6-7 day trip Amsterdam, Brugges Ghent

To be more helpful, we could use an example of what "best" means to you. Best price, best experiences, best way to do it yourself, best tour groups....

My wife and I fly to Amsterdam next week for a couple of days before heading to Bruges for five days, then Arras, France for the weekend before finishing off in Leiden, Netherlands before going back to the airport. For me, Bruges and Ghent are too far for daytrips, however 6 days is short, do those six days include your flying days? If so, you have 4 full days, and then Bruges and our Ghent may have to be a rushed daytrip via train.

Does 6 days include the flight? In which case I would suggest staying in just Amsterdam, or Amsterdam + Haarlem. You will find travel time between cities will eat 1/2 a day. If you have more time then we can reconsider.

Lavandula

6 days total? That would look something like this

•Day 1 fly to Amsterdam, train to Bruges

•Day 2 Bruges

•Day3 Day trip to Ghent by train

•Day4 train to Amsterdam

•Day5 Amsterdam

•Day 6 fly home

We arrive early AM Tuesday 11/18…leave Monday AM 11/24..6 full days to travel..
Maybe flying home from Brussels would be better..??

Open jaw will save you a lot of traveling time. In case you can't do this you can stay in Bruges like CJjean suggests and visit Ghent on the way instead of a seperate daytrip. You can store your luggage at Sint-Pieters railway station there.

Flying in and out of Brussels can be an option too in case open jaw is not possible.

@Will,
Has the construction been completed at the Sint Pieters train station? It was a mess when we were there spring, 2024.
Thanks.

Pat - It’s too long ago that I took the train there to have an up-to-date idea about the situation. But according the official site (Dutch only) about the project it’s still going on and there is even a planning for next year.

The whole metamorphosis of St. Pieters railway station started, believe it or not, twenty years ago in 2005. Have to say it’s not the station only, but the whole infrastructure around it with a few more projects like for instance office buildings. As it is an important hub the project has to carried out while it remains in function.

@Will, thanks for the info.