Scenic drive from Ghent to Amsterdam
 

We will have a car for a few days of our mid-June trip, and part of that will be traveling from Ghent to Amsterdam. We will have already seen Bruges and Brussels. I wanted to stop in Utrecht and have lunch but we don't know if it is safe to leave luggage in the car. So we thought maybe we would just make it a scenic drive, looking for windmills and other things to photograph. Maybe stop somewhere for a picnic at the beach? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Go via Antwerp and Zeeland.

Historic towns, stylish resorts, wide beaches, gigantic sea barriers, Zeeland has it all.

Yes, go via Zeeland and do the 'island hopping' route. Every island is connected by one or more bridges or dams/dykes. Very scenic routes through the polders, and lots of waterways. Especially nice in the summer when all the yachts are sailing on the waters.

From Ghent drive to Terneuzen and take the Westerscheldetunnel to Zuid-Beveland, which is the first island in the province of Zeeland (Netherlands). Worth visiting on this 'island' are Middelburg, Veere and (in between the first and the second island) the Delta Works at Neeltje Jans. Other option is to drive the Zeelandbrug to the next island. Then drive to the coast (Renesse or so). Beautiful wide beach and you could have lunch in one of the beach restaurants or take a picnic out to the beach. A cute town on this island is Zierikzee. After that, cross the Grevelingenmeer and the Hollands Diep and drive to Kinderdijk to see the series of windmills. Then continue on the highway to Amsterdam. It goes through Utrecht, if you might want to visit. If you park your car in one of the parking garages and you leave all your belongings in the trunk, I don't see any problem.

This route would mean 290 kms in total.

You can map it out on either www.viamichelin.com or on google maps, using following placenames:
Gent (starting point)
+ (add) Terneuzen
+ Middelburg
+ Renesse
+ Zierikzee
+ Kinderdijk
+ Amsterdam (final destination).

In case you want to see more of the beaches, you will find them on every island, as will become clear when you map out the route. Good luck!

Here it is

http://s24.postimg.org/xkjcx3zv9/gent.png

OK well that looks about perfect. Hopefully we will have a trunk so we can hide the luggage and go to the beach for a couple hours.

Thanks to both of you!!!

Kinderdijk yes and if looking for an historic old town between that and Amsterdam check out Gouda - of cheese fame but a sweet sweet regional town with usual neat town square and soaring belfry of the main church.

Amsterdam is tough to drive in - consider returning your car at say Schiphol Airport and taking the train in car-free and save on rental time perhaps. Unless your hotel offers parking it can be problematic in the very center and yes do not leave anything in a car overnight that is valuable.

If the weather happens to be rainy on your travel day, then forget the scenic route because it will be very sad. In that case you better spend some time in Antwerp (again, no problem parking your car in a parking garage), then make your way to Amsterdam.

bookmarking

PalenQ we are returning the car at a location in the city center as soon as we get to Amsterdam. I hope its not too awful but its right near where we are staying.

Driving in Amsterdam is not really THAT bad. You just have to watch out for bikers who are everywhere, and be aware that the centre of Amsterdam has a lot of one-way streets.