My spouse has a business trip scheduled in Amsterdam for a few days in July, and I've decided to accompany her. We're thinking of extending our stay for an additional 7-10 days to explore the surrounding region. Since I'm unfamiliar with the area, I'm reaching out to the community for suggestions on great places to visit. We're open to flying or taking a train for a few hours if necessary. Any recommendations or insights would be greatly appreciated!
Posted by
Paradise
6659 posts
Amsterdam is surrounded by an entire country. Why not start by taking a look at what Rick suggests there...
Posted by
Indianapolis, IN
353 posts
It would also be easy to add some of the wonderful cities in Belgium, such as Antwerp, Ghent, or Bruges.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
15827 posts
We enjoyed Belgium very much too! If not interested in exploring more of the Netherlands, you could take a train from Amsterdam to Antwerp (or Brussels, although we preferred Antwerp) and onward to Bruges and/or Ghent. Paris is also an easy journey by train from Amsterdam (we've done it but in reverse). With an extra 10 days to work with, you could spend some time in Belgium, finish your trip in the City of Light, and fly home from there.
Posted by
Sweden
6420 posts
There is a lot to see in the Netherlands outside Amsterdam so that is a great start. Otherwise there are a number of large cities within a few hours by train, Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Brussels and many other.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7569 posts
You could easily spend the time within 2-3 hours by train of Amsterdam, That, and maybe a bit further, gets you all of the Netherlands and a good chunk of Belgium, and a bit of Germany. Easily reached would be the larger cities of Cologne, Dusseldorf, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Brussels; then dozens of smaller towns like Aachen, Ghent, Bruges, Delft, Den Haag, Leiden, Utrecht, to name a few of the more popular. Fast trains can also det you to Paris and London in short time. Another popular area, again, a bit further, would be the Rhine and Mosel valley just beyond Cologne.
If you really wanted to get a taste of the area, you could make a loop through Germany, maybe Cologne or Aachen, then up to Ghent, and back to a smaller city in the Netherlands, like Leiden. From each of those cities would be lots of day trip opportunities or stops along the way. You could also just concentrate on just one of the areas and not run out of things to do.
Posted by
Mayberry on the Willamette
322 posts
Sweden! I'm longing to go back. The West coast has a bunch of small villages that look so cute. Esp in the long summer daylight. Stockholm of course. And want to see more of Gothenburg. We picked up a Volvo in 2017 and loved the place