Barcelona, Amsterdam, Belgium, and Paris

Hi Lauren,

It all depends in which cities you would want to spend more time in. You can organize an itinerary like this for 14 nights:

Fly into Barcelona

Barcelona 4 Nights

Day 1 - Barcelona

Day 2 - Barcelona

Day 3 - Barcelona - Day Trip to Montserrat

Day 4 - Barcelona

Amsterdam 3 Nights (Base yourself in Haarlem which is 25 minutes by train from Amsterdam city center and 14 minutes by train from Schiphol airport)

Day 1 - Haarlem / Amsterdam

Day 2 - Haarlem - Day trip to the towns of The Hague or Delft (Both cities less then 1 hour by train from Haarlem)

Day 3 - Haarlem / Amsterdam

Ghent 3 Nights (Base yourself in Ghent less then 1 hour by train from Bruges and Brussels)

Day 1 - Ghent / Brussels

Day 2 - Ghent - Day trip to Bruges

Day 3 - Ghent / Brussels

Paris 4 Nights

Day 1 - Paris

Day 2 - Paris - Day trip to Versailles Chateau or Loire Valley

Day 3 - Paris

Day 4 - Paris - Fly home

https://apassionandapassport.com/2017/05/best-day-trips-from-barcelona/

https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/gracia-barcelona-guide/

https://www.prettywildworld.com/top-day-trips-from-ghent-belgium/

I agree with above itinerary except I would drop a day from Ghent and add one to Paris. I’d also stay in Amsterdam proper instead of Haarlem. Also curious why you’re doing Barcelona? Seems like an outlier and necessitates flying. What about London instead, which is an easy train ride from Paris?

As it is, I'd cut Ghent and divide the time between Amsterdam/Haarlem and Paris. Your transit days between Barcelona and Amsterdam/Haarlem will take at least half your touring day as will your transfers from Haarlem to Ghent and Ghent to Paris. NOT that Ghent is not "worthy" but that you have limited time. It looks like you already have your airline tickets to Barcelona and out of Paris? IF not I'd fly in to Amsterdam, do Amsterdam/Ghent or Bruges/Paris.

I love Paris and for a 1st timer I'd suggest at least 5 nights, which just gives you 4 full days, especially if you are going to try and put a day trip in there.

For your Haarlem days, I'd spend at least one day IN Haarlem and then at least 2 full days in Amsterdam. Really, you could use 3 days in Amsterdam (depending on what sights you are interested in).

Tyrker is correct - but only if you have not purchased airline tickets already, and so can fly into Barcelona and out of Amsterdam. If you are committed to flying out of Paris, your original proposed itinerary works well.

The eternal question of how to divide time among the "Belgian big four" (Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels) has no definitive answer. Each person comes to different conclusions. For me, I loved Antwerp, liked Bruges a lot, was slow to warm up to Ghent but ended up liking it enough on my one day there, and found Brussels most a snooze except for my wonderful Art Nouveau tour with ARAU https://arau.org/en/tours. But that's just me.

Bruges!!!!

Haarlem is a nice small city conveniently close to Amsterdam, a good day trip from Amsterdam with worthwhile sights. The problem with using it as a base for Amsterdam-centered sightseeing is having to go twice each day through the densest, most crowded part of Amsterdam (Centraal Station and environs) to get wherever you're going. If you want to see things in Amsterdam, stay there, preferably in a quieter area like Jordaan or around Vondelpark.

I haven't been to Belgium, except passing through by train, but I agree with others that you may be trying to fit too many places into your limited time. Barcelona, fly to Amsterdam, train to Paris would be my suggestion, given your transatlantic flight plans.

For a first time trip, I'd stay in Bruges as opposed to Brussels, maybe just visiting in en route to Bruges. I preferred Brussels to Bruges but I'm a big-city person, and recognize that 90% would have the opposite opinion.

I don't see why you guys would stay in Haarlem, I stayed there with my grandmother and her cousin last year because they are eldery and they only wanted to spend a stay in Amsterdam, but for 1st time younger people, I would say stay in the Jordaan district. Makes a huge difference in your Amsterdam experience IMO.