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Itinerary advice for Amsterdam-based trip

Posted by on

Rookie here, please be kind :)

I’m planning a trip to Europe next summer with my 19yo. We’ll be flying into and out of Amsterdam in mid-June. 10 nights. The itinerary at the moment (2-3 nights each):

  1. Amsterdam (Haarlem?)
  2. Bruges (Ghent?)
  3. Brussels (Antwerp?)
  4. Cologne DE
  5. back to Utrecht, day before flight

Comments? Any suggestions for alternatives? Is a couple nights in each place enough, or should we drop a city? We’re not regular travelers to Europe, so we’d like to cover a lot of ground.

Our priorities are:
1. art/history museums
2. old houses/buildings/churches/castles, and
3. natural beauty

I’d like to keep the distance between cities to around 3 hours, with easy train access.

Speaking of that - I’m not going to ask the obligatory “should I drive or take the trains” question - I’m assuming trains is the obvious answer. Please lmk if that’s not true, I’m not opposed to driving (I enjoyed driving from Rome to Venice some years ago).

Thanks for the time and consideration, it’s greatly appreciated!

Posted by
29798 posts

I haven't been to Cologne. Utrecht was decades ago, so no comment on that one. Your other cities I went to earlier this year. Bruges and Ghent are beautiful but probably manageable in two days each without too much stress. Folks who don't care about museums probably would do day trips. Antwerp is larger and worthwhile, but with only 9 non-jetlagged days, I don't think you have time for it (unless you substitute it for Brussels).

Brussels and Amsterdam are a different matter. I'd say Amsterdam has more (and more time-consuming) museums, especially since two parts of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels are currently closed (but may be reopening before your trip). What Brussels has, in spades, are lots of beautiful Art Nouveau buildings and homes whose interiors can be visited. If that happens to be an interest of yours, the city will need more time than you might expect. Amsterdam has multiple WWII/Holocaust-related museums and historic sights as well as the art museums.

I think how pinched you'll feel with only 3 nights in Amsterdam and Brussels will depend greatly on how much time you end up wanting to spend in their museums. I recommend doing some research on the museums in those cities to come up with an estimate of the time you'll need. I spent about 2 weeks in each one, but as a retiree my time is very flexible.

Rick lists his top sightseeing tips for many major cities on this website.

Sightseeing in Belgium

Sightseeing in the Netherlands

In each case, click on a place of interest in the "Places" list, and then on "At a Glance".

These are high-level lists; additional sights are covered in Rick's (and others') guidebooks. The Brussels list doesn't touch on the Art Nouveau architecture, which for me was a major reason to go to Brussels. To me, Brussels is otherwise not an especially distinctive city. Some people seem to go there for the sole purpose of seeing the (beautiful) Grand Place; those would be folks with no interest in museums, I guess.

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