Brugge

I would not suggest a day trip from Amsterdam to Brugge. It's 3 hr each way on the high speed trains, which doesn't leave you much time to actually explore Brugge itself. I would either plan an overnight in Brugge or, if you want to see Belgium, suggest Brussels for a day trip. Brussels is 2 hours by high speed train.

Thank you so much. I suppose it would be best if we spent the last night or two in Brugge and then flew out. What are your thoughts. Also, what train goes to Brugge and then what train goes to the airport? I do appreciate your expertise. Peggy

Which airport, Peggy?

Schiphol. Coming from Nashville, USA, this would be the best one to fly into, correct?

We spent 3 nights in Brugge and loved every minute we were there. We would have liked to stay even longer. If you're able to spend 1 or 2 nights there it's well worth it imo.

Would you say we needed two or three nights in Amsterdam and two or three nights in Brugge?

I think 3 in Amsterdam and 2 in Bruges would be plenty but I am a Bruges fiend. In less than 2 weeks, I will be in Bruges for 5 nights!!!!!

Hello again,
Would you mind sharing where you stayed in Amsterdam and Brugge? Thanks.

There will be many people who disagree with me but we didn't love Amsterdam, we liked Brugge much better. I'd recommend splitting the time between the two evenly. We stayed at the Crowne Plaze in Brugge and loved it. We stayed at the Toren Hotel in Amsterdam and liked it a lot.

@Kelly, please post about your trip when you return. I'm headed there with friends in April (my 2nd visit) & would love to hear about your trip.
Thanks, Stephanie

I don't recommend finishing your trip in Brugge and then trying to get the Schipol airport to fly back home. I think this is what I understood to be your last question. Go to Brugge first, and then finish it out in Amsterdam to make the task of getting to the airport much more manageable. Just thinking about trying to get to Schipol for a flight home from Brugge makes me nervous. If you are landing in Schipol, travel immediately to Brugge from there (train station is in the airport, but would need to make a train change or two, I believe).
I also recommend that you invest some money in a guidebook as it will lay out clearly your train and travel options to the cities and the airport. Rick Steves' Amsterdam, Bruges & Brussels Guidebook would be of great help to you. Read it cover to cover. You can easily buy it on this website, Amazon, or your local bookstore.

I really thank you for your input. I was hoping I could get adjusted there before I had to use the trains that much. It really sounds confusing since I will prob. be tired when I arrive. I will have to think or read on this. Appreciate your time. Peggy

We stayed in Absolut Verhulst in Bruges and Boogaard's in Amsterdam, highly recommend both. Read about them on TA.

It would make your life easier if you fly into Brussels, take the train from the airport to Brugges (change in Antwerp), and head back to the US via Schipol after you're done visiting Amsterdam.

We stayed here in Amsterdam. http://www.bedandbreakfast-ij.nl/wd/pages/en/home.php It is a non-rick steves listing and a bit off the beaten path, but we had the garden suite. It was huge. The tub is bigger than my bath at home. It is close to the Tropen-Museum. It is on a canal with a windmill view. Oh and 99 euro per night (End of November rates 4 years ago). We stayed here in Bruges and will stay there again in 11 days. http://www.b-bverhulst.com/ Benno and Frieda are the best. The house is old but amazing. the rooms are crazy cute. The breakfast is filling and wonderful. Edit: my post didn't format like I wanted

Michael from NY makes a good point about flying into Brussels and out of Amsterdam to make your trip a little bit more manageable. You can spend the first night in Brussels getting adjusted and oriented, and then train to Brugge early the next morning, spend your time there, train to Amsterdam, spend your time there, and then fly home. Flights into one city and out the other are called open jaw and they are designated as multi-city on most search engines, such as Travelocity, etc.

I am going to agree with a few posters here. You would be surprised that sometimes it is cheaper to fly fly into one city and out of the other. When I was trying to add Amsterdam into my up and coming trip, the air fare was about $50 cheaper (fly into BRU and out of AMS). We we decided to keep our trip on a minimalist scale and not hop all around the place. If you have not bought tickets yet, it is something to consider. 3 hours from AMS to Bruges is 3 hours out of your day. When traveling, 3 hours is a big chunk of time to lose. Yeah, you can relax on the train, but I would rather get to sight seeing if I could. We are flying into BRU, going to go to a museum, see grand place and then take an afternoon train to Bruges. Most of the time, the hotel or B&B isn't ready to get you in your room anyways so, I am going to take that time to visit Brussels and then settle into Bruges for a calm late afternoon and evening.

Kelly, that certainly makes sense. I tried to get the open jaw flight but didn't have any luck...guess I will have to call airlines. Btw, how are you flying? Any info that you don't mind sharing would be so beneficial. Tulips, canals, windmills are the main reasons that I want to see Amsterdam and the cobblestone and specialty area as I read about Brugge. So looking forward to being able to float down one of those canals, watching the windmills! Thanks again. Peggy

To book an open-jaw flight, select "multi-city" when given the option of one-way/round trip etc. on the various travel sites. Multi-city is the same thing as open-jaw.

I don't have option of multi-city - only rt or ow. Any suggestions? THANKS.

which site are you using??
Sites like Expedia, Travelocity, and the airlines site typically show a "multi-city" option.

called "multiple destinations" on travelocity.

Got it. Just some sites don't have it...right? Thank you so very much. :)

Have you guys used ATA Software to find cheapest flight, then go to airlines and book your ticket? It appears you save some $50...possibly not in every case.