Wife & i plan to fly to AMS after 2wks in ireland, staying at budget B&Bs. Arrive 2pm Apr22, get car & drive to B&B in DeRijp (bw alkmaar & edam)for 3 nts. Apr23 catch pub transit into AMS-Must do's r ann frank huis & narrated canal tour-which one? length? Rest of day might be hop on/off bus tour(available?)or, since we're not into art museums, drive to marken/volendam/edam (which?)as wont have time next day. Apr24 Go north on A7(detour to enhuizen zuiderzeemuseum)? Cross afsluitdijk & circle Ijseelmeer. Lelystad's poldermuseum is 'must' but closes 5pm which probly means skip staphorst & go direct & then to derijp-thats 200 mi day-usual is 100/125. Apr25 Tulip route to leiden w stop at keukenhof-2hrs? & leiden pilgrim museum. Prob no time for kinderdijk since want see delta project before 5pm close. Find rural B&B. SatApr26 From middelburg take vissingen ferry to Bruges, OR ?tunnel? via terneuzen? Canal tour & browse Brugge then drive east. Is waterloo worth a stop? Apr27 Namur? then need scenic routes & sites. Perhaps thru dinant, rochefort, laRoche areas to Bastogne Bulge museum closes 4:30. Have to skip Bastogne? Apr28 need scenicroute thru hautes fagnes OR liege area-want walloon life museum but closed Mon?-thru mastricht&?-sites? scenic? Apr 29 by arnhem to veluwe natl park. Schiphol airport by 3pm for 5pm flight. Any & all thots, critiques, route & site suggestions would be most appreciated.
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
It's realistic, but which question do you want answered? I counted 11.
Posted by
OP
Alabama, USA
42 posts
An answer to any one (or more) of my questions would certainly be appreciated. We have a tentative, tho not complete or final, itinerary for first 4 days. We are in very preliminary planning phase for the last 3 days-belgium & eastern netherlands. As a relative 'newbie' perhaps i would have been wise to have done several separate posts, each w only one or a small number of related questions. I did, in fact, consider doing a netherlands post & a separate post for belgium or the last 3 days.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Jerry, if you drive around 2 hours in either the Netherlands or Belgium you've actually already left that country. They're really surprisingly small. Frieds of mine live just outside of Amsterdam and they call a drive to "The South" of their country (which still is North of Cologne) lengthy and exhausting - I tried and realized we're talking about a 90mins drive... So yes, you can really see most of the two countries in a week. By the way I found it very hard to find any place for breakfast in Amsterdam before 9am. Even the Mc Donald's restaurants were closed...