lisakinnear

I will be in Amsterdam for 4-5 days in April and I have never been to Belgium. I wanted to get some advice as to wheterher it would make a good day trip.

Thanks!

Myer

I think Brugges is the most beautiful small city I have seen.

However, it's about 3 hours by train I believe.

I really can't comment on other Belgian locations.

lisakinnear

Thanks. Could you do it in a day or would you recommend an overnight?

danon

Bruges is lovely but not that much different than what you see in Amsterdam
( plus, it is extremely touristy)
Although not liked by some, there is enough to see in Brissels to make it worth while for a days.

nytraveler

I'm not a fan of Brussels but love Bruges - which tome is totally different from Amsterdam (which I see as modern and a capital city). Bruges, especially if you stay overnight in a canal side house, still has an almost medieval air. But I wouldn;t cut Amsterdam shorter than 3 days (4 nights). There are also a ton of other great places to see in Belgium - but not in the time you have.

Cowboy1968

There are many real and easy day trips from Amsterdam if you want to see a small medieval Dutch/Flemish town with grachten/canals and such.
Delft would be my first choice.

adrienne

Depends where in Belgium. I've been to Brugge and love it and it won't be filled with tourists in April and certainly not during the week. I've been in September and June during the week and it was not crowded.

If you choose Brugge I'd recommend an overnight since it's a 6 hour round trip from Amsterdam. There are lots of things to keep you busy there. Do a canal boat ride and go to the Beguinage.

A great thing to do would be to rent a bike in Amsterdam for the time you're there and take it to Brugge with you (if they're allowed on the trains). Both cities are great for cyclists.

What's your latest itinerary? I keep seeing threads from you and wonder what your plans are now.

hetismij2

4-5 days in April. Day 1 arrive, jet lag, day 2 and 3 see major museums in Amsterdam, fit Keukenhof into the mix somewhere, as well as cycling, Day 4 leave?
Where do you have time for Brugge??

LSky

I loved Brussels, Bruges was nice but if you only have a few days in Amsterdam enjoy those days. Have you been to Amsterdam and surrounding day trips?

lisakinnear

No, I have never been to Amsterdam and plan to visit city, the museums and see Keukenhoff since I will be there in mid-April.

lisakinnear

Hi Adrienne,

Thanks for your reply. I changed my flight to add more days. I have two posts about my trip. You may be seeing my Switzerland post too since I just got told yesterday I will be going there on business in Oct.

I now have 15 days (I kept my days flying out of the total)so I'm going to do:

--5 days in and around Amsterdam and fly to Prague
--5 days in Prague area and Budapest
--5 days in Vienna and surrounding area

For Amsterdam, I plan on seeing the two museums, Anne Frank House, Keukenhoff, Delft and biking of course.

Sounds like unless I use one of these days for Bruges, I shouldn't plan on it.

Thanks to everyone for your opinions.

Ifnotnow_when

I loved Brugge,but with only 4-5 days in Amsterdam you will need every day there to absorb all it has to offer. Amsterdam is so very interesting and has so many different things to see. Just a walk through the neighborhoods admiring the buildings and rooftops is fun. If you want to take a shorter day trip, go to Harlaam. We stayed 2 weeks in Leiden (30 min by train to Amsterdam) and took day trips. Leiden is another close by interesting city. We made 4 day trips to Amsterdam.

LSky

If you've not been to Amsterdam, enjoy the city itself and then make some day trips to Delft, Den Haag or the Hague, maybe even to Rotterdam (a city I enjoyed immensely.)

olivieretcerise

We highly recommend Bruges, especially since there are one-day tours from Amsterdam (if it would include Ghent also, then it would be great). See a link posted in our blog for day trip bus tours: http://in-luxembourg.blogspot.de/201...ds-part-2.html

For Keukenhof, see if you can arrange to see the flower parade, it's wonderful: http://in-luxembourg.blogspot.de/search/?q=keukenhof. In 2013 he flower parade will be on Saturday, April 20: http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/25/flower-parade.html

adrienne

The itinerary looks good. This will be a great trip for you. Enjoy!

PeaceOut

We were 5 nights in Amsterdam and loved it. We took one half-day tour by bus to see Gouda made and windmills, but otherwise were thoroughly entertained in Amsterdam. What a charming city!

lisakinnear

Thanks olivieretcerise and PeaceOut for your help. I'm already excited and have to wait 8 more months.

november_moon

If this was my trip, I would stick to Amsterdam with day trip(s) to other towns in the Netherlands. Belgium is great, and I love it, but I would save it for another trip.

PalenQ

the easiest and one of the best day trips from Amsterdam to Belgium IMO is Antwerp - now just a few hours or less by the new high-speed rail line.

Antwerp is a Flemish gem - lovely port city with unique look and feel and not so big like Brussels that you cannot get a handle on it in a day or so and yeh only two hours or less perhaps by train and real Belgian - very unlike Holland and Amsterdam (except it has a classic red-light district a la Amsterdamned's!

antwerp's train station is a sight in itself - an Art Nouveau fantasy a la NYC's Grand Central Station - opposite it is the Diamond center with orthodox Jews in the orthodox black garb running around - the town center is a short walk down the Meir from station.

Very doable - Bruges is neat by 3.5 hours by train (also more expensive to get to but 7 hours on a train vs about 4 for Antwerp - spend those hours traipsing around Antwerp.

But if you can stay overnight then Bruges is fantastic - but that would take about two days out of Amsterdam and that IMO would be a pity.

Davero

Driving from Amsterdam to Belgium is also very easy and fairly economical. We went from Amsterdam to Bruges, spent the night, then to Ipres (extraordinarily interesting), Ghent (worth it for the castle, Mystic Lamb, and Ghent noses candy alone), and then to Brussels. A very worthwhile 3 or 4 day side trip.