Just starting to plan a spring Brussels, Brugge, Amsterdam trip.
Welcoming any and all ideas.
TIA
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My D20 spent 6 weeks in Amsterdam this past summer, and did some traveling to Belgium. According to her…if you’re pressed for time, skip Brussels and visit Antwerp instead.
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We stopped in Bruges for one day while on a cruise and thought it was a lovely city even though it was quite crowed. We did a bike tour that was fun but a nail biter due to the narrow roads and summer traffic. We didn’t get many photos due to our tour guide cracking her whip to keep us moving.
In Amsterdam, on two visits, we went to the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank House, and a canal tour. I would recommend all three. We would’ve gone to the countryside if we’d had more time.
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We are planning to hit those next fall, so I’m definitely paying attention to this thread!
Brussels is fantastic- the Crave hotel is very nice and within walking distance to the Grand Place, restaurants, train station, etc. Our family spent a whole afternoon at the EU Parlamentarium, it was far more interesting than expected. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts are great, as well
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Granted this was 20 years ago, we did Belgium and Amsterdam (and France) as part of our 3weeks honeymoon in mid April, specifically for tulip season in Amsterdam (which was truly amazing).
I absolutely LOVED Bruges/Brugge, over Brussels and Antwerp. I cherished being able to relax and soak it all in, instead of hurrying from one monument to another church, etc.
- The farmer’s markets where they sold amazing melt-in-your-mouth chocolate truffles. I purchased so many bags of it.
- Our bnb included fabulous spread for breakfast.
- sitting and enjoying the sea of yellow daffodils at the Beguinage Ten Wijngaarde
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Highly recommend going during tulip season in Amsterdam. Ship some tulip bulbs home.
Loved the food, we had one of the best Thai meals in Amsterdam (can’t remember the restaurant) and I’ve lived in Thailand.
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I was in Amsterdam and Brussels a month ago. Enjoyed Amsterdam, but felt that two full days was enough time to see what we wanted to see: Van Gogh, Rijk Museum, Anne Frank House, Museum of the Canals, Our Lord in the Attic Museum, the windmill brewery, and Vondelpark. Oh, and one of those canal boat cruises, which was delightful.
We were not rushed, walked everywhere other than taking the tram to the windmill brewery. If we had been there during tulip bloom, we would have spent another day and traveled outside the city.
We were only in Brussels for one day and mostly to visit family while en route to Paris. I have heard that Bruges is lovely, but we didn’t want to take time away from Paris to Bruges.
Enjoy!
Editing to add that we booked Van Gogh and the Rijksmuseum on two different mornings because I did not know how much time we would want to spend in each. This required us to walk back over to the museum area each day, but that was fine. There was a security line for Van Gogh, I think…It’s all a bit of a blur now after visiting far too many museums in Paris.
The Anne Frank House was the only other museum that required advance reservations (Tuesday morning, six weeks before visiting for AF). We were able to walk into the other museums and booked the canal cruise minutes before boarding.
Also, once you know your travel dates, book Thalys trains between cities. I don’t think the routes are published until maybe three months in advance. Ticket prices increase closer to travel date.
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Loved all three cities but we weren’t there for very long. A day in Brugges, three days in Amsterdam and two days in Brussels.
We loved the canal boat rides too and had the most amazing Indonesian rijsttafel in Amsterdam.
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Have been to all three! Loved them. It does help if you can take your time and enjoy the place. But if you don’t have enough time, you can definitely hit the highlights in Brussels and Brugge in a day each and perhaps a couple for Amsterdam.
We spent four days in Amsterdam (april - peak of tulip season). Wandered around the city, following our own walking tour. Ate the absolutely fantastic fries, visited the museums leisurely, took a boat cruise (underwhelming), spent an evening with cocktails and food at a rooftop bar watching the sunset and the lights come up (absolutely beautiful!). We went to the Keukenhof gardens one morning and then rented bikes and biked around the countryside all afternoon. No words - just breathtaking views!! We also went to Zaanse Schaans - a touristy set up with windmills. Took the bus and went to the coast and wandered around, loved the poffertjes and waffles!
We were in Belgium this past June. D had a conference in Brugge - so we spent 3+ days there - got to know the city pretty well. Loved walking around, taking in the sights, eating waffles, waffles on a stick, the amazing chocolates! Took a walking tour, climbed up the clock tower, toured and tasted the local beer. Also had time to rent bikes and bike over to Damme - absolutely beautiful ride along the canals the whole way. Meandered around, saw bridges being raised and lowered along the canals, true functioning windmills, and even a V/R goggles setup! Went to the coast one evening to walk on the beach and catch the sunset.
We stayed next to the Grand Place in Brussels and that was so convenient. Could stay out late and felt safe the whole time. We love Tintin comics and Brussels has a whole comic mural thing going. We had fun making a scavenger hunt for these murals. Enjoyed the lively scene near the Grand Place. We took one day to go to the Atomium (was pretty cool!), the mini Europe park next door. We also squeezed in a trip to Waterloo (I badly wanted to go see this). It was a bit of a challenge to make this work with trains and buses, but we had fun. We did go to Ghent one day and that was probably my least favorite - but it was a brutally hot day and that just sapped our energy, probably coloring how we felt about Ghent.
Let me know if you have any specific questions!
