5 days in Europe starting in Amsterdam

With only five days to spare, stay in Amsterdam. The city will take about three days to explore. But there are lots of day trip opportunities, well explained in Rick's Amsterdam guidebook. I understand nearby Rotterdam, has a very trendy club scene.

Xzack, The first couple of days the jetlag will put you in bed by 10 pm.
Honestly, if you plan on clubbin and pubbin you may as well stay in Amsterdam. You may not be in any condition after a night out for a long train ride the next morning. Get your history fix during the day and hit the pubs at night. Berlin is 6 to 7 hours by train. Cologne is around 2.5 hours by train if you book the ICE train and so is Brussels. You could also go to some other cities in the Netherlands: Haarlem, Rotterdam, Utrecht or the Hague. Most are under an hour by train. You could make daytrips out of those. IMO, I would spend all 5 days in Amsterdam or split your time between Amsterdam and Cologne or Amsterdam and Brussels. Good luck.

You could try Northern Germany- Hamburg etc if you are looking for "cool cities" off the usual tourist track

I think we decided to do this...fly in for two days to the Dam.. take the train over to London on the third day kick it in London then bounce back to the dam...I think settling on one other city is key for us...

I have made 4 short trips (under 5 nights) to Netherlands and/ or Belgium. Going to London in the middle sounds like a pian. Look at visiting Gronigen - up north - I hear that is a party city. Or down to Ghent or Brussels in Belgium. I like to move around - last trip we did 3 cities in Belgium in 4 nights an have done same in Netherlands.

We are thinking if we land on Sunday morning, we hit up the Dam all day Sunday and Monday, train it to London Tuesday morning, kick it Tuesday and Weds and then head back on Thursday ..visit the Hague etc on Thursday and Friday (we also have a ride to Paris on Thursday if we truly feel like killing ourselves) fly back on Saturday. I'm not too worried about being run ragged we tend to do that when were off work anyway, I am however a tiny bit concerned about travel times etc... are we biting off too much?

I think so. But, then again, London doesn't thrill me so taking that much time to go there seems lame-o. Amsterdam is cool. The Netherlands is cool - I say, go to Antwerp and Ghent for a night or something. My sister and I just spent a few nights in Ghent and had a blast. Lots of beer, a cool vibe. Antwerp is supposed to be cool too. Or, like I said, look at Gronigen.

Have you already purchased airline tickets? Otherwise, (for instance) fly into Amsterdam and out of London. Pick 'Multi-city' when searching for flights...

We did buy tickets..well at least to the Dam but we haven't made any other plans..I did notice no one has been like London is awesome its worth the travel time, no one likes London?

London is awesome...my favorite city in the world! But based on the time you have you are better off staying in one place. With such a small amount of time you don't want to waste any of it in transit. Kick back and enjoy the pleasures of Amsterdam...my second favorite city;)

I can't understand anyone saying London is lame-o! To each his own. We have been to London more times than I can count and never tire of the city. Paris is right up there as another city that I never tire of.

Hey Eli - I didn't say London was Lame-o ... I said it is not my favorite place and taking THAT much time to go there and back sounds lame-o ... but if you disagree that's fine!

I don't think you'll find many folk here not appreciating London or other places. Most however, have traveled to and in Europe a number of times and recognize the value of being somewhere and not spending much of your time going somewhere else. If you want to be clubbing and stuff rather than seeing the sights you could save yourself a whole bunch of hassle and just go to different scenes in Holland. I believe that's why you've not been encouraged. You must have questioned it yourself or you wouldn't have asked the question?

In 5 days you barely have time to see Amsterdam and locations within an hour or two of Amsterdam. London is definitely worth seeing- but you need at least three full days there to even get your toes wet. Not a wise choice in the limited time you have avaiilable and the travel time to get there and back

Too bad you have already purchased your tickets. Next time you hop over to Europe, consider going open jaw and buy your ticket into one city and out of another in order to avoid backtracking. This way, you wanting to go to London would be more realistic since you wouldn't have to waste time coming back to Amsterdam. Given your travel style, I personally think you could probably pull off another city close by with the knowledge that you won't get to really delve too deep into the city. Look at all your options (e.g., Paris, Brussels, Berlin) and catch the earliest flight/train you can to maximize ground time.

With only 5 days, Xzack, I would say that your time is at a premium and that it would be worth it to spend the $$ to change your ticket to multi-city! Just a thought!

Feedback is awesome everyone..defiantly has us thinking and considering options...will post when we lock in our final decision...

There's a lot to do in London, but depending on when you go, I'm not sure about the club scene and how active it is. Of course if you find a pub where they're showing a game, you're good. Berlin is a great place to party, plus you can eat/drink on the train. Not sure if some of the smaller places near A-dam are what you want...It sounds like you guys don't mind being tired and on the go all the time, which is what you'll need for such a short trip. I'm hoping/thinking you got a great price on the airline tickets???