Belgium-Netherlands: Initial Plan Thoughts

We spent 11 days in Netherlands/Belgium/France in October and loved it. Here's my Trip Report if you're interested.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-netherlands-belgium-and-a-personally-important-weekend-in-france

What are your interests? My main focus for Belgium and France were the WW1 sites and it didn't disappoint. We spent 5 days in Bruges which was a good base. With more time I would have spent a couple of extra days in Ghent. We liked Amsterdam but loved Leiden, and next time we're in the area we'll likely base there instead and train into Amsterdam if there's something we want to see.

TY Allan for the feedback. I will look into those towns you mentioned. My interests are varied. Museums (Anne Frank for one), history, WWI/WW2. food, walking, coffee, a beer now and then, minor gift shopping for kids/grandkids, the overall Vibe of a place, seashore, accommodations don't need to be fancy, just safe and comfortable. Will be travelling solo, 69 years in good shape.

I did Belgium and the Netherlands in 2016. Flew into Brussels. Stayed 3 nights in Ghent, 2 nights in Antwerp, 2 nights in Delft, and 5 nights in Amsterdam. Flew out of Amsterdam (to Oslo; I continued the trip in Norway).

I traveled by train throughout. On arrival in Brussels, I spent a few hours there before continuing on to Ghent. I did a day trip from Ghent to Bruges, and from there I rented a bike and rode along the canal to Damme. Also went back to Brussels to see some museums I didn't have time for on my arrival day. Direct train from Ghent to Antwerp. From Antwerp to Delft, I stopped for a few hours to explore Rotterdam.

I took day trip from Delft to The Hague, mainly to visit the Mauritzhuis. Then, on the train from Delft to Amsterdam, I stopped for a few hours in Leiden.

In Amsterdam, I did one day trip to Haarlem. And I did a bus trip to Hoorn and Edam.

Over the years I've been on this forum, I've probably seen more disagreement about favorite places in these two countries than anywhere else in Europe. This is especially true of Belgium. Personally, I found Bruges to be postcard pretty but otherwise not interesting. But I know many others love it. As for Leiden, I thought it was nice for a stop and walkabout, but that seemed sufficient to me. I loved being in Amsterdam, and could easily see myself spending weeks there.

The good thing about these two countries is they are both small enough and have excellent bus and train networks, so you can base yourself anywhere and see as much as you have time for. Since you have about twice as much time as I had, you will easily be able to explore these two countries in some depth without feeling any time crunch.

I stayed the better part of a September week in Bruges and day tripped to the coast. I rather wish I had done it the other way around. The train between Bruges and Ostend is easy, and there is a tram that runs the length of the coast. Near the west end is the Atlantikwall Museum, which is in the old German bunkers. Very interesting. A little further along, in France, is Dunkirk. I don't know if there is anything to see there. East of Ostend is DeHaan, a resort town with a lot of Belle Epoque architecture, restaurants, charm. The beach was quite windy when we were there, but that didn't stop us. The season was definitely over by September, but things were still open.
Depending on the age of your grandkids, two suggestions for gifts from Amsterdam: you can have a personalized chocolate bar made at Tony's (takes some planning), and for little ones, a book and maybe some mice from the Sam and Julia Shop, aka the Mouse Museum.

I did an early October, 12 night, solo trip to Netherlands and Belgium. I was in my 70s and used trains. I spent 5 nights in Amsterdam and could have enjoyed more time. I then based in Ghent for 4 nights with a full day trip to Bruges, and a six hour stop in Antwerp on my way from Ghent to Leiden. I ended with 3 nights in Leiden with day trips to Den Hague and Delft. Amazing art in museums and some churches was part of my focus but may not be your priority. With more time, I would have added Brussels and a little more time in Antwerp. I did not go to any of the WWI sites. Train travel was very easy. Belgium has a great train deal for over 65. For Amsterdam, it is critical to get Anne Frank museum tickets when they become available, about 6 weeks in advance. Advanced tickets are also needed for the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam but probably a week ahead is ok.

Because you like museums, I recommend that you don't overlook the multiple museums in Antwerp that may interest you. It's a much larger city than Ghent or Bruges, and has correspondingly larger museums. The KMSKA is a world-class art museum.

Brussels is not a favorite of mine, but the unified Ancient/Modern Art museum is good for a full day, if you wanted to see that much, and the Bozar has very interesting shows. There are other good, specialized museums in Brussels too. Don't spend time on the European Parliament unless you are interested in current politics.