We just were in Bruges for a weekend. It was gorgeous, like a fairytale, with the windmills, canals, cobblestone streets, and beautiful stone buildings. Our crowd are all big Belgian beer lovers, so our activities kind of revolved around that - stopped at a local brewery near our VRBO and then did a private beer tour, which was awesome. Our VRBO was lovely - beautifully appointed, right on the canal and owned and run by a lovely couple. If you end up going and want a recommendation for our VRBO or the beer tour let me know!
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My D20 loved the rijsttafel! She said it was the best meal she ate the entire time she was in Amsterdam.
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I’ll take those recommendations, please. And Thank You!
We’re actually leaving for Brussels tonight. Plan on visiting Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent, Luxembourg and Lille, France. Looks like it’s going to rain the whole time we’ll be there. Will give an update when we get back.
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Been to all and loved every single minute! My son did study abroad there and took us around afterward. It was wonderful.
Brussels–Grande Place but make at night when it lights up. Fun to visit during day also. Mussels and french fries. Sample the 650 beer varieties. The musical instrument museum is fascinating–one of my favorite things.
Bruges–window shop the chocolate places. Truly beautiful city. Hit the market in the morning for breakfast or just to stroll around.
Amsterdam–a boat tour, the Van Gogh, Rijk Museum.
Pack light–some of those train stations will have you climbing a billion stairs with nary an elevator in sight. And they are notorious (especially Amsterdam) for pickpockets–don’t let anybody “help” you with your luggage. No worries–just caution!.
The train station attendants are required to know Dutch, French and English–best resource if you have problems navigating.
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We’ve been to all three. Loved Brugge, Amsterdam but Brussels not so much.
We flew in and out of Amsterdam so we had 2 days to at either end. The first 2 days we spent seeing Keukenhof, Zaanse Schaans, and exploring the Centraal area. Would recommend tasting the stroopwafjel at Von Wonderen. There’s usually a long line so that took some time. Heineken tour because of DH.
Ate at a lot of restaurants there including an Indonesian rijstaffel. One thing we learned is that is best to reserve a table at the restaurants. We had to wait for hours at some places.
The last 2 days of our trip were spent at the museums and canal cruise. Each museum is a half day project, we found. But then DH likes to read each and every placard.
We drove from Amsterdam and stopped at Utrecht (don’t drive in the central part of the city!), Gouda (quaint), Rotterdam (very modern), Kinderdijk, Delft and The Hague. We then took a train to Brugge, the above advice about booking early is on point. We had to settle for a slow train because Thalys was sold out for the time we were looking.
Climbed the Bell tower at Brugge. View is fantastic but it’s nearly 400 steps. We also made sure to be in Brugge for the weekly market (I believe Wednesday). That was a fantastic experience. Did a canal boat cruise there which let us see parts we hadn’t reached. We stayed near the Bell Tower which was great to walk everywhere. Lots of yummy chocolate tasting including at the Chocolate Museum. Also the waffles sold at the market from a food truck were the yummiest we had the whole trip.
We stayed in Brussels near the Grand Place. Seeing it at night is quite amazing. We walked around a bit but it was quite crowded and raining the whole time we were there. Waffles, some shopping, the Tintin store and Mannekin Pis are the only things I remember.
We stayed at Antwerp for a night on our way back to Amsterdam. Nice to walk around and great food.
I hesitate but it is famous…the red light district in Amsterdam is an eyeopener. I think I was there a total of 20 minutes (early dusk) but they do give tours (or a quick glimpse is all you need) and it might change your world view on many topics in that amount of time.
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In Amsterdam some highlights were the Van Gogh Museum, canal boat ride, Heineken Tour (it is family tradition that I only drink beer on brewery tours), Rijiksmuseum (not my personal favorite style of art but worth a visit for sure), Ann Frank House, and yes we did go to the Red Light District @gouf78. We also took a day trip to the countryside.
I was in Brussels many many years ago and remember it being a charming city but can’t think of anything specific we did (other than seeing the Manneken Pis statue LOL).
Then you missed a whole lot of Brussels!
This is funny because I love beer and my H loves wine. I was in heaven with literally a new treat at every corner. And wine didn’t exist. But fair is fair–you want wine then go to France…beer? Go to Belgium.
My husband would agree that the beers in Brussels were so worth checking out. Everywhere we went, there was a huge selection from which to choose.
One thing we did…we went walking in the morning and found a local breakfast place where clearly a lot of workmen were having breakfast. I had the best Belgian waffle I had ever had. We liked it so well, we went back several times (we were there for four mornings).
Look around for pub sorts of places to eat. We found that the food menus were excellent regardless of how “fancy” a place was.
LOVED the day we spent in Bruge. Just looking at the buildings could have occupied our time.
Get chocolate. We got it everywhere we went…so many great chocolatiers there.
There is an indoor Galleria (I don’t recall the name) that is fun for touristy shopping.
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The Bank Hotel in Amsterdam-- the best combination of value, location, architecture and service. I’ve stayed in 10+ hotels in Amsterdam over the years (usually for work although did a few of the budget hotels when I was paying for it) and you cannot beat The Bank! The rooms are small (as are most hotel rooms in Amsterdam) but the living room/lobby, breakfast room/restaurant are so charming you’ll be happy to relax with a glass of beer or wine and watch the world go by.
There’s an express bus from Schipol airport that stops a block from the hotel; it’s walkable from the train station if you don’t have a lot of luggage.