Heidelberg vs. Salzburg vs. Bruges vs. Brussels

Salzburg as a day trip from Munich. But hey, your tastes are probably different than mine.

My choice would be Salzburg.

You will no doubt find proponents of each of those destinations as a wonderful day trip option. You might as well ask whether to get chocolate or vanilla ice cream. I say chocolate, but I doubt you'll get any consensus by asking on this forum. And there are probably people who'd urge you to go to Rotterdam or Antwerp or Ghent rather than Brussels or Bruges.

Heidelberg would actually be a stop you could make on the way between Munich and Amsterdam. The other three aren't really in between those two cities.

I assume you've done some research to come up with those four options as places you're interested in visiting. So read more, and decide which appeals to you the most.

But there's no reason to decide ahead of time, is there? When you're in Munich, see how you are enjoying things, and if you feel the urge to get away for a day, take a day trip from there. If not, save it for another part of your trip.

Enjoy!

Salzburg is an easy train ride from Munich, with or without luggage, depending on whether you'll stay overnight, and offers the option of an all-day Bayern Ticket discount if you take the slightly slower regional trains. Smaller-town daytrip options around Amsterdam would be similarly easy to add without much pre-planning.

If you know in advance that you can commit to a longer ride such as Munich-Amsterdam in one day (8 hours with one train connection), then you can purchase that ticket now at a significant discount through DB/German Rail.

Bruges and Brussels require a detour from the fastest train route and I wouldn't want to do it unless spending two nights in Bruges.

I love both Bruges and Salzburg, but imo they are both better with more time. You need to consider travel time to and from both places; for example, it's one hour by train to Bruges from Brussels, and that eats into your day.

Day 1 Munich
Day 2 Munich
Day 3 Salzburg day trip
Day 4 Heidelberg
Day 5 am To Cologne
Day 5 pm To Bruges
Day 6 Bruges
Day 7 Amsterdam
Day 8 Amsterdam

If you and the boyfriend are within a few years of university experience, you may enjoy the vibe of Heidelberg.

I would say Heidelberg - it is on the way. Bruges is OK but Ghent is more fun and, in my opinion, just as picturesque. Amsterdam is awesome.

I would opt for Heidelberg simply because it is on the way. But then, they all have their pros and cons -- just depends on your interest.

If it were me, I would follow the route suggested above by David. Or drop Bruges, a miniature version of Amsterdam, for more time in Bavaria or Amsterdam.

Munich to Amsterdam is a long trip. Yes, break it up. However, I don't think Heidelberg is the place to do it.

I don't agree with Rick's totally dissing Heidelberg, but then it's not the first place I would go, either. There are several places outside Stuttgart (Hechingen, Tübingen, Herrenberg, Calw, and Freudenstadt) that you could visit. Or you could stop on the Mittelrhein (Bacharach, St. Goar), it on the way to Köln (Cologne), and there are direct trains from there to Amsterdam or Brussels. It's a little out of the way, but the Harz and surrounding towns (Goslar, Bad Hartzburg, Wernigerode, or Quedlinburg) would be worth a visit.