Itinerary suggestions -- Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/the-netherlands-belgium-april-2024-brought-the-rain-pants-needed-the-rain-pants

Perhaps my 2024 itinerary may offer some helpful suggestions. I loved the countries so much that I'm going back, spring, 2026.

Have a great time!

Can you be more specific about your interests. There are a whole lot of historical sites from different periods, the same for architecture and art. Is for instance the modern architecture of Rotterdam of interest or the Art Nouveau and Fin-de-Siècle style you can find in Antwerp?

Can you be more specific about your interests.

Wow so many things. Historical sites, important churches, government buildings (like capitol buildings, parliaments, etc), important museums. Also interested in local food and drink (like breweries).

The thing about this trip is that for example when I went to Paris the first time I knew I had four nights and that I had to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc du Triumph, the Louvre and Versailles . And then I read up all the information there was to be had on Paris and added things to fill up the time. Now my time is more flexible, and apart from the canals and the Ann Frank House, I am not sure what else to see, which cities I might add, is it worth it to go Luxembourg and maybe Cologne, etc. Should I spend 7 days or 11. That's the bit of guidance that I need. I want to have a rough idea of the time I am going to need to snatch good plane tickets as soon as possible.

Thanks again.

One of my co-workers just returned from a long weekend in Amsterdam with his family. Things he pointed out were that tickets to the Van Gogh and Ryks museums were sold out, in advance. And they really enjoyed the long (1.5 hour) canal tour. Also that bicycles have right of way, which made walking and driving interesting. (I don't remember that.)

Cologne is interesting for a day or two, Luxembourg the same. I'm not a huge fan of either. Outside of Luxembourg city, to the north, is the town of Vianden with a great castle (better than Burg Eltz IMHO). https://castle-vianden.lu/gb/

But if I was looking for a weeks worth of stuff to see I probably would stay further north. Rotterdam, Aachen, Antwerp, Bruges, those would be enough to fill a couple weeks.

A lot of this is based on the time, because we're already in the rainy season. In a month is will start being cold (highs in the low 40's).

Cologne is nice but a bit further away, when visiting Luxembourg why not visiting Trier? It's the oldest German city, with Roman ruins (and the famous Porta Nigra), there is a wine stand in the central square and surprisingly many things to see.

Pat gives you already a lot of good info about the places she has visited.

With 8 or 11 nights I wouldn't spend too much time with travelling. So for instance do most in the Netherlands and combine it with a stay of several nights in Antwerp. If you rally want to go to Cologne you can do a daytrip from the latter. Takes 2h and 21min. with a change in Brussels, where the ICE highspeed train departs to Cologne. Including Luxembourg will be too much to my opinion and best to skip.

Most places of interest are within an hour reach with the train, instead of Amsterdam is using Leiden for instance as a base also perfect for this. Worth to visit there is the Pieterskerk (Pieters Church), once home of the Pilgrim Fathers during the period before they moved to America. There is also a little museum outside in the neighbourhood. Most love Leiden, so a good place for visiting anyway.

https://pieterskerk.com/en/museum/pilgrims-exhibition-history/

In Antwerp not to miss – litteraly – is the Cathedral of Our Lady, the finest example of gothic architecture in Belgium and the Netherlands. Inside several works of art by Peter Paul Rubens. Seeing more works of him you have to go to the Museum of Fine Arts, locally known as the KMSK. You can visit his home there too.

As Antwerp is still the diamond capital of the world, it's worth strolling through the diamond district near the main railway station. Certainly worth to visit is the historical printing office of Plantin-Moretus, the worlds largest during Antwerp’s heyday’s in the 16th century. Not without a reason on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The same for the windmills of Kinderdijk, to reach with the waterbus from Rotterdam or Dordrecht, lovely off the beaten path place btw. You can also visit the Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam, what is actually an open air museum, so a collection of windmills once located at other sites in the area. While those of Kinderdijk are located in their original setting, so more authentic.

Trier YES
Luxembourg city
Vianden, Lux.
We did a week in Amsterdam three years ago and did a lot just in the city (Did Anne Frank House, Van Gough Museum, Rijksmuseum).
Also, recommend doing a day trip tour from the train station that includes villages with windmills and scenic areas near the inland sea.

I spent about 2-3 days in Amsterdam this summer on a trip to the Netherlands and while we didn't see everything, it was enough time for our top priorities. Probably could have used an extra day but if we had been on the trip longer I probably would have preferred to add on another city or a day trip.

I like both Luxembourg and Cologne, but if you are coming from Amsterdam, Cologne will be easier to reach. Although it seems close, Luxembourg is difficult logistically. There is a train from Brussels but it takes 3 hours (+/-) from there, which makes it a very long trip by train from Amsterdam. There is an airport but really it's such a short hop as the crow flies that I think most would probably not fly from Amsterdam. However, if you bite the bullet and do it anyway (or if you drove), I would combine Luxembourg with Trier and not Cologne.

If I had to choose, even though I really like Luxembourg, I'd probably pick Cologne. It's not as pretty as Luxembourg (there, I've said it) but a little more dynamic, better nightlife, better museums, better shopping, and it has the Cathedral.

Lavandula

As part of a much larger trip, my family spent 3 weeks in the Netherlands last year, and absolutely loved it. We've talked about going back again some day.

Our trip was slower paced, but there is no shortage of things to do. We really liked everything we did in Amsterdam, but really liked staying in Hoorn and Utrecht instead. We were 20-30 minutes from Central Station, and could get a much more comfortable and economical accommodation. I realize in a shorter timeframe you'll want to be right in Amsterdam for a few days, but I mention it, just because of how nice these smaller cities were, and would recommend spending time in one or both.

Utrecht was a particularly fun city for us. Maybe not an idea for your parents, but our best day included biking to De Haar castle, then renting kayaks (including cup holders for a beer) on the canals inside the city. We also really enjoyed some small town cheese market visits, and the Hague and the coast was wonderful. Our day trip to Antwerp was also a highlight of our trip and would recommend that city, even if spending more time in Belgium.

I guess my main point is that we'd definitely recommend spending time in the Netherlands, but really consider spending more time outside of Amsterdam. By staying in Utrecht and Hoorn, we had the option of travelling back in to Amsterdam, should we feel like we had missed something, and took the pressure off of packing everything into a few days.

Cheers,