Northern France, Netherlands, and Belgium

We were pleasantly surprised with Paris. We could get a modest, but clean and friendly hotel room in a great location in the Latin Quarter. In general, restaurant meals are less expensive than meals in U.S. You can picnic at lunchtime. Baguettes are 1 Euro. The Marais has a wonderful and inexpensive Falafel place. The museum pass is inexpensive and it costs nothing to walk around! Amsterdam was similar in prices, but we found hotels to be more expensive than Paris.

You could visit Reims in the Champagne province, visit Strasbourg and Alsace regions or travel farther south along the coast to Normandy which offers a lot.

For keeping your lodging budget low, maybe Camping Zeeburg in Amsterdam can be interesting for you as it has 1 person eco-cabins for around €30 / night during the period you want to travel. Have no personal experience with the place, but they have good reviews, so think worth to consider. You don't have to walk far for a tram stop.

https://www.campingzeeburg.nl/en/accommodations/eco-cabin-1-person/

For Bruges think the following can be of interest:

http://www.budgetplaces.com/bruges/budget-bed_and_breakfast-list/

There's currently another thread going in the Beyond Europe forum regarding US National Parks and travel in the US. I think Jules and I both have discovered sometimes it's less expensive to get lodging in Paris or London over National Parks, N. Idaho and Iowa, lol!! Early November might get you better room rates altho you are getting in to shorter days so less outdoor sightseeing time. I just looked at one of my go-to hotels in Paris and the room rate drops from 158€ the end of Oct to 119€ for a double standard room the 2nd week of November.

What's your budget? If you are traveling solo then single rooms are less but of course a much smaller room.

Elizabeth, if this is your first trip to Europe, you cannot get everything you need on the Internet. If you don't want to pay for Rick's books, many libraries have them. In particular, you will not depend on a few anecdotes about expensive Paris. Someone who is willing to stay out of the center and have an older bathtub maybe with no shower can stay very economically in Paris. For now, look at Rick's online hints, top left blue menu. Travel Tips or Explore Europe.

In particular, you might want to balance "seeing everything" with the substantial expense of multiple long train trips - which also eat up your precious vacation time. This may well not be your LAST trip to Europe, as well as your FIRST. Because Paris has so much to do, it pays off with getting familiar with a neighborhood and comfort using the Metro to see more new things each day. Running from city to city doesn't always pay off.

Hi Elisabeth,
How long to spend in each place depends on your interests and what you plan to see, so as a previous poster suggested, get a guide book from the library and make a list of what the "must-sees" are for you. I like museums, churches, boats, culture, gardens, and history, so I found plenty to see for 3 days (4 nights) in Amsterdam on each of two visits. I also spent 4 days (5 nights) in Bayeux, Normandy.

For trains, the earlier you purchase your ticket the cheaper is is. See https://www.seat61.com/ for tips.

For hotel suggestions I look at booking.com, trip advisor, and the RS guidebook as well as the trip reports section of this forum.

Enjoy the planning process. Don't forget to think about a backup plan if it rains when you've thought you'd spend the day in a park.

Use booking.com, orbitz, tripadvisor, Rick Steves, other guidebooks, to find hotels in your budget. Then see if you can make the reservation directly thru the hotel website. You can often save money, or get the hotel to match the websites, and sometimes get extras like breakfast. It saves the hotel money and I believe I am treated better. I usually contact the hotels directly via email. That is often a good place to get some questions addressed as well, for example, how to get from the airport to your hotel.

Hi,

Northern France...this is the area I have visited the most in France outside of Paris.

I would suggest Amiens on the Somme, dep from Paris Nord train station, Lille, and Arras. Both Lille and Arras can be reached by the TGV, even if a bit pricey.

Now, if you prefer smaller places up north, Cambrai, the beach towns, ie Stella Plage, Berk Plage, etc. This area is totally off the American tourist radar. Amiens is the town I would suggest if you have time for just one place...lovely place.