Can you help us with this itinerary?

Groetjes! I would say it depends on what you want to do in Bruges. If all you want to do is explore the city, the amount of time you have allotted is adequate. If you want to see any museums and some of the old buildings, you may want to add an extra night.

And an extra tip... if you want to splurge on an unforgettable meal, try the 3-Michelin star Karmeliet:

http://www.dekarmeliet.be/

It sits in a neighborhood that few tourists ever visit, so unless you know of where to look, you won't stumble upon it. Your credit card may take a hit, but this is one meal you'll remember!

Sounds too rushed to me -- and I rush things myself. Here's one observation I've made when looking over my own crazy itineraries:

If you start slicing single days up into multiple locations, you're probably trying to squeeze in too much ("in the morning, we'll do such and such, then hop the train/plane/drive to such and such, where we'll do blah; next day, we'll do somesome after breakfast, then we'll go to another city for the afternoon and tour something else...").

I thikn you can get away with this occasionally on a trip, but if your itinerary starts to show these "split days" more than at least 1 entire day someplace (with no coming or going, no checking in or out of hotels), then you're probably stretching things too thinly IMHO.

The common mistake that many of us make is failing to account for all the time it takes for just getting yourself to someplace and getting established (find the place, check in, get oriented) and getting away. That time eats a good slice of any day that you're moving.

Sounds like you really have 6 days. You're trying to do Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Bacharach and the Rhine, Koln, and Amsterdam. 6 or 7 places (depending on how you count) in 6 days. Seems unrealistic to me.

I'd cut out Ghent, and skip the Rhine entirely. You would end up with Bruges, Brussels (a brief stop for a few hours is all you need), Koln, and Amsterdam. Spend 2 nights in each, and you'll get a lot more out of them. It's still a blistering pace, but at least you could savor things briefly before moving on.

Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback so far. We will actually be staying one more day in Amsterdam for 3 days and before that 4 days in Edinburgh, so I figured we gave ourselves a little bit of down time with a bit of rush around in the middle. But I think the Rhine might be pushing it. Maybe we can just stay in Koln and do a short day trip to the river from there instead of trying to go all the way to Bacharach

Unless you have a specific reason for going to Koln, I would skip it on this itinerary. Stay in Bruges or Amsterdam an extra day (and take a bike ride out of town to see the small villages, canals, and countryside). The long train ride (out of the way) from Brussels-Koln-Amsterdam is not worth it. There are lovely day trips you could take out of Amsterdam if you felt you had too much time there (Utrecht, Harlem, The Hague, a bike ride from Gouda to Kinderdijk).

Yep...I think the middle part is stretched a bit thin..As much as I'm a big fan of Edinburgh, I'd peel a day off that section and add it to the middle. Your instincts are correct..I'd skip the Rhine section, and spend that time in Belgium there's plenty to see in Brissels, Ghent and Bruge.

For that matter you could day trip to Paris from Brussels..its only a 1.5-2 hr train ride.

Our flight from Edinburgh is already booked so can't change this. I would like to see the Dom in Koln, its not a must, but I think it would be worth it to see another country since it is only 2.5 hours by train. If we cut the Rhine out I dont think it would be too rushed. Although maybe we can do a day trip from Koln to see the castles and then head back the same night. Is this possible?

Which castles?

Harry those were my previous posts, we were originally going to be spending more time there than now, so change of plans. Is it possible to travel from Koln, see Rheinfels (sp?), see Marksberg,have lunch somewhere and travel back to Koln the same day? Is there a train pass I could buy that would cover just one day for this region?

You're trying to do a lot so you must be very strategic. You can't stay in Bacharach. 2 nights in one place - probably Koblenz - would make this more do-able.

Assuming you must be in A'dam on 6/9, here's what I'd do.

6/5,6 - Bruges

6/7 - Bruges-Ghent-Koblenz (train hub for area.) Stay near station if possible.

6/8- Train to Braubach, tour Marksburg, train south to St. Goarshausen, ferry across river for St. Goar and Rheinfels. See Bacharach if time. Train back to Koblenz for night. A "Rheinland-Pfalz" ticket (daypass) will cover two of you for the whole day (except ferry) for under 30 Euros.

6/9 - Train to Köln, spend several hours seeing whatever it is you want to see there; overall, it's a nice city but not all that. Proceed to A'dam for overnight.