Advanced topic: Usually a weekend in September contains Open Monument Days (perhaps Sept 11-12, 2026?). This would be called "Open-Days New York", for example, in the US. It includes mostly places that are NOT usually open to the public, but places are limited. Here is the NL site, because it's in English. https://www.openmonumentendag.nl/english-summary/
In past years, the Belgium site was (?) only in Dutch.

I recommend Lonely Planet for detailed research. September is past beach season, but I went to Ostende to see the tomb and family church of the pretty famous painter James Ensor. (His home/GIFT SHOP was less attractive.) I used a tram line along the beachfront that goes on to include a few war waterfront sites.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/belgium/day-trips-from-brussels-768c7c85-75b9-4374-ad13-ae36967bc521

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/belgium/day-trips-from-brussels-besides-bruges-and-ghent

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/netherlands/day-trips-from-delft

If you find you have a few days left over, note that Brussels is very well connected to Cologne, if too far for a daytrip. And if you're in eastern Netherlands, Cologne is quite close. We started a NL (rental car) road trip by flying to Cologne. Back then it didn't cost much extra to return in Amsterdam.

In the summer of 2024 we spent one week apiece in Belgium and Netherlands. Selected Ghent and Utrecht as our two headquarters cities, and we'd make the same plan again. If anyone is visiting in July, don't miss Feesten in Ghent. It's a blast!

Getting around these two smallish nations by train is very easy. Enjoy your trip!

gritz, if you're unable to get tickets to the Anne Frank Museum and the time period interests you, try the Resistance Museum. It's outstanding. https://www.verzetsmuseum.org/en/world-war-ii-in-the-netherlands

TY Lane, G3, CD, Tim, Jphbucks, and Allan for the amazing feedback. So much to digest and consider. All great stuff.

I spent much of last summer in Belgium and the Netherlands--about one month in each country. I still didn't have time for everything I wanted to see, partly because I spent 14+ days in each of Amsterdam (museums!) and Brussels (museums and Art Nouveau architecture).

I'm a senior who travels by public transportation. The rail network in that part of Europe is very dense and distances are generally short, so it's easy to see a lot of cities and towns. I tend to have a lot of things I want to see at each destination, so I sleep in a bunch of different cities. Others will be able to manage a lot of their sightseeing by day trip.

A few tips on the trains:

• Belgium has changed its senior fares since my trip, but I think you'll still find discounts. Also compare weekday and weekend fares to see if they still differ.

• The Netherlands has tap-to-pay fare gates in its rail stations. It makes travel very easy, but be sure you use the same credit card for all parts of your travel each day.

• The Netherlands has multiple rail companies, each with its own fare gates at the stations it serves. If you're mostly traveling around the western part of the country, you may see nothing but NS fare gates. I ventured to the east, and--even knowing about the multi-company situation from this forum--managed to tap in at the wrong fare gate multiple times. That is not a good thing to do. There are a lot of roving inspectors. No one ever threw the book at me (which I'm sure they were entitled to do), but the least you can expect if you make the same mistake I did is to be charged a full fare by the company whose train you are not on (about 10 euros?) and the full fare for the actual trip when the inspector comes along. I have no idea what the penalty would be if they didn't make exceptions for little old ladies like me; I'd guess at least 50 euros. The inspectors were very courteous even as they explained that I had screwed up.

When you check Dutch rail schedules online (https://www.ns.nl/, the website gives the name(s) of the operating company/companies. If you want to see what it looks like when two companies are involved, search for a trip between Arnhem and Groeningen. The fare gates at stations served by more than one rail company will show the appropriate logo; it's just a matter of remembering to look.

• Belgian train carriages--at least some of them--don't have much space for storing luggage larger than carry-on size. Most of the storage is overhead. Keep that in mind as you decide how much to pack. My bag was about 24" and I managed, but it was a pain in the neck.

• Brussels Central Station is large, and I had an awful time finding step-free access between platform level and street level. My bag was heavy enough that I wanted to avoid steps, which I didn't always manage to do. I can only suggest that, if climbing stairs with luggage will be an issue for you, you allow extra time for entering and leaving the station.

• These are highly developed countries where you'll usually find an elevator or a ramp available if you need to change platforms at a rail station, but I did run into at least one or two places (in additions to Brussels Central Station) where I had to deal with stairs.

