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London to Paris (with Amsterdam day trip from Paris) Help

Posted by (Lebanon, Pa, USA) on

My mom and I are doing a trip together next month. It will be both of our 1st times to Europe! I'm very excited but very stressed trying to get all of our ducks in a row! :-)

We're leaving on the 16th flying into London, we'll be there for 4 days/nights and during that time, we're taking a 1 day tour trip through Viator to Stratford, Oxford, and Warwick Castle.
We're then taking the Chunnel to Paris and are going to be there for 4 days/nights as well and will be flying out of Paris on the 25th. Anyway......we would really like to do a day trip to Amsterdam via the Thalys high-speed train. I know we will be pushing it for time but we would really like to see the Anne Frank house and stroll around the city a bit. We're used to doing NYC day trips (it takes 3.5 hours to get there from our house here in the states, and just a tad more from Paris to Amsterdam over there.) and at that point in our trip I think being off our feet for a few hours each way will be a good thing since we will be going to Amsterdam on our 2nd last day of our trip
;-)
Anyway.......all of that to say.......what else do you guys HIGHLY recommend in Amsterdam that we could fit into our limited day visit? I am torn between The Rijksmuseum or the Van Gogh Museum. And any other suggestions would be MUCH appreciated :-)

Oh, and any suggestions about general travel within the city would be great too!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!

Posted by
12 posts

Sorry, I wasn't more specific!
We're leaving on the 16th of Sept, returning on the 25th.

Posted by
9100 posts

You seem to know what you're getting into with the day trip to Amsterdam, so I say go for it! First of all if you haven't already booked your Thalys tickets, do so ASAP...the sooner you purchase the cheaper it will be (http://www.thalys.com). Amsterdam is a very compact place so it's easy to see a lot in a short amount of time. A good companion to the Anne Frank House is the WWII resistance museum which gives you the "big picture" of Nazi occupation of Holland (http://www.verzetsmuseum.org/museum/en/museum). Both the Rijks and Van Gough are first class museums, if you prefer the classic style Rijks might be better suited for you, more modern then VG is a better choice. The brand new Hermitage Museum is now Amsterdam's largest art museum, and IMO a must-see attraction, the art works are in constant rotation but typically have a variety of styles, so you get the best of both worlds (http://www.hermitage.nl/en/). Another favorite of mine is the Tropical Museum with stunning exhibits about third-world countries and cultures (http://www.tropenmuseum.nl). If you want to mix it up a bit and do something fun and silly, there is a large Madame Tussauds at Dam Square. Also check out the listings for temporary exhibits that might peak your interest:

http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/whats-on

Posted by
32809 posts

Just a thought Rebecca Why go to Paris then backtrack part way towards Belgium and onwards to Amsterdam? Wouldnt it be easier to go London St Pancras to Brussells and onwards to Amsterdam direct, the you could go Amsterdam to Paris on the way back?

Posted by
12 posts

Well...we already have our hotels and everything else set up and paid for through gotoday.com so, we are just looking to do a day trip to Amsterdam. :-)

Posted by
463 posts

as for general travel within the city, here's my tip. use the paris metro. it is awesome. also, a warning. do not stand in line for the ticket machine at gare du nord when you get off of eurostar. ideally, have a taxi booked in advance. english speaking number for a taxi in paris is 01 41 27 66 99. we stood in line for almost two hours to get a cab without reservations, and could not get metro tickets because the machine does not work with our credit cards and it was not taking cash at the time. there's also a line to stand in to buy tickets from an actual person, but why do that when you can reserve a taxi in advance? we used that number to reserve a taxi the morning of our day trip train from paris to amsterdam. they arrived right outside at 5:30am, just like we requested. very easy. oh, and have a great trip!

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