessary). Our guide, Sean, was really knowledgable and entertaining. For about 30 minutes or so, he talked about the history of Amsterdam and the Netherlands, and then we walked a few blocks to the company's office to get our bikes. The tour took us through the city, out into the countryside to a windmill and a cheese farm/clog factory, with many stops along the way so that Sean could share some interesting nuggets of information with us. As we left the cheese/clog place, it started to sprinkle. Luckily, the bikes are equipped with rain slickers for everyone, so the rain wasn't a big deal. It did, however, cancel our end-of-tour beer. The tour is supposed to end with everyone enjoying a drink at an outdoor bar. Sean made some calls to see if he could find an indoor spot for us at the last minute, but no luck. So instead of having a drink, he just extended the tour a little bit. We enjoyed this tour so much and would highly recommend it! It was great to get outside the city for a bit, and we loved all the great stories we heard. That night for dinner, we met up with my colleague (who was also in town for the work meeting) and her husband at The Blue Pepper, an excellent Indonesian restaurant. Ryan and I pulled up out front of the restaurant in our cab, and I thought "hmmm, sure looks dark in there..." We walked inside, and it was indeed pretty dark - and practicaly empty. At first I thought "how romantic!" But a couple who were sitting near the front of the restaurant told us that the electricity had gone out, and the kitchen could not cook anything. Oh no! My colleague and her husband had not yet arrived, so we stood there for a couple of minutes waiting for them. A guy from the restaurant (possibly the owner?) came to us and apologized profusely for the loss of power. He said he had been calling hotels all over town to inform people with reservations that they wouldn't be serving dinner tonight. My colleague and her husband showed up just then, and we stood there for a minute trying to decide where to go, when the lights came back on! We decided to stay, and I'm so glad because it was superb! Because they had cancelled all their reservations, we were the only people there the whole night - kinda strange, since apparently you cannot get into this place without a reservation. The Blue Pepper offers three different rijstaffel menus, and between the four of us, we tried them all. This place is definitely upscale, and the food is fancy Indonesian. Everything was fantastic - with a bottle of wine, our bill came to 60 euros a person (240 total). After dinner we headed over to Leidseplein and settled in at Three Sisters for some drinks. We really liked this bar, so much so that we closed down the place that night - something I haven't done since college! |
Day 3
We started off the day by heading back to the Red Light District for some more thorough exploration. I pulled out The Book of Rick so that we could follow his walking tour. OK, a word on Rick Steves and his walking tours... There are things I don't like about his books, but I have always enjoyed his walking tours. He tends to point out little details I would never notice on my own, and I like the intersting information and stories he shares as well. My one major complaint about his walks is his directions. Sometimes he's vague and doesn't name streets or adresses - stuff like "walk a few blocks, then turn left at the red house." Sounds simple enough, but when you are in a new place, it's not always that simple. Also, it makes it really difficult to pick up the tour in the middle when you've already seen things on the beginning of the tour. Oh, and he'll often say "head east" or "turn north" - well, Rick, too bad I left my compass at home... Anyway, for the most part, we followed Rick's walking tour of the Red Light District. I'm glad he led us down that really skinny alleyway where you practically have to walk sideways - I don't think we would have seen that otherwise. We also popped into the Amstelkring Museum (the hidden church "Our Lord in the Attic") and really enjoyed it. I would say this is a definite don't-miss, especially since the rest of the house is still decorated as it was back in the 1600s/1700s. We finished up in the Red Light District right around lunchtime and decided to have falafel sandwiches at Maoz Falafel at Muntplein. YUM. So tasty, and inexpensive. We paid 10.40 euros for two falafel pitas, an order of fries, and a can of Coke. After lunch, we made our way through the Flower Market and headed toward Joordan to follow again follow Rick's tour. The Joordan was lovely, and we stopped for a beer at a cafe along Tweede Egelantiers Dwarsstraat. Up to today, the weather had been overcast with a few intermittent showers - but today was sunny and gorgeous! In fact, the temperature was unusually warm for our whole trip, even on the rainy days. This particular day must have been close to 70 degrees. We spent the rest of the afternon making the long walk back to our hotel. That night for dinner, we decided to try the restaurant at the College Hotel. This is a hotel not too far from Museumplein that is run by students. I've read good things about the hotel, as well as its restaurant, so we decided to give it a try. The restaurant is also run by students, who were all very diligent and clearly eager to please. We had a set three-course menu for 39 euros a piece. With alcohol and water, our total was 99 euros. I guess you could say the cuisine was contemporary Dutch - it was very tasty, and in addition to the three courses, they all serve amuse-bouches (spelling?) and palette cleansers. |
Day 4