ATMs: You'll find credit cards accepted almost everywhere but may still want a bit of local currency (euros). In the Netherlands, individual-bank ATMs are being replaced by machines operated by an independent company. There are not as many of them. I'd recommend checking on Google Maps for locations rather than wandering around randomly, hoping to stumble on an ATM. There's some information here: https://www.rottourdam.com/travel/how-and-which-atms-to-use-in-the-netherlands-and-rotterdam/.

To be continued...

Continuing...

Language: Belgium is a bi-lingual country with a third language (German) spoken in a small area. As is common in bilingual countries, you may see less English on written materials, because they already have to allow space for both French and Flemish (Dutch). However, as in the Netherlands, the population speaks English extraordinarily well, so you will easily be able to find assistance if you need it. In both countries you may encounter non-English speakers in places like casual, order-at-the-counter restaurants, where staff may be fairly recent immigrants who did not go through the local school system where English was pretty much unavoidable. If you think this might present a problem, look up the translation of "chicken", "lamb", etc., ahead of time.

Sightseeing - The Netherlands

Amsterdam is especially rich in museums and sights related to WWII. They include the Anne Frank House (very difficult ticket to snag), the National Holocaust Museum, the National Holocaust Names Monument (outdoors and free), the Holocaust Deportation and Memorial Site (also free) and the Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum). The last four are all in the same general neighborhood. Elsewhere there is a small sculpture of Anne Frank in Merwedeplein, the neighborhood where the Frank family lived; stumbling stones for the family are nearby on the southeast side of the square at Merwedeplein 37.

The Netherlands is now acknowledging its colonial background. You'll find information about the history of Dutch colonial activities, especially in Indonesia and Suriname, in a variety of museums (including some art museums) around the country.

Visiting the Van Gogh Museum requires buying a ticket somewhat in advance. It does sell out. The Rijksmuseum isn't quite as difficult, but I think you'll still need to buy a ticket online ahead of time rather than just showing up. The Stedelijk Museum, in the same neighborhood, didn't seem to be an issue, but if there's a popular special exhibition running, that could require pre-planning. There are other art museums scattered around the city.

Among the key art museums in the Netherlands outside Amsterdam are the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo (with a very large Van Gogh collection and an expansive sculpture park) and the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam. The BvB is closed for a major renovation, with some of its holdings being shown elsewhere. Many other cities have worthwhile museums if art is a significant interest. To my knowledge, you don't need to preplan visits to any of the museums outside Amsterdam unless there's an unusually popular special exhibition running.

Rotterdam is a mostly-modern city with not a lot of pre-20th-century architecture but many interesting contemporary buildings.

Leiden, Delft, The Hague and Haarlem are cities in the western part of the country often visited by tourists. I found them all attractive. I didn't go to any of the cute towns north of Amsterdam often mentioned. I spent a good bit of time east of the IJsselmeer, chasing Art Nouveau architecture. Because of that interest, I visited the Kroller-Muller Museum from Arnhem; I think Rick suggests Otterlo as a base instead.

The Netherlands Museum Pass covers a lot of sights around the country. For non-locals, it's good for 5 sights in 31 days. If you're going to enough rather expensive places (probably easiest if used in multiple cities), it can save you a bit of money, but at 75 euros (I think), it may not make a huge difference. I bought three of them and came out slightly ahead, but it took a bit of effort to be sure I used it at the most expensive covered places I planned to see.

To be continued...

Continuing...

Sightseeing -- Belgium:

Brussels isn't an especially popular destination, but I spent 17 days there because of its incredible Art Nouveau architecture. Otherwise, it has some good museums (though parts of the Royal Art Museums downtown are currently closed). In the Parc du Cinquantenaire you'll find the Art and History Museum, the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History (covering both WWI and WWII) and Autoworld (which I skipped).

The other Belgian cities most often recommended here are Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp. I liked and recommend them all. Antwerp feels the most like a big city (which it is). Sights in those cities are well covered in earlier threads as well as this one.

In and outside Mechelen, on the rail line between Brussels and Antwerp, are a couple of important WWII/Holocaust-related sites, Kazerne Dossin and Fort Breendonk. The Fort is actually in Willebroek, requiring a bus connection. Neither of those is a quick visit. Together, they'd probably require more than a day trip from Brussels if you wanted to read all the material offered in English. Other sights in Mechelen include the cathedral and the Museum Hof van Busleyden, which I've read is an excellent museum of medieval and Renaissance but didn't have time to see.

