exactly! although Trefpunt on Botersloot is the better shop

Thank you all for your inputs. They were all appreciated! @PalenQ We're thinking 4-5 days in Belgium & 6 in Netherlands! Thanks for the links to the trains :) Also, I'm planning some trips to some cities you've mentioned. What did you think of Gouda, Utrecht, Hague?

@Tulips I'm 24, and very much into exploring. I love admiring the different architecture in each city. Honestly love seeing new places & definitely food, haha!

@Menachem I'm headed to Rotterdam as well. My roommate and myself want to stop there. How long would you recommend there? As well as anything specific you recommend there?

Gouda, Utrecht, Hague?>

All nice - latter two are larger cities- Gouda a smaller historic old town with more thorough charm but less to see than the other two.

Delft would be my one choice but all Dutch towns are neat. Haarlem right next to Amsterdam one of the best.

If you do Gouda, The Hague, Delft or Utrecht: all these are eminently reachable from Rotterdam: Delft 15 minutes by train, The Hague 20 minutes, Utrecht 40, Gouda 20. So Rotterdam might actually be a good base, and well placed if you want to do Brussels (one hour by Thalys, 2 by regular international train) The intercity direct to Amsterdam makes the journey in 40 minutes.

But if you decide to do Rotterdam on a daytrip it depends. I would say at least a full day on the ground, so either an entire day (but in november those days are short) or an afternoon and a night (good nightlife in Rotterdam, depending on your tastes of course) and a nice hotel. You could do that en route to Brussels for instance and arrive in Brussels in the mid morning)

What do you like to do?

heyernggg--all the tips about are good. Also consider Mechelen in Belgium--- a smaller city between Antwerp and Brussels with good rail connections.

As to what to do in Rotterdam, we enjoyed the Museum of the Port and Kinderdijk. but only had a couple of days there. We would go back in a minute to take a cruise through the port and, now, the train that Pal mentioned. We almost added it to our trip to the UK this fall, but couldn't make the logistics work.

If you're into art, Delft and the Hague offer great Dutch Golden Age Art, particularly Vermeer.

But you really can't go wrong no matter where you go, IMO.

I'd base in Amsterdam if you've never been there. Day trip from there. Amsterdam is one of the world's most beautiful and to me interesting cities -lots of eclectic night life for all tastes.

To shed another light to what has been said above, I'd say most people here visited Flanders, which have beautiful cities and is flat.

Wallonia has more landscapes and smaller towns and is quite hilly.

If you have a car, go via la vallée de la Molignée for example and visit the castle of Bouillon which is fantastic. You might to stop at Dinant on the way.

Cities in Wallonia include Tournai, clase to France, quite charming too. Avoid Charleroi and forget Liège. Namur has some charm and the citadelle (castle) is nice with a beautiful view.

What about going to Waterloo?

Waterloo is great because we have our house there. Ah, yes, the battelfield is nice too. And it is great during the week-end of reenactment, around 18th of june.
some museums, good beer, the battlefield is intact. If you are a history buff it is not to be missed. If not well ...

Whathello! You're back! I missed you!

Whatgoodbye?

@PalenQ That's exactly what we are doing! 6 days in Amsterdam and doing a few day trips to the surrounding cities! Thanks so much, all!

Report back if you feel like it - always interesting to know what others thought after doing!

@PalenQ I will, I'll even blog about it but it'll be in November so a bit from now! Thanks so much PalenQ!

https://amsterdam.org/en/event/58/ar...-nicholas.html

If in Amsterdam during the mid-November Sinter Klaus Parade take it in - or in Utrecht, etc.

bands on boats- lovely thing.

Sinterklaas is now a thing of deep controversy because of the "black face" tradition of Black Pete. Last year's national "arrival" was marred by police violence against anti racist demonstrators and the temporary suspension of constitutional rights.

Yes how a patently racism symbol line Sinterklaas could continue is mindpboggling in today's Netherlands:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sint...w=1920&bih=950

At least in our local celebrations (Australian community of Dutch and Belgian immigrants / expats), the Pieten have already begun to be coloured in different coloured face paint, not just black. The materials that my daughter gets from her teacher also have Piet in different colours, as of last year anyway. I understood that this was already happening in the Netherlands and Belgium, is this not so?

Lavandula

Zwarte Piet or père fouettard are supposed to be black. No problem around Waterloo. Yet. Actually not so black than mauresque.

lavandula, last year public "debate" was particularly ugly, with the leader of a patently anti-racist political party receiving death threats. A well known anti-racist blogger had to go into hiding and likewise was assigned a police security detail because of death threats. Both women were further threatened with rape and ridiculed by well known "conservatives" on Dutch national television. Everywhere where mayors have declared "their" arrival to feature differently coloured Pieten, there were death threats.