Today was my work day. I got up very early to meet up with my colleague and catch a train to Hilversum. It was a long day for us, and we didn't get back to Amsterdam until nightfall. While I was slaving away (not really - I was merely an observer at the meeting), Ryan borrowed a bike from the hotel and headed to the Dutch Resistance Museum. He said it was pretty interesting and he really enjoyed it. Then he headed to the Heineken Brewery, which he says was a huge waste of time. He really didn't enjoy it, and he said it was very much like Disney World - they strap you into your seat for a "ride" that tilts ever so slightly to the left, then ever so slightly to the right... For your 10 euro entrance fee, you do get three beers - but Ryan says he would have much rather had those beers at a brown bar. Later that night, after we reconvened in our hotel room, we had dinner at Katjil en de Tijger. We both LOVED this place - the rijstaffel for two was 39.50 euros, and it was one of our favorite meals of the trip. Oh, how I would love to have some of that food in front of me right now... I highly recommend this restaurant! |
Day 5
Today we did a daytrip to The Hague and Delft. I was in the early stages of a cold and wasn't feeling too hot in the morning. We found a pharmacy at the train station while we were waiting for our train, and a very helpful woman helped me choose the appropriate medicine - all the labels were in Dutch (obviously), so I have no idea just what kind of medicine it was. The important thing is that it helped me feel better - and it also promptly knocked me out as soon as I sat down in my train seat! I slept most of the trip and woke up just outside of The Hague. We decided that day that we weren't in a museum-y mood, so we didn't visit the Maurithuis. We were only in the city for about two hours and spent the time just wandering the streets. The Hague was a nice town, with lots of shops, pretty architecture, and people out and about. We stopped for an order of delicious fries with peanut sauce on them and then headed back to the train station for our ride to Delft. In Delft, we enjoyed wandering along the canals and soaking up the ambience of the Market Square. We paid a couple of euros to enter the Nieuwe Kerk and climb up the bell tower. It's sort of a traditional for us that whenever we're in Europe, we have to climb a bell tower, even though it scares the crap out of us - well, me, anyway. We made it about three-quarters of the way up before we mutually decided that we'd seen enough and could turn around. I am fine going up the stairs in bell towers; it's the going down part that freaks me out. I always get nervous that I'll stumble and go thump-thump-thump-thump-thump all the way down. It's an irrational fear, I know - but I can't help it! After the bell tower, we headed to the Royal Dutch Delftware Manufactory. Entrance cost 4 euros, and we quickly realized that we don't care at all how earthenware is made. It was nice to see some of the original pieces throughout the museum, but not interesting enough to us to justify the entrance fee. It just wasn't for us. Oh well, live and learn! We were looking forward to visiting the shop, thinking we could score some deals on Delft and maybe even get some Christmas shopping done. Umm, no, it was still insanely expensive! We left empty-handed. Back in Amsterdam that evening, we had dinner at Cafe Luden, near Spui Square. This place has a brasserie and a restaurant. The restaurant was closed by the time we got there, so we ate at the brasserie. I don't recall what we paid - probably somewhere in the 40-euro range - but we had soup, salad, fries, and lamb for me and chicken satay for Ryan. Neither of us was crazy about our entrees, but everything else was good. |
Thoroughly enjoyed reading your report as I often go to Holland to visit relatives but never got enough time to do what you're doing. How was Hilversum? I know some people who live there but never went; is it a comfortable suburb or not worth talking?
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Thanks for the detailed report ... so far, waiting for the rest.
I'm glad that you guys felt the same way about the Pancake Bakery as we did - I've seen nothing but raves about it in every guide book, and we were very disappointed. I can hardly wait to hear about your stay in Brugge. Amsterdam and Brugge are two of our favorite cities, after Paris. Nina |
Meredith, nice report. The Brasserie Van Dam is one of my favorite stops for lunch or coffee. I really like that area of Amsterdam; it is indeed much more of a local residential area. There are some nice shops too. I can imagine as a tourist you would want to be a bit more in the center of town.
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Reading your report with great interest Meredith, as we'll be spending two weeks in the Netherlands in January. My husband will be working most of the time, so I need to find lots of things to entertain myself - I'm taking notes!
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Meredith & Nina: We had to walk out of the Pancake Bakery because the service was so bad. I suppose I don't need to regret never tasting their pannekoek. I didn't get the place either but I think it's nostalgic for the Dutch because it's an old institution built in a historical VOC warehouse.
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Hi Meredith,
Thanks for all of the great details. Am Copying & Pasting into Word for reference. Some really great tips for my own upcoming trip in the Spring. Keep up the good work. |
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