Closer to Brussels, in Tervuren, is the Royal Museum for Central Africa, which reportedly now has good coverage of the human rights issues of the colonial era. I didn't have time to go there.

In my never-ending quest to see every Art Nouveau building in Europe, I also went to Tournai, Mons and Charleroi; Liege must wait for a follow-up trip. Those are all attractive places, but you'll probably have plenty to see without heading in that direction.

Acraven...TY so much for all that detailed info. I know you are very well travelled and with much wonderful documentation. (I have read some of your other posts, as I have done some travelling these past 5 years.) I will dig in to all of these posts on my inquiry.

2 questions, which I could probably cull the answer based upon all of this feedback:
1) Are Amsterdam and Brussels a natural duo to see together (2-3 weeks of total time)?
2) Fly In/Out of one or both?

ty

The Netherlands and Belgium pair very well. They are both fairly small and benefit not only from geographical proximity but from good ground-transportation links (unlike Spain and Portugal, for one example). I opted to split my (admittedly generous) available time between the two countries even though I suspected it would mean not seeing every town I wanted to see in either one (and so it developed). I did that partly because I value variety and partly because I knew the Netherlands was getting ready to increase its hotel VAT rate from 9% to 21%. I figured I'd knock off a bunch of places in the Netherlands before that 12% increase kicked in. I do still plan to go back to see more of the country, especially in the east (I think I can link Maastricht with Liege), but I won't need to spend a great deal of time in high-cost Amsterdam since I had two weeks there last year.

I recommend going to some of the smaller towns in addition to the capitals, because they--though sometimes very touristy--have a different feel from the major metropolises.

I think you'll find more comments on this forum about the Dutch towns than the Belgian towns, and I think there's more great art in the Netherlands. However, as you can tell from the amount of time I spent in Belgium, I'm sure you'll easily be able to fill 1-1/2 weeks there if you decide to split your time roughly evenly. I'm not a castle person, but I think the castle advantage goes to Belgium, and the food is generally considered to be better there. I know nothing about beer and wine.

I'd use whichever airport(s) are cheapest after allowing for a possible international train leg at one end of the trip. At a glance, it looks as if 27 euros is a typical rail fare between the capitals if you buy the ticket a bit in advance. It can go both lower and higher. I was using United miles to pay for my ticket, and I found approximately the same miles required to return from Amsterdam or Brussels. Frankfurt was similar but would have required a longer train trip and i assume a more expensive ticket (though I did not check).

Not saying it's a must-see, but the free audio guides at Fort Breendonk have an "English" setting. This is not a death camp, but a cruel prison (with executions...) designed to intimidate the civilian population. (As in getting them to be collaborators. See "The Mechelen Trials", post-war. It does have some of the stunning horror of the bigger, widely visited camps. It is hard to get to without a car.

Fort Breendonk is very interesting, and there's a memorial/museum site in nearby Mechelen as well. I managed to get to Breendonk via public transportation and my own feet (not a very long walk), but it is a time commitment, for sure.

TY acraven for the quick response and Tim as well for the info. Yikes on the 21% VAT. I guess if the tourists are willing to pay, ....

I don't know how the new Dutch hotel VAT rate compares to other European countries' rates, just that it represents a really significant increase since last year. I know I've seen total tax rates over 15% in some US cities.

If your interests in Belgium include WW1 and WW2, I would suggest in addition to the usual sites, eg, Ypres these sites: Mons, (the British monument), Lommel (the site of the biggest German military cemetery in Europe), Liege if you are going to get a rental car for the WW1 sites, and many more, ie, all depends on how much time you are devoting to tracking down these war sites and your level of interest.

Then there are sites connected with Napoleon and Waterloo, aside from Waterloo itself but also Plancenoit and Wavre, La Cateau,

TY Fred, all of that looks interesting to me. I will definitely include in my plans.

“ Yikes on the 21% VAT. I guess if the tourists are willing to pay”

It’s not just foreign tourists that have to pay the higher VAT., locals have to pay the 21% VAT too. In 2024, just under 52 million guests stayed in hotels, B&B’s etc in the Netherlands. 30 million of these guests came from the Netherlands, that’s well over half of the total number of guests.

