Hello, forum friends. I hope you are not too weary of weighing in on itinerary questions, as I always appreciate your feedback. We are taking the RS Greece tour in April and had planned to spend the week before in Turkey, but some visa difficulties have us changing to another plan. We have decided to instead fly into Paris, spend a few days, possibly visit Belgium and end in Amsterdam before heading to Greece.
A bit about us: we love architecture, gardens, food, and photography. We like to spend a couple of hours here and there at important museums, but we are art novices and burn out quickly. We enjoy visiting churches and palaces and castles. We like to travel at a quick pace and spend long days sightseeing. We have spent 4 nights in Paris on a prior trip (we visited Notre Dame, the Louvre, St. Chapelle, the palace Garnier, and Versaille then), but the other destinations are new to us. Our very loose plan is as follows:
Saturday 4/14 - arrive in Paris mid-afternoon. No concrete plans, just walk about town, visit parks, possibly visit Sacre-Coeur, have dinner.
Sunday 4/15 - Visit the Orsay and Orangerie museums. Revisit St. Chapelle if time allows.
Monday 4/16 - Visit Giverny. This one is non-negotiable, as it is the main reason for starting in Paris.
Tuesday 4/17 - Belgium. This is where we need the most help. I am more drawn to the smaller cities of Ghent and Bruges. The only real draw for me in Brussels is the Grand Place. I feel I would prefer to stay in Ghent for 2 nights and day trip to Bruges on the second day. That would give us an afternoon and 2 evenings in Ghent and one morning/afternoon in Bruge. But since we are coming from Paris and leaving after only 2 nights to Amsterdam, I know Brussels would have a more direct connection, so I'm not sure if it would be smarter to stay in Brussels for ease of connections and just day trip to the smaller towns. I honestly don't have a burning desire to see any particular sight in any of the three cities, but would like the opportunity to try their specialties and admire the small canal towns for photography purposes.
Wednesday 4/18 - day trip to Bruges (or Ghent and Bruges if we stay in Brussels).
Thursday 4/19 - Morning train to Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh museum, walk along the canals, dinner.
Friday 4/20 - Keukenhof gardens and bike through flower fields. This is non-negotiable because it is the reason we are going to the Netherlands, but could be traded for Saturday depending on weather.
Saturday 4/21 - Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh, city walks. Possible canal cruise?
Sunday 4/22 - Anne Frank House. Lunch, and then head to airport for evening flight to Athens.
Monday 4/23 - RS Greece tour starts in evening.
I am not 100% sold on Belgium and could be talked out of it if you all think it's much too rushed, but I thought it might be a nice opportunity to see a bit of the country, since I don't foresee making that a destination of its own any time soon. The train times seem very reasonable between these destinations, about 2 hours. I would love any feedback. Sorry this was so long, thanks for your time!