Belgium has a new discount card for its train travellers, called "Train+". It seems to be available to international visitors as well as locals. You can buy a monthly card for just 6 euros (only 4 euros for students and seniors), and you get a 40% discount on rail fares. This seems like a no-brainer for you.

https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/products/trainplus?_cfchltk=MEhNB71iVKwXFHGHFeRrrmMPxQNe6caJT5CMNAcXW4-1769781538-1.0.1.1-T96AFv18yhn_nxPK7swFi4tCUQVO4Kz29AATij9crRs

All I found in the Netherlands was occasional offers of discounted fares when I checked schedules for future trips on www.ns.nl. My guess is that the offers appear when ticket sales are slow on specific trains, and I think you only see them if you check schedules before the day of travel. I tend to make last-minute decisions on which train to take when I'm going a short distance and know I have lots of options, but if you're really certain when you want to depart, it's worth taking a look ahead of time to see whether you'll benefit from buying the ticket early.

My trip report has details on train travel in both countries.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-in-the-netherlands-and-belgium-my-trip-report

My trip was two years ago so do check to make sure all the info. is still correct.

Train travel was very easy in both countries. More so in the Netherlands as you can tap and pay for all public transportation.

As far as luggage storage on the trains, I always travel 1st class now when I have luggage as there’s usually more space.

@ gritz....You're welcome.

If your final plans in Belgium evolve on sites pertaining to the "Ardennes Offensive" (battle of the Bulge), I would heartily recommend going to Stoumont for the La Gleize Museum and that particular site, which the Belgians decided to clean up, fix up to preserve as a singular point in that offensive...worth your time.

I focus far more on the WW1 sites in France and Belgium relative to both these conflicts.

TY Carrie and Fred, and acraven again. So much wonderful insights and detailed info. I'll be using all of this to help my plans. Appreciate.

Hi Gritz,

Great to see you are going to visit these two exciting countries. I would advise you to visit Rotterdam as well. As said before, Rotterdam is a modern and contemporary city. But with a good reason: a devastating WWII Nazi bombardment (May, 1940), leaving 80.000 people homeless. There is still plenty of old left outside the historical city center, and the city has an interesting take on rebuilding the city of the future. Rotterdam has a rich history and a great story. It used to have the biggest and busiest harbor in the world (up to 2004), but now it is just the biggest in Europe. The architecture is playful, bold, and strange at the same time.

Definitely go by the great Fenix Migration Museum, right next to the old Holland America Line building (now Hotel New York), from where many people left for Ellis Island, NYC. The Boijmans van Beuningen Art Depot is a must-see and visit, as are the cube houses, Markthal (Sistine Chapel of Food), and city surfing (right next to it).

Oud Delfshaven is a place where you can find houses dating back to the 16th century. One of them (rebuilt in the late 1800s), is the birthplace of Piet Heyn, who is famous for capturing the Spanish silver fleet but also had a part in the dark side of colonization.

Bonus: try the Water Taxi. The head quarters are next to Hotel New York, but you can order them via their website as well.

Wide parts of the Northeastern Netherlands (German: Niederlande) are very similar to Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen). Both have the landscape and language indicator "Nieder" in their name but it is translated in different ways - but they have one common Frisian history layer and are not really different. So, it is worth to explore the German Frisian side as well. WWII related Bremerhaven is worth visit with type XXI submarine "Wilhelm Bauer".

Wilhelmshaven is one of the classic German navy ports also during first and second world war. Today it still hosts part of the German fleet and has a bunker and a navy museum; last one with a permanent exhibition about the two world wars.

Leer (Ostfriesland) has a real beautiful old town. What most travelers do not know that in Leer you can also find a large Miniaturland, of course not as large the one in Hamburg. It shows the North Frisian region and another part some Berlin impressions.

Pagenburg near to border is known for the Meyer shipyard building the largest cruise ships of the world. They have an own visitor center offering guided tours.

The Rotterdam bombing was mentioned already and was a result of too slow communication because the original planned bombing was cancelled.

I just posted a trip report from a long weekend in Brussels. I had a good time. But if I had three weeks I'd seriously be looking at a week on Terschelling.

TY all for the wonderful tips and details to an amazing visit.

Hi,

Depending on your level of interest presumably on naval history pertaining to the German side, (given your time constraint of only 3 weeks, ie, the next trip ?) , I would heartily suggest seeing the naval museum (Marine Museum) located much more to east in Germany in the city Stralsund, the " Marine Museum," a city in and of itself well worth visiting to see both German and Swedish influences when the Swedes controlled Pomerania (Pommern).